American History

The Vietnam conflict is probably the longest war, in which the US has been involved in, in its entire history. The war which lasted for close to two decades was a major loss to the United States. By losing the war basically meant that US did not achieve its main aim of getting involved in the long conflict. The intelligence of the United States was one of the major factors that led to the humiliating defeat of the US by the North Vietnamese forces and their communist allies. The US military failed to take into consideration the Indochina terrain factor in the conflict that was not favorable at all to its military. They also took considerably a long time to realize the guerilla tactics that were being used by the North Vietnamese nationalist forces (Kissinger, 2006).

Why US lost the Vietnam War
The South Vietnamese forces which were being assisted by the American forces in the second Indochina conflict relied so much on this external assistance to the extent of failing to deal with the problem as their own. On their part, the American forces had at first undermined the potential military weight of the north Vietnam and this made the American government to opt not to be directly involved in the conflict during the first few years of the period in which the communist forces were able to establish a good fighting position thus making difficult for the anti communist defeating them. The south anti communist forces that were being supported by the US had perceived the superpower as an indomitable force that could easily crash the communist forces. This made them to shift their commitment in the war to the Americans who at the time were not quick as accepting the informally transferred responsibilities. This is because the US was first interested at making the South Vietnamese forces strong both in terms of military equipment and personnel. The North Vietnamese forces took advantage of this confusion to solidify its position and thus defeat the anti communist forces being led by the US (Zinn et al, 2003).

Despite the fact that the US military was much strong as compared to the communist forces of North Vietnam, they lacked the much needed experience of fighting in a battle field of Vietnam. The US forces were therefore only effective in fighting from the air, which was not yielding much progress for them. The terrain in Vietnam was very rugged making it very difficult for the US soldiers to fight effectively as they were used to fighting on less rugged terrain. On the other hand, the North Vietnam communist forces had ample experience of fighting in this kind of terrain since they had actually been fighting with the French forces for decades on the same terrain and therefore the second Indochina conflict was basically a continuation of the liberation war. This placed the Vietnam forces at a much better position of winning the conflict, which they eventually did after fighting for close to two decades (Logevall, 2001).

The failure of the US military forces of the United States to effectively employ intelligence during the period of this conflict was also a major factor that led to its defeat. In the war between Vietnamese nationalists and their colonial masters that is the French, the Vietnamese nationalists mainly engaged in open air confrontations. The United States military intelligence assumed that the communist forces of Vietnam would continue using the same tactics in the second Indochina conflict. However, to the surprise of the US, the Vietnamese forces had already changed their fighting tactics adopting guerilla warfare tactics. The Vietnamese communist forces were aware that the US military was powerful and therefore deemed it fit to change their fighting tactics. The North Vietnamese forces could in most cases strike the US forces when they were least expected. This enhanced their effectiveness and efficiency in the war since they could first plan their attack before executing it. As a result, the Vietnamese could only suffer limited casualties in the conflict and at the same time employ fewer resources in the conflict. On the other hand, since in most cases the US forces were mostly attacked when they least expected, they ended up suffering immensely in terms of deaths and casualties (Peake, 2007).

Due to the fact that the second Indochina conflict took a very long time before the United States could eventually concede defeat, there were several administrations that ruled during this period. In most cases, every new administration came with its own new policies regarding the continuing in Vietnam thus creating confusion in the war which worked against the US military forces. Whereas the US were inconsistent in the war, the communist forces of Vietnamese nationals were very consistent making it even more possible for them to win the war against the anti communist forces being led by the US (Logevall, 2001).

The North Vietnamese forces involved in the war were very much determined to not only liberate their country from being governed by foreigners, but also ensure that the country was indeed liberated from the foreign political and economic policies. The conviction that was possessed by the Vietnamese nationalists made them to participate in the war with a lot of determination, and they were therefore ready to die for what they believed was the right thing for their country. The same determination was lacking with the Americans who were in fact over confident that they could easily win the war. As a result, the US used psychological strategies that were already outdated and were well known by the Vietnamese forces. This made it to be very easy for the communist forces to predict in advance the most probable move of the US forces. With such accurate predictions, it was very easy for the communist forces to counter attack the US forces and hence defeat them more easily (Kissinger, 2006). 

The main reason that made the United States to join the war in Vietnam in the 1950s was to ensure that the communist ideologies being spread by communist nations were stopped. In this case, the United States used its powers and resources in making sure that country adopted democratic ideologies. The US has in fact participated in several other wars that do not affect it directly in order to ensure that its policies are adopted as opposed to other policies of other nations. The foreign policies of the US of influencing the policies of other nations have resulted into several conflicts leading to massive losses of property and lives. It is not right for the US simply because it is the only super power in the world to force other nations around the world to apply policies so long as they work to the advantage of the US and not the nation in question. If a country and its people are satisfied with the ideologies that are in use in their country, then the US has no obligation of forcing such nations to conform to its ideologies (Zinn et al, 2003). 

The US forces defeat in the second Indochina conflict is perhaps the greatest loss they had ever suffered in history. The loss was inevitable and was precipitated by several factors. The over confidence of the US side cost them dearly in the war in which they were trying to prevent the communist forces from spreading their communist ideologies to this part of the world. The US did not have the much needed experience of fighting in the rugged terrain of Vietnam. Again, the change in fighting tactics by the Vietnamese communist forces made it easier for them to be at a better position of winning the war as opposed to the US forces that had assumed that the Vietnamese forces could not use such fighting tactics as guerilla. After close to decades, the US forces were finally defeated by the north communist Vietnam forces and therefore communist ideologies continued to be used in Vietnam.