The U.S. struggles against the Communist in Vietnam

Using pages 356-61 in the Vietnam War Reading, make notes in columns 2 (US Army) and 4 (Viet Cong) to record how far each side had each quality.


1a) Were the armies finely balanced or was the balance strongly weighted to one side or the other?

1b) Which quality was most important in determining who won the war? Was one feature so important that being ahead in that area meant that other advantages or disadvantages did not matter?


2. Now write up your answer. Use this structure:
a. The U.S. weaknesses were:
The guerrilla tactics

b. At the same time, the Communist strengths were:

c. The U.S. forces did have some successes. For example:

d. However, there were some major failures as well. Examples of these were:
Search and destroy, bombing?

e. The Viet Cong had some major successes, such as:

f. However, they also suffered defeats, for example:
The Tet Offensive. They lost around 10,000 experienced fighters and were badly weakened.

g. If I had to identify one major American weakness, it would be strategy because: it seems like whatever they did hurt the innocent villagers more than the communist/viet cong forces and it's like they didn't even think it through all of the way.

h. The key Viet Cong strength was [Insert strength here] because: