KQ5- How Effectively Did The USA Contain The Spread Of Communism (The Vietnam War 1954-75) Flashcards
What are the origins of the Vietnam War?
-Vietnam formerly known as Indo-China had been ruled by France since 19th century
-taken over by the Japanese during the second world war
-After the second world war the Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh who was in control of North Vietnam declared Vietnamese independence aim to take the whole country resulting in a war with France
-after 1949 communist China gave assistance to the Viet Minh
- The USA saw the Viet Minh as puppets of communist China and feared Chinese domination of Southeast Asia so poured $500 million a year into helping the French
- The French set up a non-communist government in South Vietnam
-The war lasted until 1954, but the French were unable to deal with Viet Minh’s guerilla tactics
What happened at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and what was its significance?
- A large force of French paratroopers was defeated. 3000 died in battle and 8000 in captivity.
-small Asian state had defeated a rich European country by means of leadership tactics and determination
- the French decided to pull out of Indo-china
- at 1954 piece conference in Geneva it was decided to divide the country into north and south Vietnam until elections could decide its future
Why and how did the USA become increasingly involved in Vietnam?
-The domino theory: President Eisenhower and Secretary of State JF Dulles believed that if Vietnam fell to communism, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, and maybe India would follow
- In 1950 USA helped Ngo Dinh Diem set up the Republic of South Vietnam supplied his corrupt regime with $1.6 billion after his overthrow other corrupt regimes continued to receive American aid
- this letter an increase in public support for the communist viet cong set up in 1960
- The Viet Cong attacked South Vietnamese government forces, officials and buildings making the countryside unsafe; also attacking US bases
-By 1962 Kennedy was sending military advisors to fight the Viet Cong
-tensions between north and south increased so did the number of US soldiers 11,519 in 1962 and 23,000 by 1964
- after JFK‘s assassination in 1963 president Lyndon Johnson was more prepared to commit the USA to full scale conflict in Vietnam to prevent the spread of communism
- In 1964 August North Vietnamese boats fired on the US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. US Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf resolution which gave Johnson the greenlight to take USA into a full scale war.
What were the tactics of the Viet Cong?
-The USA and South Vietnamese had more men and better equipment, but the Viet Kong used guerilla tactics against them
-guerilla tactics- retreat when when the enemy attacks, raid when the army camps, attack when the enemy tires, pursue when the enemy retreats, wear down moral
- Problems faced by the US - difficult to distinguish Viet Cong from local peasants, difficult to catch them when they disappeared into the jungle, constant fear of ambushes and booby traps
-The Vietnam were also ruthless
-The Viet Cong were determined and persistent would not give in despite losing 1 million men
What were the tactics of the US forces?
Bombing- operation rolling thunder continued until 1970 2US dropped more bombs on Vietnam and they did in the whole of the second world war
Chemical weapon -agent orange, a toxic weed killer to destroy the jungle where the Viet cong hid napalm
Heavily defended bases in South Vietnam from which searching destroy helicopter rates were launched. This resulted in the destruction of innocent villages and high civilian casualties causing many South Vietnamese peasants to support the Viet Cong
What was the tet offensive of 1968? And what was its significance?
-Major communist offensive on over 100 cities and other targets which ultimately failed
-The Viet Cong lost 100,000 fighters and were severely weakened
- they hoped the South Vietnamese people would rise up and join but they didn’t
What did the American public think about the Vietnam War?
- Public opinion was turning against the war before 1968 but this increased after the TET offensive
- many Americans were disturbed by TV radio and newspaper reports including pictures of torture and executions and children being burned by NAPALM
- anti-war protests all over USA
- Thousands of young men dodged the draft
- Hundreds of demonstrations in US universities
What was the My Lai and what was it impact?
- A massacre of 300 to 400 innocent civilians by US troops in the south Vietnamese village of My Lai
- Details leaked out and the US Congress was asked to investigate
- Lieutenant William Calley was used by the army as their scapegoat he was blamed and said to be exceeding his orders he was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years hard labour.
- Life magazine published pictures of the massacre which the US public found shocking
- 700,000 anti-war protested demonstrated in Washington DC November 1969 the largest political protest in US history
What was President Nixon’s contribution to the Vietnam War?
- President in 1968 and promised to work towards an end to US involvement in Vietnam
- Peace negotiations national advisor Henry Kissinger had regular meetings with the North Vietnamese chief piece negotiator Le Duc Tho
- vietnamisation of the war effort South Vietnamese forces were built up and US troops were withdrawn
- bombing- nevertheless Nixon increased bombing campaigns to show the North Vietnamese he was not soft on communism
- cambodia- nixon ordered a US invasion of Viet Cong bases in Cambodia causing outrage across the world and in USA
Pressure on the USSR - during the strategic arms limitations talk in 1970 Nixon asked Moscow to encourage North Vietnam to end the war
Pressure on China - as US relations with China improved Nixon visited China in 1972 and asked the Chinese to put pressure on north Vietnam to end the war
The withdrawal of US forces after the failure of another North Vietnamese offensive in 1972 a piece agreement was signed between north and south allowing Nixon to pull out US troops which had been completed by March 1973
Why did South Vietnam fall to the communists after 1973?
The North Vietnamese renewed their offensive and captured the capital of South Vietnam in April 1975
Without US military aid the south Vietnam Vietnamese government could not resist
Nixon promised to continue financial aid and military support but Congress would not allow this because they thought the South Vietnamese government was corrupt and did not have support of the majority of the population
How did the Vietnam War affect the policy of containment?
The war severely damaged the idea of containment the USA had failed to stop the spread of communism in Vietnam
US involvement in Vietnam assisted the spread of communism because it increased support for communist and Laos and Cambodia which both had communist governments by 1975
The war was a propaganda disaster for the USA atrocities committed by US forces chemical weapons and propping up corrupt regime
The USA entered into a period of greater understanding with both the USSR and China
What were the consequences of the Vietnam War?
On Vietnamese citizens-poisoned by dioxins from chemical welfare continuing injuries from unexploded minds and bombs disfigurement caused by napalm
On Vietnamese Society - about 5 million made homeless thousands became boat people and tried to sail to Malaysia and Hong Kong about 1 million refugees moved to the west thousands were driven into shanty towns near US bases and resorted to prostitution and drug abuse creation of a large black market to supply luxuries to the US forces
On the environment - chemical welfare damaged crops leading to food shortages 5,400,000 acres of forest were destroyed streams and rivers were poisoned
On US troops - many became drug addicts veterans were not welcome back as heroes and found it hard to adjust a civilian life post-traumatic stress disorder Sam who handled agent orange contracted cancer
