A Bloody Stalemate Emerges in Vietnam• By the end of 1965

180,000+ U.S. troops were fighting in Vietnam

• This doubles by 1966

• America went in overzealously & were frustrated with the different styles of fighting

Frustrating Warfare…Why?VIETNAMESE

- Ambushes- Booby traps- Guerrilla tactics- Blended with general

city population- Knowledge of the

land, valleys, mountains, etc…

AMERICANS- Used to trench-style

combat- Reliance on firepower- Strategy: battalions,

shifts & constant communication with other flanks

Our New Tactic:

• “Search & destroy” missions: find enemy troop, bomb their position, destroy supply lines & force them into the open for combat

• Napalm: jellied gasoline that explodes on contact to destroy jungles (guerrilla)

• Agent Orange: a chemical that strips leaves/foliage – leaving farmlands/forests wasteland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx1f9hebiGg

What it really looks like…

How did the Vietcong send supplies to fight into S. Vietnam without getting ambushed?

• Ho Chi Minh Trail: network of jungle paths winding through Cambodia & Laos, bypassing the border b/w North & South Vietnam

• Why wouldn’t we just attack that trail?“No! This trail passes through countries full of innocent people NOT involved in this war” - LBJ

Then why wouldn’t LBJ just attack N. Vietnam?

Fear that China would join the war (remember

the Korean war?)The Soviet Union & China supplied N.

Vietnamese troops with weapons & supplies

U.S.’ Tactical Flaw

• U.S. troops were ordered to fight a war of attrition: a strategy of defeating enemy sources by slowly wearing them down

• Grisly body counts daily after battles to determine how many enemies had died

• Time in Vietnam much longer as a result

Let me tell you about the stresses of a Vietnam soldier

How Close is the End?

• The war has been going on for approx. 10 yrs• U.S. troops join in 1965• Between 1965-1967: 220,000 Vietnamese killed via U.S. air-

bombing– Still showed NO signs of weakening/backing down

• By 1966: 6,700 U.S. troops dead• Suddenly U.S. soldiers begin to question how soon/if we

will winPeople back home are now questioning America’s involvement

in the war

- Vietminh defeat French @ Dien Bien Phu- Geneva Accords

1954: 1965:

U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam

1975:

Vietnam Divides Our Nation

• Back in the states, Americans began to widely resist our involvement in Vietnam

• WHY?!?!• At first, people were in support of going over• BUT the war dragged on & U.S. men were dying by the

thousands with little/no progress• Speculation began to grow – people wanted to know what

troops were still doing over there

The First “Television War”

• Will Westmoreland [U.S. commander in S. Vietnam] continually reported the enemy was weakening

• BUT footage ran nightly on the news of what was going on• Families saw troops suffering/dying• This soon developed a credibility gap: it was hard to

believe what LBJ was saying about the war