Why Did Vietminh and NLF Win the Vietnam War - Essay Example

? 27 March Why Did Vietminh and NLF Win the Vietnam War? Introduction The Vietnam War remains one of the hot topics of scholarly analysis. Decades after the end of the Vietnam War, the speculation surrounding the issues and reasons of the U.S.’s failure continues to persist. The Vietnam War is claimed to be the turning point in the evolution of the U.S.’s political relations with the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the Vietnamese side of the conflict is persistently disregarded. Why and how the Vietminh and National Liberation won the Vietnam War remains obscured from the public. Nevertheless, the success of the Vietminh and the NLF during the Vietnam War can hardly be overestimated. The party and the Liberation Front greatly contributed to the success of the political and military operations against the United States. That the Communists won the Vietnam War was both remarkable and unbelievable: active propaganda, local support, sophisticated military strategies and the undisputable leadership capacity of Ho Chi Minh altogether laid the groundwork for advancing the victory of the Communists during the Vietnam War. It should be noted, that the fact of the Communist victory during the Vietnam War remains one of the most remarkable elements of modern history. Needless to say, before and even during the Vietnam conflict, the United States could not even suspect that the Vietnamese communists would have a chance to outperform Americans, in all senses. Andrew Jon Rotter writes that “the most significant fact about the Vietnam conflict is not that the United States lost but that the Communists won” (180). In this sense, the most confusing is the fact that the main factors responsible for the Communists’ victory during the Vietnam War often remain beyond the scope of historical analyses. One possible reason is that, for many years, the United States did not want to shed light on the Vietnam War controversies that could affect its political image. It is also possible that more than one factor was responsible for the Communists’ victory, making the overall historical analysis extremely complicated. It is widely established that not the errors made by the United States in Vietnam but the actions made by Washington’s adversaries in Hanoi were at the heart of the Communists’ military and political achievements in Vietnam (Rotter 180). From the very beginning to the very end of the war, an interplay of factors created conditions needed to support Vietnam in its fight against the U.S. These factors included political propaganda, local support, effective military strategies, and the unprecedented authority and leadership of Ho Chi Minh. Historically, the Vietminh was created by one of the most outstanding Vietnamese leaders, Ho Chi Minh, in 1945 (Spartacus International). Later, in 1960, the National Liberation Front (NLF) was established (Moise). It is interesting, that the NLF was initially established with the goal of leading the guerilla against Vietnam’s Prime Minister Diem (Moise). South Vietnamese professionals, including artists, youth leaders and peasants, organized the NLF (Levy 19). At that time, the growing corruption in the country and the lack of positive political and economic changes raised the wave of public dissatisfaction with the prime minister’s actions and decisions. That was also the time when the NLF could not yet anticipate that it would play a crucial role in the Communists’ victory over the U.S. Political propaganda became one of the most important factors driving the NLF’s popularity and the public opposition to the actions of the U.S. in Vietnam. It is no secret that the NLF propagandists were well trained to work with the local population. Propaganda schools were scattered widely across the Southern regions of Vietnam, which helped to spread the NLF’s ideology against the United States (Friedman). The public messages sent to the local people were full of optimist about the future victory over the U.S. For example, one of the leaflets distributed by the NLF wrote: “Nowadays, due to the military increase of the United States and Diem bunch, our liberators are valiantly facing unexpected difficulties. More than 50% of the liberator’s weapons and ammunition are gone. […] Stand by the revolution to the bitter end” (Friedman). That was one of the rare cases when the NLF referred to the local people and asked for help. The NLF doubted that they would be able to expand their presence to North Vietnam (Guan 114). As a result, the propaganda was designed so that mistakes and weaknesses were not discussed, in order to strengthen the spirit of fight against the American military. Propaganda alone would never suffice to bring the Vietminh and NLF to the desired end. Active support of the local people became a solid contributor to the Communists’ victory over the U.S. One of the most important advantages of the NLF was the fact that local peasants regarded it as a local organization, more purely Vietnamese than even the government (Moise). Unlike the Saigon government, the NLF did not have foreigners in its ranks, which further improved its local image and resulted in active support from the local peasants (Moise). As a result, South Vietnam became a reliable source of ammunition and guns for the NLF (Moise). With time, the NLF managed to build unique rapport with the locals, which further supported its political messages and created a good basis for winning the U.S. in the Vietnam War. Sophisticated military strategies and the unprecedented authority and leadership of Ho Chi Minh further facilitated Vietnam’s victory over the U.S. That Vietnam had capabilities and knowledge to develop productive military strategies became obvious even before the beginning of the U.S.-Vietnam conflict. The Vietnamese forces had been extremely productive in their fight against the French colonial rule (Rotter 180). However, even the best military strategies would have been ineffective, if not for the continuous support of the Communist Party’s program. The genius of the program was in that it was built on a unique combination of economic and patriotic themes, which addressed the needs of the broad spectrum of the Vietnamese population and directed them in their struggle against the American adversaries (Rotter 180). Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the Vietnamese movement against the U.S. forces. In one of his speeches, Ho Chi Minh stated that they would lead the war to the final victory, even if it took 20 years (Schmoop 54). Although Ho Chi Minh died six years before Vietnam’s victory was declared, his political legacy, authority and leadership became the strongest motivation for the Vietnamese people in their fight against the U.S. Works Cited Friedman, Herbert A. “National Liberation Front (NFL) Anti-American Leaflets of the Vietnam War.” Psywarrior, n.d. Web. 27 March 2012. Guan, Ang Cheng. Ending the Vietnam War: The Vietnamese Communists’ Perspective. Routledge, 2000. Print. Levy, Debbie. The Vietnam War. Twenty-First Century Books, 2004. Print. Moise, Edwin E. “The Vietnam Wars: The Aftermath of Geneva, 1954-1961.” Clemson University, 1998. Web. 27 March 2012. Rotter, Andrew Jon. Light at the End of the Tunnel: A Vietnam War Anthology. Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. Print. Shmoop. The Vietnam War: Shmoop US History Guide. Shmoop University, Inc, 2005. Print. Spartacus Educational. “Vietminh.” Spartacus Educational, n.d. Web. 27 March 2012. Read More