Political Crossfire Forums

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War

Was the war in Vietnam winnable? By that I mean whether the US could have propped up South Vietnam indefinitely and force a peace treaty with the North?

Could the USSR have won the Afghan war?

Napoleonic France the Peninsula war?

Last time this topic came up, a lot of people were very insistent that the US did win the war in Vietnam.


I don't think it was ever a realistic possibility.

You can't beat a population without destroying a population.
Massive combined ideology against colonial ownership = instant win

I'll get this out of the way: the US did win the war, on a strictly military level. In terms of people killing people, the US was clearly the dominant force. Losses of 40,000 were nothing compared to NVA and guerilla losses.

But it would have been impossible for them to win "hearts and minds," so no, the goals of the Vietnam War were impossible to achieve.

No. Because Lord Cronkite said so.

No, because Vietnam had superior Soviet weapons. The US eventually catch up on the weapons race, but Vietnam had better ones at the time.