Explain why the Americans withdraw its forces from Vietnam in 1973?

Essay by darkelfHigh School, 11th gradeA, May 2004

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Explain why the Americans withdraw its forces from Vietnam in 1973?

The USA, with Nixon as there president at the time, withdraw from the war in Vietnam in 1973 even with them having the highly developed weapons at their disposal. There were many reasons in the hidden weakness of the Americans and in the surprising strengths of their opponents. Guerrilla warfare and the failure to win the "Hearts and Minds" of the people in the US and in South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese people had help from the USSR and China in their war effort. The USA had to get involved in the French war against the communists in Indochina. They have the French US dollars to help in there war effort. Once the French lost the war they had to help the South Vietnam in the war and in the end go into war itself against the communists in the north.

When helping the South Vietnam the USA at first only gave them money and advisers. But later once the number of advisers had grown largely the USA had to move the army in to help. Ngo Dinh Diem was the provincial governor at the age of twenty-five. The Americans found that he was not a puppet ruler and would do things his ways. After the Geneva conference Diem became the ruler of the south. Diem was killed and there were many other leaders of the south but none of them were any good.

There were a number of problems facing US forces when fighting the war. One of the biggest problems that they faced was the fact that the Vietcong were fighting using guerrilla tactics: fighting on a small scale, taking independent, irregular actions, they would attack suddenly, then to disappear into the jungle or to melt away...