Did the USA lose the Vietnam war?

That art thingy is awesome.

Yes, people are just too proud to admit it.

No. They just pulled out of the war

Well they didn't win it

They won the majority of the battles but not their goal though

Really? I haven't known anyone to say that we took a victory from Vietnam. Unless you count who made the bigger pile of bodies a victory, that is.

That's generally known as a loss.

The US could have, and was winning the war, but once the public's belief in it was lost there was no more political will to continue it. So technically the US was winning right up until it lost.

Which directly consists of failure to obtain our goals in Vietnam.

Yep.

We lost because we pulled out but could have won eventually if we kept fighting.

Its one of life's great ironies. No matter how powerful your armed forces you're at the mercy of the civilian's population fervor to support them. Especially in democratic nations.

an interesting listen to for anyone who can make time for Mr Chomsky

@makhai: Oh back in high school there were tons of those super patriotic kinds of people, who couldn't fathom the US losing a war. They'd get mad if someone said the US lost that war.

Yep

Obviously.

Yes

Yup.

Yes.

Is Vietnam a communist country?

I think both sides lost that war. America ruined its image with the rest of the world (despite the fact that the French started it.) Neither side got any bennifits from it and everybody came out looking bad.( except the French who people pretty much forgot had anything to do with it.)

@outside_85 said:

I think they are socialist but have adapted to a capitalist system, if it weren't for the war they would more than likely be communist/socialist

Nobody wins a war

USA can't lose, they always stalemate in worst case. Mostly because average american doesn't even know something like defeat exists in his dictionary.

the rules of combat where straight messed up

The US had the biggest casualties in Vietnam than any war they've been involved except the Civil War. Yes, it appears that the US lost the war in Vietnam, to the extent that it has been possible for the US to loss a war so far (e.g. it wasn't a loss in the sense that Nazi Germany lost the Battle of Stalingrad, or Nazi Germany losing WWII; something like that is my definition of a lost war). The US lost Vietnam in the sense that Nazi Germany lost the Battle of Britain.

But, of interesting note, the US and South Korea got pushed back by China in the Korean War; so, technically, it appears that China has actually defeated the US in war, by my definition of a lost war.

@dshipp17: You may want to recheck your facts on the casualties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war . I don't think it matters whether we see Vietnam as a defeat or w/e on the military side so long as we acknowledge it was a complete failure from a political standpoint.

@sophia89: You need to up your game if you are going to beat me on these fact checks.

The United States wasn't the only anti- communist nation to loose in their efforts during the war. Love how everyone only blames us.

The Vietnamese communists won. They ran the U.S. out and are doing fairly well now.

Yes, the US lost

@sophia89: lol. ok

No, we just didn't win.

They are, if I am not mistaken, still run exclusively by the communist party. It may have changed since the war, but it's more like China than the US.

That said, if you ask some people in the US socialist is just another word for communist... which is why Bernie is not going to get elected, because that still scares the shit out of many Americans :)

@nefarious said:

@reaperonyx said:

I don't understand what you mean here. What is the United States' definition of winning a war, by your account?

I can not speak for @sedna_goddess, But I personally assumed she meant, Achieving their goals or forcing a surrender / Suing for peace et cetera.

But of course that is just my Interpretation bud.

Warning, There are one or two swear words.

I realise it is a little of topic, But I found it reasonably funny.

That's reasonable but as far as I know, we failed to meet our objectives in Vietnam.

@makhai:

I think we have both got our wires crossed somewhere, I agree with you, that the US failed to meet their objectives in Vietnam, I took the post as saying the US failed to win the war on the criteria that most people judge whether a nation/s has won or lost a war, But the cost of Vietnam "winning" the war was great both in the loss of lives and the damage and destruction to the country's infrastructure.

I hope it was not too rude of me to just jump in and answer a question you asked someone else, I just thought I would explain my Interpretation of the post as I had quoted it in a post of my own.