8. Vietnam War

Question 1

Country in control of Vietnam before WW2

Answer 1

Indochina had been a French colony (the area of South-East Asia now comprising of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos

Question 2

What was the impact of the treaty of Geneva (1954) on Vietnam?

Answer 2

The Treaty of Geneva divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel of latitude - the northern part under Vietminh control while the anti-communist Ngo Dinh Dein controlled the south

Question 3

Why did Eisenhower decide to help South Vietnam? (2)

Answer 3

• As in Korea, the USA saw the possibility of the domino theory coming into play
• If all of Vietnam fell to communism, then neighbouring countries might follow suit

Question 4

Was the USA worried about the Domino Theory in Vietnam?

Answer 4

Yes due to the Ho Chi Minh Trail leading from North Vietnam to Saigon in South Vietnam

Question 5

What actions did JFK take in Vietnam?

Answer 5

He increased the levels of aid for South Vietnam

Question 6

Disadvantage for USA for supporting Ngo Dinh Diem (3)

Answer 6

• Diem was not a popular leader
• His Regime was both brutal and corrupt and the government was made up of mostly catholic landowners who were out of touch with the people, the majority of whom were Buddhist peasants
• The Vietcong gained more and more support and control in the south

Question 7

Who were the Vietcong and what type of fighting did they carry out? (2)

Answer 7

• At the time of JFK’s increased levels of aid came also at a time of increasing Guerilla attacks against the South’s army by the National Liberation Front (NLF) or Vietcong
• this group had been set up in South Vietnam in 1960 to reunite the country under communist control. They were supported by Ho Chi Minh

Question 8

Name the two leaders assassinated on 1963?

Answer 8

Ngo Dinh Diem was overthrown and assassinated in November 1963 and shortly after Kennedy himself was killed

Question 9

What happened in August 1964

Answer 9

The North Vietnamese attacked a US destroyer USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin

Question 10

Who was Johnson (LBJ)?

Answer 10

Kennedy’s successor

Question 11

What was the Tonkin Resolution ? (2)

Answer 11

• Johnson believed that the NV attack on the USS Maddox provided the excuse for massive American involvement in Vietnam
• The US Congress agreed and passed the Tonkin Resolution allowing the President to fight a war as he saw fit

Question 12

Describe Operation Rolling Thunder

Answer 12

• Over the next three years massive numbers of troops were landed in the country and the US Air force launched repeated bombing raids against the Vietcong

Question 13

What chemical agents did the USA use against the Vietcong ? (3)

Answer 13

• The USA used chemicals such as napalm (a petroleum jelly) and Agent Orange in their bombing raids (made up of among other things dioxin, which can damage the brain and the central nervous system).
• Napalm burned civilians without reason. Agent Orange cleared the forests of greenery
• This enabled the Americans to see their enemy in the air, however it also destroyed the land and wounded countless citizens

Question 14

Why was USA unable to win the Vietnam War ? (7)

Answer 14

• Despite having 500,000 troops in Vietnam by 1968 the USA should have had no difficulty in defeating its enemy
• Criticism from within the USA; The War was shown on TV and Americans were horrified at what their soldiers were doing to civilians. Many American soldiers were killed and the cost of the war rose. Anti-War campaigns started at home
• Use of conscripts; They were inexperienced soldiers who may have been fighting their first war in a foreign country and didn’t speak the language - whereas the Vietcong used guerrilla tactics dressed in the same way as the Vietnamese peasantry
• US tactics sometimes misfired e.g dropping napalm on friendly (non-communist) villages by mistake
• ‘Search and Destroy’ tactics focused on statistics- on the body count and kill ratio. This meant they weren’t focused on the best way of defeating the enemy
• US forced Vietnamese people to move into strategic hamlets in efforts to root out the Vietcong. Which led to the atrocity My Lai Massacre of March 1968 where 350 Vietnamese villagers were killed by US troops
• Morale of American soldiers fell with many running away or going AWOL or taking drugs to cope with the stress of fighting an unseen enemy. In contrast the Vietcong were fighting a patriotic war of liberation

Question 15

Effect of the January 1968 counteroffensive (Tet Offensive) against the US forces and at home from that period (5)

Answer 15

• A failure militarily
• However made Americans feel like they couldn’t win the war
• television pictures in USA showed US atrocities in Vietnam
• President Johnson became hugely unpopular
• Opposition increased as one student protest in Ohio resulted in four students being murdered by the national guard

Question 16

Nixon actions to end the war (4)

Answer 16

• He wanted to remove USA from Vietnam without making the USA look as if it had lost
• Increased levels of bombing against NV and Hanoi (the capital)
• Ordered secret bombing raids of 10 million tonnes against the neighbouring countries of Cambodia and Laos in 1970 (the supply routes of Vietcong, Ho Chi Minh trail)
• Introduced policy of Vietnamisation from 1969. US troops would be withdrawn and SV forces would do the fighting

Question 17

What happened in 1973

Answer 17

A peace treaty was signed in Paris agreeing the withdrawal of US forces and return of US prisoners of war

Question 18

Role of China in the war (3)

Answer 18

• At start, China sent 170,000 Chinese soldiers and military equipment to NV
• They helped rebuild roads, railways and airstrips against US bombing raids
• Sent their help as a loan

Question 19

USSR role in Vietnam (6)

Answer 19

• Took over as main supplier of the NV after 1969
• Soviets trained North Vietnamese pilots and gave them modern fighter planes
• Supplied medicines, food and oil
• Supplied tanks, artillery, anti-aircraft guns and SAMs
• 3,000 soldiers served in Vietnam as advisers
• Provided their help as a gift

Question 20

Consequences of the war (5)

Answer 20

• Nixon claimed he had achieved ‘peace with honour’
• Huge military and civilian losses
• USA had spent at least $120 billion on the war
• Many of the US veterans suffered severe psychological damage as a result of their experiences and injuries
• Vietnam was economically and socially devastated by the war

Question 21

Impact on relations (5)

Answer 21

• War was humiliating for the US. It proved an enemy with better tactics could defeat the USA
• Setback for US policy of containment in Indochina. All of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were communists
• War didn’t lead to the total victory of communism in Asia
• Didn’t increase Soviet power in Asia. USSR signed a Treaty of Friendship with Vietnam in 1978 relations were often strained
• Vietnam War didn’t destroy the détente which was developing between the USSR and USA in the 70s. Relations were relatively relaxed