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Why did American forces withdraw from Vietnam in 1973
There are several reasons for American withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973 and I shall be discussing these in relation to American defeat and communist success. In this essay, I will be discussing American involvement in Vietnam and the differences in tactics between the American and Communist tactics. I shall also be exploring the communists success, the South Vietnamese government and the American homefront, and examining why it took so long for America to get out of the war. The first issue to be explored is America and its tactics.
One reason for America's withdrawal was that their tactics were inappropriate and brutal, their technology was advanced and could create new fighting weapons to cause mass destruction. One of their tactics was to 'bomb,bomb,bomb'. They believed that bombing could destroy the economy and morale of the communists. Between 1969 and 1970, America dropped an average of 100,000 tonnes of bombs a month on South Vietnam. The Americans used mother bombs, napalm and white phosphorus and agent orange, all of which were extremely destructive. In 1968, the CIA introduced a system code named 'operation Phoenix'. Tens of thousands of Vietcong (VC) were sought out and interrogated. The VC were tortured and killed. Another American tactic was the policy of 'strategic hamlets', peasants were moved away from their homes and their villages were burned down. The aim of this was to prevent them from talking to the V.C, however, this created more opposition for America and did nothing to help to win the hearts and minds of the people, something the communists worked hard to do.
To sum up, American tactics contributed to the withdrawal of American forces because they were so brutal and alienated civilians and caused just as much destruction to innocent Vietnamese people as to the V.C, for example, agent orange used to kill crops not only cut off the food supply for the V.C, but also that of the civilians. Because, the VC and civilians dressed alike, the Americans couldn't tell who was 'friend or fo' and this led to many civilians being killed as well as giving the Americans a false impression of how successful they were at killing VC. Their strategic hamlet policy, brutal massacres and continuous bombing did not help to win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people, for whom they were fighting, and often led civilians to become communist themselves, as one marine recalling an innocent where American forces were putting their strategic hamlet policy into action said, " if they weren't pro- Vietcong before we got there, they sure as hell were by the time we left" (American soldier)This source is quite reliable as it is from an American soldier, admitting to their inappropriate treatment of civilians. If this source was biased, the marine would perhaps be trying to defend their actions but as he is freely admitting it, this suggests the source [next page]