Guerrilla Warfare - The Nature of War in Vietnam

Through the experience and Impact of Vietnam war clearly shows that ‘major wars are not without their major consequences’ this shown through the consequences such as communism taking over the country, the displacement of people (loss of love ones, building bombed) and use of agent orange (a tactical used by the US which release and herbicide called dioxin).

Guerrilla Warfare was a tactic used in the Vietnam War by the Vietminh army eventually named Vietcong. Guerrilla warfare was used by small groups of armed soldiers against a much hefty army with had superior force and firepower. In Vietnam, veteran also battled against strong forces such as The United states. Guerrilla warfare thrived for the Vietcong due to a lot of Vietnamese people fighting off the US. Instead of using trenches the Vietcong dug underground tunnel system called Cu Chi. During the Vietnam war the tunnel of Cu Chi was used by Vietcong as hideout and headquarters that stretched over more than 190km and 30 feet deep as they had an advantage over the us as they knew much more of land and surroundings. Vietcong were very as they used the tunnels to avoid aerial attacks, house troops, transport supplies and send messages. After attacking above they would simply vanish undergrounds, knowing that US will be unable to locate them. There were side effects of living underground tunnels such as Flooding, disease, poor ventilation and various insects and snakes. To reveal the hidden tunnels, the US Soldiers they called ‘tunnel rats’ were trained to search for any Vietcong soldiers. The Vietcong planted land mines around the area to catch the US soldier out of surprise this caused a lot of long term effect both sides this included many leg amputations and other body parts and explosions caused by buried bombs and mines claimed around 105,000 civilian victims between 1975 and 2007. The figures I have for less-than-lethal 'casualties' for the US soldier are (rounded to nearest ten thousand) approximately 300,000 with around (150,000) did not require hospitalization.

Agent orange was a mission to release dioxin which is an herbicide meant to defoliate all plant life, crops. This had a huge effect on the Vietnamese citizen and veterans due their exposure to the herbicide which caused short term effects like exposure to dioxin can cause darkening of the skin, liver problems and a severe acne-like skin disease called chloracne. In addition, dioxin is linked to type 2 diabetes, immune system dysfunction, nerve disorders, muscular dysfunction, hormone disruption and heart disease. Long term effects were caused by dioxin was cancer prostate, bladder cancer, in fertility and possible diabetes. High levels of exposure over short time can lead to chloracne. This is a severe skin disease with acne scratches mainly on the face and upper body. 

Overall, the War in Vietnam is a great example of a guerrilla warfare. The origing of the word has spanish roots and means 'little war.' In military terms, it refers to a smaller nation or army fighting against a larger, stronger one. Guerrilla warfare in Vietnam utilized raids, ambushes, sabotage and other irregular tactics.