Explain how the Vietnam War changed the nature of conflict in the World.
ii) The Nature of Fighting by Jacinta Tennet
The Vietnam War (VW) was a conflict that completely transformed the nature of fighting for all conflicts occurring after. WWI and WWII were fought by powerful countries that had the resources and manpower available to clash in large scale, front on battles. The Viet Cong (VC) far outnumbered the US and South Vietnam but regrettably lacked in the artillery or skilled soldiers to succeed in a full scale battle. Guerrilla warfare was needed to make use of Viet Minh strengths and exploit US weaknesses (Llewellyn, 2013). The participating parties learned numerous lessons from the Vietnam War and they carried these lessons on and applied them to similar situations in the future like the US involvement in the Afghanistan Conflict. The nature of fighting in this conflict clearly mirror the strategies used in the VW and therefore displays how the VW was the turning point for the nature of fighting in the world.
Jacob Van Staaveren: Interdiction in Southern Laos...
U. S. soldier carries a M67 recoilless rifle past ...
The effects of just one month spent in a Viet Cong...WWI is an example of Conventional and Trench warfare, the most popular nature of fighting used throughout the 20th century. 'The general purpose of conventional warfare is to weaken or destroy the opponent's military force, thereby negating its ability to engage in conventional warfare' (Princeton, 2014). These wars were fought using small guns, light artillery and bombs, shells, rockets or missiles. Mass infantry attacks over dead man's land, a large, open space meant weapons included the Machine gun, the bayonet and breech-loading rifle gun all which had a long fire range or were light for front line soldiers and cavalry. The armies needed cover from the constant fire and therefore the trenches were dug in a series of channels that became the common living areas for soldiers.