Vietnam war and the oil crisis

Despite what the event showed later, in 1972 and 1973, the defeat of the South was not clear to either party. On the one hand they were fighting alone, but on the other hand they were recovering territory and the United States had delivered 2,500 million dollars in weapons and ammunition, enough to withstand several years.

Economic problems

Despite the generous load of arsenal they had left, Americans reduced by two times the economic aid to the Saigon regime (first by Nixon and later by the Congress) to 700 million dollars annually. This reduction in aid was further increased in 1975 which forced to ground more than 200 planes (half of the South Vietnamese air force).

The oil crisis increased the price of food and other staples across the South forcing many soldiers to perform extra work outside their ranks or quit their job to earn enough to support their families by reducing the time available for training and operations. To the north things were not much better.

The policy of Nixon’s overtures to China (the famous Ping Pong Diplomacy in 1971 and the Nixon visit to Beijing in 1972) did suggest a reduction in military aid to the Asian giant, North Vietnam. Along with this, the USSR also declined their generous contributions of funds and weapons to worrying about the security of its border with China.