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Insurgency In The Vietnam War Essay

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Insurgency in the Revolution and Vietnam

Evaluating the strategy used by both the British and the United Stated during the Vietnam War, one can pin the underlying failure for both superior countries on the fact that neither fully understood the true nature of the conflict at hand. This led to unclear political objectives and an ensuing military strategy that relied upon limited use of force to quell each rebellion respectively. To paraphrase LtCol Daly, “military force” should only be advocated for “when the political situation” supports a “decisive military campaign.” This paper will discuss a few examples to compare and contrast the insurgency and counter-insurgency efforts in both conflicts using Mao Tse-tung’s three phases of insurgency.
Both the British and the United States were considered the “superpower”, stronger in all facets of national power during each war as compared to the adversary. To reduce this huge advantage during Phase One, termed “Survival” by Mao, the colonists turned to insurgent tactics against the occupying British during the Southern Campaign. They did this to overcome the strength of British military might, developing into small contingents across the countryside, away from the British strongpoints near the coastal areas and major lines of communication. The Viet Cong (VC) did the same to counter …show more content…

The British Army won most of the major engagements during the Revolutionary War, particularly in the Northern Campaign, but eventually lost the war. In Vietnam, the United States had military victories in all the major battles as well, and lost the

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