esclation in vietnam post 64 election Flashcards
what are the 6 causes of esclation
LBJs beliefs
rejection of deplomacy
weak siagon gov
working group on vietnam
communist agression
popular support
what were some of the key beliefs of LBJ
patriotic
domino theory
us ecnomic and military strength
in relation to LBJs beliefs what 3 things must be considered
cold war context/containment
quagmire theory
world policeman role
who offered depolatic soulutions for the us and why were they turned down
canada, UN genral
congressional mandate/belief in us strength
what diplomatic soultion did N.veitnam offer the us and why was it rejected
4 point plan
acceptance would lead to a united communits veitnam
give a stat to show weakness of siagon gov
6 leaders in 8 years
how long was genral minh leader of siagon gov for
3 month
nov 63-jan64
when was the working goup on veitnam established
jan 65
who was part of the working group on vietnam
william bundy
JCS
john mcnaughton
what did the working group on vietnam suggest
suggested and supported LBJ to esclate
give 2 examples of communist agression
christmas attack on bar
feb 65 vc attack army barracks + us helicopter base in pleiku killing 8 us officers
for esclation what does congress approve in may 65
$700mill for military opperations
aproved 88 to 3
in what way did the media support esclation in veitnam
jeornalists were mainly hawks
give an example of how the media didnt support esclation
NY times feb 65 said the war was ‘undeclared and unexplained’
in what way did the public support esclation
67% apreicans approved opperation rolling thinder
in what 2 ways did johnson esclate the war
bombing
troops
what was the name of the bombing opperation in vietnam
opperation rolling thunder
when was opperation rolling thunder
febuary 1965
what was teh cause of opperation roling thunder
reasuring s.v
pressure from us public
encorage n.v to negotiate
partial responce to n.v agression
why did the us not use nuclear bombs
didnt want to prevoke ussr/china
what was operation rolling thunder
systematic campaign of bombing raids to disrupt supplies to vc and demorolise nv
what and how many bombs were used in opration rolling thunder
B52 bombers with 30 tonnes of bombs
when did operation rolling thunder end
1968
how many tonnes of bombs were dropped by 1967
226,000
what was the consiquence of ORT
nv turned against us
esclation
didnt target ho chi minh trail
when was the deployment of ground troops in vietnam authorised
march 1965
how many troops were delopyed march 8th 1965
3500 marines
for ground troops what was approved 6th april 1965
increase of 18,000 us support forces
when did congress aprove $700 mill for spending in vietnam
may 65
how did the number of troops increase from july 65 to 68
125,000
536,000
what battle was a turning point in the veit war
battle of la drang valley nov 65
why was battle of la drang valley a turning point
1st major conflict between us and nv forces and a return to convential warfair
who won battle of la drang valley and what did that lead us genrals to declare
us
they were on the verge of victory
what was the result of battle of la drang valley on nv
PAVN held their ground
changes to gurilla tactics
what were the strengths of the us
ecnomic capacity
bombing
serch and destroy
how was the us ecnomic capacity a strength
us forces had lots of modern supplies
construction of airfeild for deliveries w/o ambushes
explain some points on why bombing was a strength of the us
opperation rolling thunder
defoliants
anit personell bombs
-scale signifies the strength and relentlessness of us attacks
give a stat for the number of bombs dropped during the veitnam war
more than ww2
when was search and detroy used
65-68
what was serch and detroy ig v reality
intent to find and destroy enemies in rural villages in the jungle
ended up killing civilians and detroying crops and live stock
what were the weaknesses of the us
south veitnamese army
media opposition
why was the south v army a weakness for the us
they were largely uncommitted and not well trained
what were the 2 parts of media opposition
civil rights campaignes
andi war demonstrations
give an example of the media opposition from civil rights comapigners
MLK- april 67 questioned the valididty of war
give an example of an anit war demonstraition
oct 67
washington dc
100,000+
what were the strengths of the VC
peasent support
gurilla tactics
ho chi minh trail
how were the vc gurilla tactics a strength
undermined us tactics using booby traps like wire traps
how was the ho chimin trail a strenght of the vc
crcicial for men and equipment and never destroyed by us
what were the weaknesses of the vc
dependancy on china and ussr
uncertain support from peasents
when and how much did china support NV
dec 64 agreed to support
64 gave 80,000 guns
what did the ussr supply nv
surface to aair missiles
MIG-21 jets
artilery systems
give an example of uncertain peasent support
planned uprising during tet offenceive never materialised
