Comments by "Luredreier" (@Luredreier) on "Vietnam an Unwinnable War?" video.

The problem with this video is that it is biased towards the point of view of the warmongers and pro-war factions and assumes that armies ever win a war... They don't really. WW2 for instance wasn't won by armies, they only contributed together with several other factors. It was won by a complex situation involving trade and logistics of each of the sides, the political will of each nation involved (part of why Hitler was able to stay in power was due to not going all out war economy for as long as possible), and just in general the geopolitical situation. Likewise the army would never have been able to actually win in Vietnam in my opinion. The war could perhaps have been won, but not by the army alone. A slogan used in later wars is "winning hearts and minds". And quite frankly that would have been more important for winning there. If south Vietnam was democratic or just in general had enough legitimacy to convince the population to support them instead of Viet Cong, and also if Viet Congs motivation to fight could be reduced, for instance proper representation in a parliament. Then that together with sufficient deployment of troops (that foxhole ratio you mentioned) could perhaps have won the war. That said, they should probably have stricter rules of engagement then what they actually had. Too many civilians where harmed. And to win you'd need civilians to feel that it's better if you stay then if you leave. There really wasn't any objectives in the north that could be taken anyway that would have ended the war. Even if the US held all of the country the war would probably have continued. Essentially war and military objectives are just one extra tool in the toolbox of leaders of people but they don't do much on their own unless they support a non-military plan for how to reach the goal that the armed conflict is meant to achieve.
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