1 - How effective were guerrilla tactics during the Vietnam war?

Question 1

what were the consequences of the French defeat at Dien Bien phu?

Answer 1

• Ended their plans fir holding onto their empire in the east
• End of French influence in Indo-China

Question 2

The Geneva Conference, 1954: what was decided?

Answer 2

• Vietnam ‘temporarily’ divided along the 17th parallel
• North=Communist=Ho Chi Minh
• South=Anti-communist, Catholic=Ngo Dinh Diem
• General election to be held in 1956 for the whole of Vietnam to decide it’s future

Question 3

How and why did the USA become increasingly involved in Vietnam?

Answer 3

• Domino Theory: USA afraid communism would spread and get out of hand
• Support for Diem in South Vietnam: USA thought they could control Diem
• Advisors and Strategic Hamlets: the USA tried to keep peasants away from Vietcong
• Gulf of Tonkin incident: claimed North Vietnam fired at their ship

Question 4

Gulf of Tonkin incident

Answer 4

• 1964
• North Vietnam: they claimed a US battleship - the Maddox - went into North Vietnam waters. They warned it off.
• US: they claimed the Maddox was attacked in international waters by Norh Vietnamese gunships

US used this as a excuse to go to war

Question 5

Guerilla Warfare

Answer 5

What is it?
-ambush tactics, fighting on a small scale
-not trying to kill
Tactics
-booby traps eg Punji traps, trip wires, concealed holes
-ambush and sabotage US bases
-VC looked normal and blended in, making them impossible to defeat
-VC also used an underground tunnel system which was very effective
-VC got supplies from North via Ho Chi Minh trail
-other communist countries eg USSR and China also gave VC supplies

Question 6

How effective were guerilla tactics?

Answer 6

• very effective
• guerillas knew the jungle
• VC were used to the hot climate and jungle, unlike the US soldiers
• US soldiers too big and bulky for the tunnel system
• VC were unrecognisable as they wore black peasant pyjamas and were of all ages and genders

Question 7

The US response to guerilla tactics - Winning hearts and minds

Answer 7

Winning hearts and minds

• US tried to help ordinary South Vietnamese people
• spent money and materials eg on roads, schools and health cincs
• ineffective as there was some success however VC had more support and influence

Question 8

The US response to guerilla tactics - Operation Rolling Thunder

Answer 8

Operation Rolling Thunder

• this was a response to an attack on the American airbase, Pleiku
• it was President Johnson’s response
• it began on 11th February, 1965
• lasted years
• Destroyed military and industrial sites eg bridges and railways etc using ‘saturation bombing’

Question 9

The US response to guerilla tactics - Chemical warfare

Answer 9

Agent Orange

• spray defoliant designed to get rid of jungle and reveal the Ho Chi Minh trail
• both Vietnamese and US soldiers affected (genetic abnormlaities)
• in 1969, over a million hectares of forest destroyed

Napalm

• burning jelly designed also a defoliant
• could cause 5th degree burns

Both ineffective Turned the world against USA - more South Vietnamese turned VC

Question 10

The US response to guerilla tactics - Search and Destroy

Answer 10

• American platoons taken into villages to find and kill VC
• took place early in the morning
• difficult to distinguish between peasants and VC
• US soldiers were too hot (temperature not hunkiness) and couldn’t deal with the jungle and mosquitoes
• civilian casualties were very high
• excessive brutality made the US and South Vietnamese very unpopular

Question 11

My Lai Massacre

Answer 11

• March 1968
• worst of many US inhumane cases
• Lieutenant William Calley led a group of soldiers
• 300-500 unarmed civilians (mainly women and children) killed in just a few hours