Question

How well do you think Nixon’s Vietnamisation strategy worked?

Answer 1

Hint: Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the USA, he adopted the policy of Vietnamisation, which aimed at withdrawing American troops from the Vietnam war and making South Vietnam self-sufficient in defending itself against North Vietnam. This decision was taken because the common public of America was very unhappy with the ongoing war and America’s involvement in it.

Complete answer: - Nixon’s policy of Vietnamisation did not work.
- After Nixon announced the idea of Vietnamisation, South Vietnamese troops started getting training, the US government also helped establish economic policies and helped them strengthen their political base.
- By 1972 the number of US troops posted in Vietnam had come down from 550,000 to 69,000. However, it was becoming increasingly clear that South Vietnam was not able enough to fight against North Vietnam.
- In 1973, Nixon signed an agreement with North Vietnam, the terms of which were that the US would withdraw its troops completely and North Vietnam had to cease fire and accept the legitimacy of South Vietnam’s government. A few months later, the Vietnamisation process was declared successful in America.
- However, it was clear that it didn’t work well, because, in 1975, South Vietnam was defeated and captured by the communist forces of North Vietnam.

Note: The main reason why the US got involved in the Vietnam war was the Domino theory. When Vietnam was still a French colony, French Indochina, it was believed that if Vietnam got independence under the leadership of Ho Chi Min then Vietnam would become a communist country, and the same sentiment would spread across entire South Asia. The US political sentiment was strongly anti-communist, and it was also losing the cold war with USSR, which was a communist nation. That is why they entered the Vietnam war to control the ‘spread’ of communism.