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There are so many reasons for the defeat of the American troops in Vietnam. First of all Johnson and McNamara judged the situation as completely wrong. They underestimated the strength of the communist troops and their support from China and Russia. The Viet Cong were also prepared to fight until death and they were dedicated to win or to die. They were highly motivated. Another support to the communists was the landscape of Vietnam. The American troops were not prepared to fight in the jungle and they did not see their enemies at all. So they tried to destroy the dark forests with chemicals like Agent ORANGE or they poisoned the whole flora. The weather was horrible to for the soldiers. As already explained at the beginning the weather always changed from hot to cold, from dry to wet. All the highly developed technology in warfare was useless for the United States. Another reason why they lost the war was that the army was not consequent enough. On the one side they wanted to win the war but on the other side they wanted to bring as many soldiers as possible alive back to the USA. The moral of the American soldiers was also quite bad. The vast majority of the troops was black or from the lower classes. And especially for the black it was hard to identify with this war for a country which was racist and opponent against the black. Many soldiers also took a lot of drugs to forget their fear of the war.
Finally we can say that the United States achieved a Waterloo in Vietnam due to the very bad preparation of the war.
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