HIST 217 History of War

Vietnam War

Alena Papayanis, PhD

Prologue to last week

End of WWII brings 45 years of uneasy peace Two superpowers emerge: each with opposing

political and economic systems Shadow of nuclear weapons Destruction of colonial empires of the West Science as dominant theme in warfare

Aftermath of WWII

1940s+ goal of deterring Soviet Union and “containing the Communist world”

Lead to Korean and Vietnam Wars (among other conflicts)

U.S. pushed limits of technology: cruise missiles, mini nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, computer revolution

Soviet Union: disadvantaged and fell behind

The Cold War (1947-1991)

Political and military tension between Western Bloc (U.S.) and Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union)

Threatened with mutual assured destruction (MAD)

Fought through proxy wars Also includes the Space Race Irony: Cold War brought stability

The Vietnam War: Background

19th C. French expansion into “Indo-China” French education in Vietnam creating Vietnamese

nationalists French defeated by Japan (1945) Six months later, Japanese surrender to

Nationalist Chinese troops (North) British moved into South to disarm Japan

The Vietnam War, Part 2

1954 Eisenhower decided that not worth trying to defeat the Viet Minh

However policy allowed U.S. to slip towards involvement

Anti-communist regime in SV set up U.S. helped SV establish a “conventional army

to defeat a conventional invasion” (p. 350)

The Vietnam War, Part 2

NV “launched a campaign of infiltration, political action, and military and logistical support for an insurrection to overthrow the regime in South Vietnam” (p. 350)

Insurgency spread 1961 JFK: “pay any price, bear any burden” to

defeat communism

The Vietnam War, Part 2

U.S. military not prepared for the Viet Minh Prepared for conventional or nuclear war Not prepared for politicized guerilla war in

terrain of Southeast Asia

Did not learn lessons of the conflict One-year tour of duties and lacked knowledge of

Vietnamese culture and language

The Vietnam War, Part 2 Robert McNamara (photo

from 1961) Statistical and systems

analysis to eliminate uncertainties

The Vietnam War, Part 2

“Numbers game” Number of enemy dead and wounded Number of battalion-days in combat Tons of bombs dropped Tons of cargo moved

Meaningless in judging progress of the war

The American military command thought this was like any other war: you searched out the enemy, fixed him, killed him and went home.

The only measure of the war the Americans were interested in was quantitative, and quantitatively, given the immense American fire power, helicopters, fighter-bombers, and artillery pieces, it went very well.

That the body count might be a misleading indicator did not penetrate the command; large stacks of dead Vietcong were taken as signs of success.

That the French statistics had also been very good right up until 1954, when they gave up, made no impression. (Timothy B. Lee)

The Vietnam War, Part 2

Clip from Fog of War Kennedy pursued active and aggressive policy

in Vietnam Underestimated opponents and overestimated

Saigon allies

The Vietnam War, Part 2

“Rosy war” vs. deteriorating situation Lyndon Johnson 1964 resistance in South collapsing, launches

air raids against NVA (Gulf of Tonkin) No fear of American firepower “Rolling Thunder”

The Vietnam War, Part 2

Contempt for past experience Ignored French after-action study Repeated the same mistakes and refused to

learn

Resulted in destruction of the countryside with no tactical purpose: search and destroy missions vs. political war

The Vietnam War, Part 2

Statistical approach dominated American view Eg) Body counts My Lai massacre Cleared whole areas of country Allowed U.S. the illusion of “military victory”

(p. 353)

The Vietnam War, Part 2

Provided men through the draft, but “best and brightest” could escape service (through exemptions)

Burden fell on poor black and white Americans

Tet and After

NV launched massive assault, the Tet Offensive, on SV cities (1968)

Military disaster for the North However Tet showed Americans the graveness

of the conflict, without government explanation

Vietnam and TV News

Tet and After

Military moves meet political protests at home NVA and U.S. negotiate, U.S. can withdraw

“with some dignity” (p. 355) then NVA pull out of it

Paris Peace Accord in 1973 fail 1975 NVA offensive against the South, it

collapsed; NV unified Vietnam under their control

Tet and After

Vietnam War as “sobering experience”(p. 356) First loss in recent memory No strategic assessment of opponent or costs Underestimated ideological commitment of

Vietnamese Cost to American “values and self-esteem” (p.

356)

So what would you say…

Are some of the mistakes the U.S. made in Vietnam?

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Three Servicemen Statue

Women’s Memorial

Vietnam in popular culture

The Deerhunter Full Metal Jacket Platoon Apocalypse Now What do they tell you about the war or the

era?