The Myth of Inevitable US Defeat in Vietnam
- Editore:
Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Collana:
- Strategy and History
- EAN:
9780714651873
- ISBN:
0714651877
- Pagine:
- 192
- Formato:
- Hardback
- Lingua:
- Inglese
Descrizione The Myth of Inevitable US Defeat in Vietnam
This volume offers a dispassionate strategic examination of the Vietnam conflict that challenges the conventional wisdom that South Vietnam could not survive as an independent non-communist entity over the long term regardless of how the United States conducted its military-political effort in Indochina. In reality, the Vietnam War was far from an "unwinnable" war for the United States: the latter possessed enormous military, financial, and other advantages over its foes. However, US officials made a multitude of predictable, avoidable strategic mistakes over a long period of time and certain key figures displayed an inability even to understand the significance of their errors and learn from them. The book considers US strategic decision-making at a number of levels and shows how American errors created the military and political conditions that made North Vietnamese victory possible. If the United States had conducted its political-military effort in a fashion that did not negate its advantages - indeed, ifit had avoided only a small number of many strategic errors - the outcome of the Indochina conflict would likely have been very different.
