What was the main reason for US failure in Vietnam?

Kennedy

Johnson

Nixon

ARVN and South Vietnam

North Vietnam, NVA and Vietcong

Strategic Hamlet Programme

Operation Rolling Thunder

Search and destroy

Americanisation

Vietnamisation

Anti-war movement

Guerilla tactics

Laos and Cambodia

Peasants

Diem

ARVN

Supporting Diem

China and USSR

Morale

Morale

Ho Chi Minh Trail

Rejecting four-point proposal

8 April 1965

Eliminates external forces from interfering with reunification

Johnson believes acceptance would lead to unified and communist state

More bombs fell on Vietnam than during the whole of WWII

Vietnam agrarian country, few industrial centres so largely ineffective

Destroyed civilians' homes and land

Primary US military strategy from 1965 to 1968

Supply line for men and equipment

Passed through Cambodia and Laos

Never successfully disabled by US

December 1964, China agrees to send military supplies to North Vietnam

1964, China gives over 80,000 guns which gradually increased to 140,000 by 1989

USSR provided surface-to-air missiles, MiG-21 jets and artillery systems

'Cling to the belt'

Complex tunnel systems to hide, heal and feed troops

Booby traps

Over 6000 US troops killed by booby traps

Trapdoors opened to pits with punji sticks, bamboo sticks with faeces led to infection

Demoralised US troops

Followed Mao's principles

Introduced in March 1962

By September 1962, claimed that over four million people in strategic hamlets

By end of 1962, over 3000 hamlets

Corrupt officials took funding for food, medicine, agricultural developments

The Buddhist Crisis

Nepotistic

Corrupt

Kept US financial aid for himself and family

Low morale due to poor leadership, inadequate training and low pay

Operation Ranch Hand

1962

Involved dumping herbicides over forests to force Vietcong to come out of hiding and to destroy their crops

Poorly trained, avoided battles and high desertion rates

US involvement seen as imperialist

Tet Offensive

Jan-Feb 1968

Showed war of attrition and escalation not effective

March 1968, Johnson announces he will not re-run

Tet escalates anti-war movement

216 US troops killed, 1300 wounded

Focused on withdrawing US involvement and strengthening ARVN

ARVN increased in size from 82,000 in 1968 to
one million by 1970

Corruption and favouritism in ARVN continued