Asia exam questions.

Question 1

How did the USA respond to the outbreak of war in Korea?

Answer 1

• Truman immediately sent warships to South Korea and offered advisers and supplies to the South.
• They appealed to the UN to stop the invasion.
• They put pressure on the UN to send troops to defend South Korea.

Question 2

Why did China become involved in the war?

Answer 2

• They wanted to aid the spread of Communism.

Question 3

What was the impact of the Korean war on the Cold war? How did it extend it?

Answer 3

The impact was that the Cold War was extended into Asia. The formation of SEATO increased the tension between America and USSR.

Question 4

Why were the Viet Cong so successful?

Answer 4

• They used surprise attacks and traps.

- They moved supplies on the Ho Chi Mind trail.

Question 5

How was the US involved in Vietnam under Eisenhower and what did they do?

Answer 5

They sent aid to Vietnam.

Question 6

Why were these tactics effective?

Answer 6

• They were hard to find.
• Their ambushes and booby traps stopped morale.
• They had peasant support.
• They were supplied from North Vietnam.

Question 7

Why did opposition to the war increase after 1968?

Answer 7

• The Tet offensive.

- War was unwinnable.

Question 8

What were the effects of war on Vietnam and the USA?

Answer 8

Vietnam:

• The war forced many Vietnamese people out of their homes.
• Around 5 million people were forced to leave.
• The war left Vietnam with problems such as corruption.

America:

• Many soldiers found it difficult to settle back into civilian life.
• Public disillusionment.

Question 9

Write an account of how the Vietcong gained the support of the Vietnamese people.

Answer 9

They would use the villages for training and launching attacks. Also, they would respect the civilians and they introduced a code that meant they had to act respectfully towards the peasants. They wouldn’t spoil the houses and belongings of the people.

Question 10

Explain your answer using source D and your contextual knowledge.

Answer 10

Source D was worried about the spread of Communism abroad because in the source, the communist countries are on a sheet with the communist logo on it. It depicts a worried looking American in a ship with USA on it. The word Red is in large letters portrayed as an iceberg. The spread of Communism around Asia had sparked the Red Scare leading to the Domino theory.

Question 11

‘President Eisenhower was better than President Kennedy in achieving US aims in Vietnam’.

Answer 11

President Eisenhower:

• Invited South Vietnam to join SEATO.
• Launched a propaganda campaign against Ho Chi Minh and North Vietnam.
• Supplied Diem’s government.
• Was reluctant to send combat troops as they had just fought the Korean War.

President Kennedy:

• Increased the number of military experts in Vietnam to around 16,000 who trained the South Vietnamese army. - Supported the Strategic Hamlet programme.
• Kept US involvement in Vietnam a secret from the US press.
• Sent 300 US helicopter pilots to South Vietnam.

Question 12

Write an account of how events in Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin contributed to greater US involvement in Vietnam by 1965.

Answer 12

Gulf of Tonkin incident:

• The Vietnamese shot at US ships on 3rd August 1964.
• The Maddox fired at the boats which in turn fired their torpedoes.
• US jets sank one of the boats and damaged the other two.
• Led to greater US involvement: humiliating for the Americans: wanted to show their strength.

Operation Rolling Thunder:

• Launched on 13th February 1965.
• Campaign of continuous bombing in North Vietnam that targeted important government campaigns.
• Aim was to reduce the morale of the North Vietnamese government.
• Marked a major escalation in Vietnam.