The U.S. struggles against the Communist in Vietnam

Step 2: Using pages 356-61 in the Vietnam War Reading, make notes in columns 2 (US Army) and 4 (Viet Cong) to record how far each side had each quality.Stage 2: Thinking it throughStep 3: in each row of column 3, draw some scales to show which way the balance falls for this quality. Did the USA or the Viet Cong have the advantage?Now think about the overall picture - how the strengths and weaknesses work together.


1a) Were the armies finely balanced or was the balance strongly weighted to one side or the other?
The armies were finely balanced. As the Viet COng had effective tactics and support from the population, the allies and Soth Vietnamese had more people and technology.
1b) Which quality was most important in determining who won the war? Was one feature so important that being ahead in that area meant that other advantages or disadvantages did not matter?

In determining who won the war effective tactics was the most important quality. The South Vietnamese and its allies outnumbered the Viet Cong greatly, but the Viet Cong had suchgood tatcics that they were able to defend themselves. All of the options matter in the end but not nearly as much as effective tactics.

Stage 3: Explaining your conclusionsThe failure of the U.S. army to beat the Communist in Vietnam was the result of its own weaknesses and Viet Cong strengths.





2. Now write up your answer. Use this structure:


a. The U.S. weaknesses were:
They did not know how to react from the guerilla tactics, and they were not supported by their own country.

b. At the same time, the Communist strengths were:
Effective tactics, underground systems/ booby traps, support from civilians

c. The U.S. forces did have some successes. For example the
La Dreng Valley, Tet Offensive

d. However, there were some major failures as well. Examples of these were:
killing many innocent civilians, no support from civilians, often walked into traps

e. The Viet Cong had some major successes, such as:
underground tunneles, fought enemies off even though they were largely outnumbered

f. However, they also suffered defeats, for example:
Tet Offensive, La Dreng Valley,

g. If I had to identify one major American weakness, it would be not getting support from their country because this really effected the war. Many Americans were against the ar and had learned that AMerican soldiers were killig innocent Vietnamese civilaians and were upset by this. If they had the support from their country then more people would have joined and backed up the war instead of being anti-war.


h. The key Viet Cong strength was guerilla war tactics because the Americans were thrown off by these tactics. they had not been familiar with these tactics and often fell into booby traps and had to fight hard even though they outnumbered the Americans. There tactics also made the Americans look bad in their homelands which was a Viet Cong advantage.