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Posted: 6/17/2019 6:51:18 AM EST
Who won the Vietnam War ?
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 6:53:00 AM EST
[#1]
Is Vietnam still united under communism?
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 6:53:16 AM EST
[#2]
The media and politicians made damn sure we didn't.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 6:53:37 AM EST
[#3]
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 6:53:54 AM EST
[#4]
Communism.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 6:55:03 AM EST
[#5]
who lost more?

by the way, I am not going to say the US lost the war.
I dont know if we won but they sure lost more.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 6:56:59 AM EST
[#6]
North Vietnam won, South Vietnam lost. We wasted a ton of lives and money and still refused to learn the lesson.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 6:58:27 AM EST
[#7]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
who lost more?

by the way, I am not going to say the US lost the war.
I dont know if we won but they sure lost more.
View Quote
The same could be said of almost every battle on the eastern front in WW2  (post Stalingrad).  The Russian's lost sometimes twice the man power in huge battles that the Germans lost territory.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 6:58:48 AM EST
[#8]
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Quoted:
North Vietnam won, South Vietnam lost. We wasted a ton of lives and money and still refused to learn the lesson.
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Some people won.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 6:59:27 AM EST
[#9]
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Quoted:
The same could be said of almost every battle on the eastern front in WW2.  The Russian's lost sometimes twice the man power in huge battles that the Germans lost territory.
View Quote
Good point.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:00:14 AM EST
[#10]
no one
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:01:54 AM EST
[#11]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
The same could be said of almost every battle on the eastern front in WW2  (post Stalingrad).  The Russian's lost sometimes twice the man power in huge battles that the Germans lost territory.
View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Quoted:
who lost more?

by the way, I am not going to say the US lost the war.
I dont know if we won but they sure lost more.
The same could be said of almost every battle on the eastern front in WW2  (post Stalingrad).  The Russian's lost sometimes twice the man power in huge battles that the Germans lost territory.
Dude .... the Russians had a WAAAAYYYYYY worse kill ratio that 2 to 1 ... in the battle for Leningrad they lost like 8 commies for every 1 fascist

ETA - sorry, don't know why i added this post to this thread, completely off topic ... its monday
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:03:48 AM EST
[#12]
Lockheed, Boeing and Raytheon
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:05:30 AM EST
[#13]
The military won a war the politicians surrendered.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:06:36 AM EST
[#14]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:

Dude .... the Russians had a WAAAAYYYYYY worse kill ratio that 2 to 1 ... in the battle for Leningrad they lost like 8 commies for every 1 fascist

ETA - sorry, don't know why i added this post to this thread, completely off topic ... its monday
View Quote
Yes, as a whole.   During they offensive back into Germany (when they were winning), it dropped more to like 1:2.  (1 German for every 2 Russians)
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:09:31 AM EST
[#15]
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Quoted:
Communism.
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Vietnamese communism, as demonstrated by their war with Chinese communism shortly after defeating the south.

IMO, even considering their grievous battlefield losses against the US,  North Vietnam won the war because they completely achieved their war aim.

However, in the years since, the US has won the peace, decisively. Whatever their domestic situation may be, Vietnam is better disposed toward the United States (a former and temporary adversary to them) than they are toward China (their historic and permanent adversary).

In the past few decades, USA has done a masterful job of turning the lemons of defeat in Vietnam into lemonade.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:09:43 AM EST
[#16]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
who lost more?

by the way, I am not going to say the US lost the war.
I dont know if we won but they sure lost more.
View Quote
They lost more?   They conquered the south and united the country under communism.   It was a clear victory for the North.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:10:14 AM EST
[#17]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
North Vietnam won, South Vietnam lost. We wasted a ton of lives and money and still refused to learn the lesson.
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The lesson is don't fight a war you don't have political spine to win. We never lost a war because of the military, we lost because politicians didn't want to commit to winning.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:10:43 AM EST
[#18]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
who lost more?

by the way, I am not going to say the US lost the war.
I dont know if we won but they sure lost more.
View Quote
The Union lost more troops than the Confederates.  ..    Has absolutely nothing to do with who won the war
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:11:24 AM EST
[#19]
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:12:53 AM EST
[#20]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
who lost more?

by the way, I am not going to say the US lost the war.
I dont know if we won but they sure lost more.
View Quote
Are you saying that when we commit to a war and fail to achieve our war aims that it is some rare species of victory?

IOW if you're gonna learn from a loss, you first have to admit it to yourself so you're capable of seeing why.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:15:11 AM EST
[#21]
We won in the field, but
Liberals won the war.  USA lost.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:20:39 AM EST
[#22]
The North won.

They then proceeded to turn a third world shithole into a FOURTH world shithole.

It became the best example of Communism-in-action the world had seen at that point.

The US should have let them have the whole country in 1954. It would have been possible, at that point, to blame the debacle on French ineptitude. Vietnam would now be an obscure historical footnote, and a warning of the dangers of Communism, much as Venezuela is becoming.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:22:50 AM EST
[#23]
The press won. The people that lost were the South Vietnamese.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:24:33 AM EST
[#24]
I have never understood why politicians held the US military back so much. You would think progress in the war would look better on them than American troops dying for no reason.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:25:52 AM EST
[#25]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:

They lost more?   They conquered the south and united the country under communism.   It was a clear victory for the North.
View Quote
Maybe we can agree that the politicians lost it.
The Clinton administration is who started recognizing Communist Vietnam.  
If we are going to pick a day for defeat, lets make it July 11th, 1995.

I also think you make a valid point.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:26:47 AM EST
[#26]
Nobody won, there were just varying degrees of loss.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:27:17 AM EST
[#27]
There is a lot of confusion the Vietnam War.  Mostly perpetrated by Hollywood and the Liberals that like to gloat that the "Left" defeated the "Right". The truth is a little different that the "Ewoks v The Evil Empire" that the Left likes to portray.

Once troops were committed LBJ was a very stupid Commander in Chief.  He chose to fight the Communists in South Vietnam on their grounds.  That caused a tremendous number of casualties that could have been avoided with right strategic planning.  Nixon understood the failures of how LBJ fought the war and changed it big time.  He took the war to North Vietnam and prevailed.

Nixon kick the shit out the North Vietnamese so much that they agreed to sign the Paris Peace Accords, which allowed the existence of a free South Vietnam.  That was our objective from the beginning and we won.

However, that arrangement was only going to work as long as the US supported South Vietnam like we supported South Korea.

That victory against the Communists pissed off the Liberals in the US.  The Democrat controlled Congress, aided by a few stupid weak Republicans, passed  the Case-Church budget amendment that essentially defunded all military aid to South Vietnam.  That gave the Communists the green light to invade.

The US prevailed militarily in the war even despite LBJs stupidity.  The Liberals in Congress gave away the victory.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:27:37 AM EST
[#28]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:

Are you saying that when we commit to a war and fail to achieve our war aims that it is some rare species of victory?

IOW if you're gonna learn from a loss, you first have to admit it to yourself so you're capable of seeing why.
View Quote
Certain lessons were learned, others not....
I think the military learned from mistakes.  Politicians don't ever learn, they believe...
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:28:46 AM EST
[#29]
Depends on what  you call victory.
Our military got the North to the Peace table, and the war was ended. We achieved what we set out to do--a peace agreement.
Then, a few years later, the North violated the peace agreement, and the politicians refused to back it up.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:28:48 AM EST
[#30]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
The North won.

They then proceeded to turn a third world shithole into a FOURTH world shithole.

It became the best example of Communism-in-action the world had seen at that point.

The US should have let them have the whole country in 1954. It would have been possible, at that point, to blame the debacle on French ineptitude. Vietnam would now be an obscure historical footnote, and a warning of the dangers of Communism, much as Venezuela is becoming.
View Quote
Interestingly enough, Ho Chi Minh seemed to desire to align the Vietnamese with the US after WWII.  The US officer that was working to develop the alliance was mysteriously killed in Vietnam......
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:29:42 AM EST
[#31]
We both lost.  We lost men and money, and Vietnam lost more men and got communism.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:29:43 AM EST
[#32]
North Vietnam wanted unify the country under communist rule.

The country was unified under communist rule. Sounds to me like North Vietnam won.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:30:05 AM EST
[#33]
Quoted:
Who won the Vietnam War ?
View Quote
We won the First War of Vietnam. Treaties signed, the whole nine yards. Our objective was to stop the North's aggression, not regime change or occupation. We met our objectives.  The USA ended hostilities January of 1973. then withdrew most of her presence by March of 1973.
North Vietnam then invaded in January, 1974, beginning the Second War of Vietnam. The USA declined to participate, so cannot be said to lose the war which we did not join.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:30:39 AM EST
[#34]
Nothing good will come of this.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:32:03 AM EST
[#35]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
We both lost.  We lost men and money, and Vietnam lost more men and got communism.
View Quote
I think this is the best answer yet.
How can you win if you get communism?  If communism wins, there are no winners.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:32:06 AM EST
[#36]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Depends on what  you call victory.
Our military got the North to the Peace table, and the war was ended. We achieved what we set out to do--a peace agreement.
Then, a few years later, the North violated the peace agreement, and the politicians refused to back it up.
View Quote
Achieving war aims is victory

We got them to the table? So what.

Playing a 5th Quarter in OT doesn't mean a thing if you're not the one who scores and the competition is.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:35:28 AM EST
[#37]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
I have never understood why politicians held the US military back so much. You would think progress in the war would look better on them than American troops dying for no reason.
View Quote
They like dead Americans.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:36:10 AM EST
[#38]
the north achieved its strategic objectives.

the US did not.

how is this a question?
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:40:13 AM EST
[#39]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:

The lesson is don't fight a war you don't have political spine to win. We never lost a war because of the military, we lost because politicians didn't want to commit to winning.
View Quote
Absolutely true. The only problem is that people will still support wars that we are incapable of winning due to the public's unwillingness to do what needs to be done to win, the politicians unwillingness to do what needs to be done to win, and the unwillingness of our allies and the world in general to support us doing what needs to be done to win.

Our solution always seems to be getting into a war then bitching that we can't do what was clear from the start wouldn't be acceptable.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 7:42:26 AM EST
[#40]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:

Nothing good will come of this.
View Quote
In the context of this thread?  I agree.  On a personal note, that shitty war did bring at least one AWESOME family to our country, and I am PROUD to call @mojo my dear friend!  You will never meet a finer AMERICAN than mojo!
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 8:01:50 AM EST
[#41]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
There is a lot of confusion the Vietnam War.  Mostly perpetrated by Hollywood and the Liberals that like to gloat that the "Left" defeated the "Right". The truth is a little different that the "Ewoks v The Evil Empire" that the Left likes to portray.

Once troops were committed LBJ was a very stupid Commander in Chief.  He chose to fight the Communists in South Vietnam on their grounds.  That caused a tremendous number of casualties that could have been avoided with right strategic planning.  Nixon understood the failures of how LBJ fought the war and changed it big time.  He took the war to North Vietnam and prevailed.

Nixon kick the shit out the North Vietnamese so much that they agreed to sign the Paris Peace Accords, which allowed the existence of a free South Vietnam.  That was our objective from the beginning and we won.

However, that arrangement was only going to work as long as the US supported South Vietnam like we supported South Korea.

That victory against the Communists pissed off the Liberals in the US.  The Democrat controlled Congress, aided by a few stupid weak Republicans, passed  the Case-Church budget amendment that essentially defunded all military aid to South Vietnam.  That gave the Communists the green light to invade.

The US prevailed militarily in the war even despite LBJs stupidity.  The Liberals in Congress gave away the victory.
View Quote
Nixon kicked the shit out of NV enough for a face-saving withdrawal, and avoided a Dunkirk or Puson (going the wrong way) situation.   It wasn't a war winning knock out, but enough to take the pressure off the US and allow a orderly withdrawal.  The North used the time to re-arm and re-equip and waffle stomp the south less then 2 years later.  It was an honorable way to leave a very bad and unwinnable situation.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 8:04:04 AM EST
[#42]
Well, Vietnam is a united country under a communist government.

It sure as fuck wasn't us.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 8:06:30 AM EST
[#43]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
Well, Vietnam is a united country under a communist government.

It sure as fuck wasn't us.
View Quote
Yup.  War is more than force of arms.  NV won, maybe not on the battle field but they still won.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 8:07:56 AM EST
[#44]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:

Nothing good will come of this.
View Quote
I understand what you are saying.  May here think that saying we lost Vietnam is disrespectful of those who served there.   It shouldn't be taken like that.  The failure is on LBJ for committing all in to something he didn't fully understand.  The communists were willing to carry on the fight in their home turf, even in the face of 10:1 losses.

Failure is the best teacher.  The national policy failed, and if we don't acknowledge that, then we are doomed to repeat it.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 8:10:08 AM EST
[#45]
North Vietnam won.

It’s kinda hard to argue, “Communism” won, though.



The Communist Party did, sadly.

Link Posted: 6/17/2019 8:10:28 AM EST
[#46]
We sure didnt.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 8:12:52 AM EST
[#47]
I don't remember commies of the North fighting to get on a helicopter to escape what's coming  in 1975.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 8:21:22 AM EST
[#48]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
The press won. The people that lost were the South Vietnamese.
View Quote
Good point.
The South had roughly twice the population of the North.
The South was supported by the greatest superpower on earth.
The North had the support of the Soviets and Chinese.

And yet, even with the intervention of over 500K American troops, the South could not win.

Yes, yes, I know about the corruption of the South's Governments: Diem, Ky, etc. I know about the divisions in the South's society.

Nevertheless, I suspect that their was a serious lack of motivation.

I remember LBJ's speech in October 1963, weeks before the election: "I won't send American boys to do what Vietnamese boys should do for themselves".
Didn't work out that way.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 8:41:01 AM EST
[#49]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
North Vietnam wanted unify the country under communist rule.

The country was unified under communist rule. Sounds to me like North Vietnam won.
View Quote
This.  You can debate why/how all day long, and who was responsible for it.  Saigon is still called Ho Chi Minh City, and it wasn't the South Vietnamese .gov that renamed it.
Link Posted: 6/17/2019 8:42:47 AM EST
[#50]
The military indu$trial complex
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