Could We Have Won Vietnam?

[Nonfiction]

Grunch,

No, we could not have won Vietnam. It is impossible for an attacker to inflict his will on a defender who refuses to be defeated. Only a defender can wage absolute war, that of guerrilla warfare. War is an extension of politics, and all wars have a political objective. If the defender has the will to never admit defeat, he can make sure that the attacker will never be able to succeed in accomplishing its political objectives. The attacker is then forced to either change its political objectives, resulting in victory for the defender.

This has been proven many times, especially when the attacker is a democratic nation (as are most world powers). For modern examples you can look at every single war of independence against colonial powers, as well as Vietnam (for US), Afghanistan (for soviets) and Iraq (for US). If the defender has the will to resists to the end, no matter the destruction rained down on them, they will eventually emerge victorious. The only way for an attacker to succeed in its task against such an opponent is total and complete genocide (which will obviously not happen when the attacker is a democratic nation).

Btw all of this was written almost 300 years ago by Clausewitz. Dude was such a genius.