Vietnam: You don't have to be rich and powerful to win

 

In November 2019, my mother, brother, aunt and I, went to Vietnam. It was an amazing experience! There were beautiful parks, delicious food, remarkable people and wonderful stories.

One story that interested me particularly was the 1955 war that America fought with North Vietnam. This war lasted for 19 years! What mainly got me interested in this story, was our trip to the ‘Cu Chi Tunnels’ this is where I really learnt a lot about this war.

Why was this war even fought?

Actually, a civil war first broke out between Communist North Vietnam and Can Lao Party (a mix of communism and capitalism) of South Vietnam – and this was NOT a peaceful war, with just protests and dialogues. It was a violent and complex war.

To make matters worse, North Vietnam found allies with Russia and South Vietnam found allies with the Americans. And in the middle of this mix there was also a group called the Viet Cong known best for their guerilla style warfare.

Americans came partly to help South Vietnam and mainly to stop the spread of communism to other Asian countries fearing the possibility of the dominoes effect.                                                     

The American strategy was called “Rolling Thunder” – and as its name suggests, there was a lot of noise! This movement involved the Americans bombing a number of places which included mostly forest land.

The Vietnamese responded to the American attack with “The Tet Offensive” plan. This involved the North Vietnamese destroying cities and villages that the Americans had set up in South Vietnam.

I don’t want to take sides in this war because I find it very complex to do so. It is tough to say who is good and who is bad, but what surprises me the most is how Viet Cong a non-industrialized movement won against America, an industrialized country. 

The “Cu Chi Tunnels” set up by the Viet Cong served as cool hiding places. The guide asked us to find the entrance to one of these tunnels and we all found it hard until, at last, someone found it! The trapdoor was nicely camouflaged with shrubs and grass all over it.

                                         

The entrance to the tunnels were marked with artificial rocks. These artificial rocks had pipes running through them so that the people in the tunnels could breathe. The tunnels themselves had around 3 layers. The Americans usually bombed the top layer without realizing that the Viet Cong were escaping down under, into the layers they kept creating!

Another fascinating stunt the Viet Cong pulled off were sandals made out of tires! These sandals could be worn both ways, so, as a result of that the Americans always mixed up the direction the Viet Cong went!

This shows that not only big people can win or be great, but small people can too. We should always know that in a war you can never call yourself right.