Who won the Vietnam War?
Vietnam never received war reparations payments from the U.S. for the massive loss of life and destruction, yet an agreement reached in Paris in 1993 required Hanoi to recognize the debts of the defunct Saigon regime of General Thieu. This agreement is in many regards tantamount to obliging Vietnam to compensate Washington for the costs of war. Moreover, the adoption of sweeping macro-economic reforms under the supervision of the Bretton Woods institutions was also a condition for the lifting of the U.S. embargo. These free market reforms now constitute the Communist Party’s official doctrine. With the normalization of diplomatic relations with Washington in 1994, reference to America’s brutal role in the war is increasingly considered untimely and improper. Not surprisingly, Hanoi had decided to tone down the commemoration of the Saigon surrender so as not to offend its former wartime enemy.
North Vietnam. The American terms for peace that ended their frontline military contribution seemed to indicate they didn’t lose… at the time. The terms favored no one in particular and called for an end to hostilities. But despite still having a presence in South East Asia, America made no real effort to get back in after North Vietnam broke the treaty and resumed the war. Basically, they left their South Vietnamese ally out to be mauled by the wolves. To win a war, a country needs their military, their leaders and their population all on the same page. North Vietnam did and won. The Americans didn’t.
Many Americans choke on the answer but the truth is that North Vietnam won. People say they didn’t win because we left versus having been beat militarily but that is a cop out. Think about it this way. If a team doesn’t show up, or leaves in the middle of the game, they forfeit. A forfeit counts as a win for the other team. You can also look at it from who achieved their objectives. North Vietnam wanted to reunite their country. Check. We wanted to stop the advance of communism in Vietnam. That did not happen.
