Strategic priorities of the DRV and the US during the Second Indochina War

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the strategic priorities of the DRV and the United States at the turning point and final stages of the Vietnam War. In the American army and historiography during the war and later an understanding of the origins of the Vietnamese strategy was not formed. First of all, the influence of Sun Tzu's treatise modernized by Ho Chi Minh was not taken into account. These approaches were creatively used by the Vietnamese command not only against the French, but also against the Americans during the war with the United States. Traditional Vietnamese strategic approaches created an effective counter-strategy against the American “search and destroy” strategy. Hanoi adopted a protracted war strategy for which the United States was unprepared. Accurate consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of both sides allowed Hanoi to seize the strategic initiative and implement a significant part of their schemes in an asymmetric war with a stronger enemy and finally achieve the withdrawal of American troops. In their struggle against the United States, the DRV skillfully and creatively used not only Soviet military equipment and the methods of its use in combat, but also the fundamental strategic principles of Sun Tzu, adapted to the conditions of modern warfare. After the Tet Offensive other strategic offensive operations followed again and again. From January 1968 to the spring of 1975, Hanoi carried out 5 major offensive operations in South Vietnam, which led to the defeat of the United States in the war.