Chapter 13 and 14 - Confrontation in the Vietnam War Flashcards

1
Q

What was OPLAN 34A?

A
  • Implemented by Johnson, Jan 1964
  • ‘Progressively escalating pressure … to inflict increasing punishment upon North Vietnam’
  • Proved:
  • Johnson not committed to a negotiated resolution
  • Johnson saw conflict expanding into NV
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2
Q

What was the Gulf of Tonkin?

A
  • 2nd August 1964 = 3 NV board fired torpedoes at USS Maddox
  • Attack failed
  • Maddox called for air support from US aircraft carrier
  • 1 NV boat sunk, 2 damaged
  • 4th August = Johnson ordered bombing of NV naval bases
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3
Q

What was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?

A
  • 7th August 1964 = Congress agreed GOT resolution
  • Johnson had power to take whatever action he felt necessary to prevent further aggression
  • Johnson had absolute power to conduct whatever policies he wanted in Vietnam without consulting Congress
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4
Q

Why was situation in Vietnam deteriorating for USA at end of 1964?

A
  • China agreed to provide military supplies to NV
  • USSR established diplomatic links w/ NLF and set permanent mission in Moscow
  • USSR sent military equipment to help NV
  • First North Vietnamese military forces moved down Ho Chi Minh trail
  • Vietcong had strengthened positions in many parts of SV
  • US realised bombing response to Gulf of Tonkin had failed to bolster SV gov = rise in anti-American feelings about much of population
  • ARVN in state of low morale due to poor leadership, inadequate training and low pay
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5
Q

Why did Johnson order Operation Rolling Thunder?

A
  • Feb 1965 = Vietcong attack on army barracks and US helicopter base in Pleiku
  • Further attacks followed
  • Johnson therefore called Operation Rolling Thunder
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6
Q

What was Operation Rolling Thunder?

A
  • Bombing campaign 1965-1968
  • Marked start of Americanisation of war, and escalation of US involvement
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7
Q

What did Johnson say in his 1965 speech?

A
  • 7th April 1965 at John Hopkins University, Baltimore
  • Making US seem heroic, acting in model way
  • Believing Eisenhower’s Domino Theory
  • Johnson continuing policies already there
  • Purpose =
  • gain support
  • make US look like great defenders
  • Get the people to invest in his policy
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8
Q

What were the terms of North Vietnam’s four-point proposal?

A
  • In response to Johnson’s April 1965 speech
  • US troops must withdraw from SV, according to Geneva agreements
  • Neither NV or SV may enter military alliance with foreign power during temporary division of Vietnam, according to Geneva agreements
  • SV internal affairs must be settled by SV people, according to NLF’s programme and without external interference
  • Peaceful reunification of Vietnam must be settled only by the people of both zones
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9
Q

How did Johnson respond to NV’s four-point proposal?

A
  • Rejected them = believed acceptance could lead to unified, COMMUNIST Vietnamese state
  • J ordered, to be deployed in Vietnam:
  • 2 marine battalions
  • Air squadron
  • 20,000 troops
  • By July 1965 - 75,000 US ground troops deployed in Vietnam
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10
Q

What were the USA’s strengths?

A
  • USA’s large finance = most modern equipment in plentiful supply
  • Airfields and landing pads built across country
  • Helicopters could deliver troops directly without risk of ambush, recover wounded, act as attack weapon
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11
Q

How did USA use bombing?

A
  • Operation Rolling Thunder
  • Used B-52 bomber as key bombing tool
  • Aimed to destroy NV economy and undermine Vietcong and Northern forces in South = failed
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12
Q

What were the disadvantages of USA’s bombing strategy?

A
  • Vietnam had few (but well disguised) military bases
  • Relatively few centres of industrial production
  • More bombs dropped on Vietnam during this war than entirety of WW2
  • North Vietnam’s lost resources soon replaced through aid from both China and Russia
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13
Q

How did USA use chemical warfare?

A
  • To undermine ability of Vietcong to operate as guerrilla fighters in dense jungles
  • 1962 = Kennedy approved Operation Ranch Hand = Spraying chemicals to defoliate jungles and remove enemy’s cover
  • Agent Orange and Agent Blue sprayed over cops = enemy lost food = tried to get peasants whose livelihoods were crops to stop supporting Vietcong
  • ‘Pineapple Bombs’ (anti-personnel bombs) = 1,000s of pellets in one explosion BUT indiscriminate = killed many civilians
  • Napalm = gel, spread over wide area and set on fire when landed
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14
Q

How did USA use Search and Destroy?

A
  • To find and destroy enemy in jungle and rural villages
  • US forces arrive in helicopter and raid village suspected of harbouring Vietcong
  • Livestock, sources of food production and homes destroyed
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15
Q

What were the disadvantages of USA’s Search and Destroy strategy?

A
  • Many innocent civilians killed
  • Undermined US efforts to engage rural peasants as allies so they’d reject support for Vietcong
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16
Q

What were the USA’s key weaknesses?

A
  • South Vietnamese Army largely uncommitted = often avoided action and troops not well trained
  • TV coverage = brutal images = growing anti-war movement in USA
  • Martin Luther made 1967 speech emphasising war retracting from ‘Great Society’ promised in USA and that war was impacting civil rights of South Vietnamese and many Black Americans being drafted into army
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17
Q

How did the Vietcong win support from the Vietnamese people?

A
  • The guiding principles of the NLF guerrilla forces models on those laid by Mao Zedong in China:
  • Don’t destroy land or crops
  • Always keep your word
  • Always show peasants respect
  • Always support the peasants
  • These methods worked, BUT Vietcong also prepared to use violence against peasants that challenged them
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18
Q

How did the Vietcong use traps and tunnels against the USA?

A
  • Used to undermine the resolve and morale of US forces
  • Complex tunnel systems constructed to hide Vietcong troops
  • Booby traps of all kinds deployed in dense forests
  • e.g.: trip wires that set off grenades and mines
  • Small groups of troops who ambushed US forces in the jungles
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19
Q

How did the Vietcong use the Ho Chi Minh trail?

A
  • Primary supply route for men and equipment
  • Passed through Cambodia and Laos into SV
  • Was a regular target for US attacks but never fully disabled
20
Q

What were North Vietnam’s main weaknesses?

A
  • Dependent upon both USSR and China
  • NV couldn’t sustain prolonged war (even if based on guerrilla tactics)
  • No guaranteed support among many SV peasants
21
Q

What was the Tet Offensive?

A
  • January - February 1968
  • During traditional Vietnamese holiday when fighting ceased
  • Vietcong launched series of simultaneous military attacks against US targets in over 100 towns and cities in SV
  • Aim = stimulate mass uprising against Americans from SV
22
Q

What was the impact of the Tet Offensive on the Vietcong?

A
  • Massive military defeat
  • Didn’t get much support from SV
  • 25,000 Vietcong killed /5,000 captured
23
Q

What was the impact of the Tet Offensive on USA?

A
  • Walter Cronkite said that he thought the USA were winning this war but the media coverage showing Vietcong’s attacks suggested otherwise
  • Timing of Tet = USA had 550,000 ground forces in Vietnam so no other strategy than continue military escalation
  • People in USA becoming alienated
  • Had been psychological rather than military defeat for USA
  • March 1968 = Johnson announced he wouldn’t stand for re-election
24
Q

What were Nixon’s priorities for Vietnam when becoming President?

A
  • January 1969
  • ‘I’m going to stop that war, fast’
  • Wanted ‘peace with honour’ in Vietnam
  • Wanted SV to remain an independent, non-communist state
25
Q

What was Vietnamisation?

A
  • Withdrawal of US forced from Vietnam and replacing them by SV forces
26
Q

What were Nixon’s aims for Vietnamisation?

A
  • Negotiate growing USA anti-war movement
  • Strengthen his political security as President
  • Strengthen his negotiating position w/ NV
  • Strengthen SV’s military machine
  • Convince NV that SV was secure against threats from them
  • Showed that USA willing to withdraw = fundamental objective of NV = encourage NV to negotiate
27
Q

How did Nixon implement Vietnamisation?

A
  • Gradual withdrawal of US troops from SV
  • Poured resources into SV forces =
  • Troops paid more
  • Career structures improved
  • Benefits increased
  • Service conditions modernised
  • SV army equipment updated
  • Increase in weapons (military vehicles, planes, helicopters)
  • ARVN increased in size (82,000 to 1 million)
28
Q

What were the successes of Vietnamisation?

A
  • Appeared to transform SV military into effective fighting force
  • 1972 = NV launched Spring Offensive = SV suffered 8,000 casualties but NV suffered x5 that number
29
Q

What were the failures of Vietnamisation?

A
  • Morale of ARVN remained low
  • Corruption and favouritism still present
  • Vietnamisation made ARVN dependent on USA
  • Levels of desertion v high amongst ARVN troops
  • Didn’t increase patriotism amongst ARVN
30
Q

Why did Nixon extend war into Cambodia?

A
  • March 1969 = Operation Menu (bombing offensive targeting parts of Cambodia seen as safe by NV and Vietcong)

Aims:
- Sever supply lines based on Ho Chi Minh trail
- Pressurise NV to agree to acceptable peace settlement for SV
- Compensate for planned Vietnamisation programme = retain confidence and commitment of SV

31
Q

Why was Nixon worried about Cambodia becoming communist?

A
  • March 1970 = Cambodia’s Head of State, Sihanouk, overthrown by pro-US General Lon Not
  • NV backed anti-non communist movement (Khmer Rouge)
  • Nixon feared communist regime being established in Cambodia
  • Communist control of Cambodia would undermine Vietnamisation (US forces would be needed to defend SV from Communist Cambodia attacks)
32
Q

How did Nixon extend war into Cambodia?

A
  • SV forces, with US air support, carried out cross-border raids into Cambodia
  • April 1970 = US committed 20,000 ground troops to Cambodia
33
Q

What was the impact of extending war into Cambodia for Nixon?

A
  • Much jungle destroyed = Vietcong struggled to operate in Cambodia
  • Much Vietcong supplies/equipment destroyed
  • US achieved no strategic gains
  • NV faced so much loss they could no longer launch offensive against SV
  • NV strengthened support for Khmer Rouge
  • Opposition to war within USA increased
34
Q

How did anti-war movement in USA increase following extension into Cambodia?

A
  • May 1970 = widespread protests
  • At Kent State Uni in Ohio, 4 students shot by US National Guard = more protests
35
Q

Why was Nixon extending war into Laos difficult?

A
  • Nixon feared massive communist push in 1972 (year of Presidential election)
  • Disabling Ho Chi Minh Trail on route through Laos could prevent support NV relied on
  • BUT Congress has banned US ground troops from entering Cambodia or Laos following the Cambodian ‘incursion’
  • Assault must be conducted by SV forces with US air support
36
Q

What was Operation Lam Son 719?

A
  • Operated by Nixon, February 1971
  • Plan to support ARVN invasion of Laos w/ US air support
  • Aim =
  • Disrupt NV supply lines along Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos
  • Prevent invasion of SV as US troops continued to withdraw
  • 30,000 ARVN troops attacked (inadequate force)
37
Q

What was the impact of Operation Lam Son 719?

A
  • ARVN forced to withdraw
  • Highlighted weaknesses of ARVN and its leadership
  • Leaders more interested in pleasing President Thieu than winning battles
  • Thieu ordered to retreat when reached 3,000 casualties = ARVN only got 1/2 way towards targets before retreating
  • Proved ARVN could only have chance at matching NV when it has US air support
  • Spurred NV on offensive rather than defensive strategy
38
Q

Why did China move to ease relations with the West?

A
  • Chinese realised self-imposed international isolation was not beneficial
  • Hostility between USSR and China became public in 1960
    (China criticised USSR for backing down in Cuban Missile Crisis / Accused USSR of reverting to Capitalism)
  • Saw USSR as a greater and more immediate threat than USA
39
Q

Why was Nixon keen to ease relations with China?

A
  • China a developing nuclear power and major political + strategic force in Asia
  • China a communist power independent of the USSR
40
Q

What was Nixon’s ‘artichoke’ approach towards China?

A
  • Gradual ‘peeling off’ of restrictions
  • July 1969 = Nixon removed trade control and relaxed travel restrictions
  • Nixon managed contacts in France, Romania and Pakistani, hoping to use diplomatic connections w/ China to promote US willingness to improve Sino-American relations
41
Q

How did Kissinger conduct the failed peace talks?

A
  • July 1971 = Kissinger visited Beijing
    = agree to establish Presidential visit and Sino-American summit meeting in 1972
  • October 1971 = Kissinger made second trip to Beijing
  • Kissinger failed to persuade China to pressurise NV in engaging in peace process
42
Q

What were the difficulties during the Paris Peace Talks?

A
  • Questions whether USA would stop all bombing of NV
  • Johnson worried North not fully committed to negotiations and would use stopped bombing to prepare further offensive against South
  • Who would be represented at negotiating table?
  • Oct 1968 = talks reached stalemate
43
Q

What were Le Duc Tho’s conditions in meeting w/ Kissinger in Paris?

A
  • Peace settlement should include both military and political solution
  • Saigon regime must be replaced by coalition gov w/ Vietcong representatives
44
Q

What were Kissinger and Nixon’s reactions to Le Duc Tho’s demands?

A
  • Unrealistic
  • USA couldn’t abandon Thieu = worried SV would se it as US betrayal = SV gov would collapse
45
Q

How did the peace talks end?

A
  • October 1972 = NV moderated their position on Thieu’s removal from power