Origins of Vietnam War and Reasons for US Involvement

Question 1

Who ruled Vietnam between 1945 and 1954?

Answer 1

The French

Question 2

Which country came communist in 1949?

Answer 2

China

Question 3

Which communist country began financially supporting Ho Chi Minh (the leader of the Viet Minh) from 1949?

Answer 3

China

Question 4

What did the USA do to counter the Chinese funding of Ho Chi Minh?

Answer 4

The USA funded the French war effort with $500 million per year

Question 5

What percentage of funding did the Americans provide for the French war effort?

Answer 5

80%

Question 6

What did the Viet Minh fight for?

Answer 6

Vietnamese independence (i.e. to be free from foreign rule)

Question 7

After what battle did the French withdraw from Vietnam?

Answer 7

Dien Bien Phu

Question 8

What was agreed at a 1954 peace conference in Geneva?

Answer 8

• Vietnam was split into North and South Vietnam

- That elections would be held within two years to reunite the country

Question 9

Why did the Americans not allow the elections in Vietnam to happen?

Answer 9

They feared the communists would win

Question 10

Why did the Americans worry about Vietnam falling to communism?

Answer 10

The believed in the Domino Theory and believed it would start a chain reaction where other countries (like Laos, Cambodia and Thailand) would also become communist.

Question 11

What was the American policy towards communism known as?

Answer 11

Containment Theory

Question 12

Who did the USA support in South Vietnam from 1955 onwards?

Answer 12

Ngo Dinh Diem

Question 13

Why did the Americans support Diem?

Answer 13

Diem was fiercely anti-communist and would imprison or exile (send out the country) communists

Question 14

Why was Diem so unpopular with people in Vietnam?

Answer 14

1) LANDLORD He belonged to the landlord class, which treated peasants with contempt
2) CATHOLIC He was a Catholic and showed little respect for the Buddhist religion (of which the vast majority of Vietnamese people followed)
3) CORRUPT Diem’s regime was corrupt. He gave key jobs to family and supporters

Question 15

What did the Dulles, US Secretary of State, say about Diem?

Answer 15

“We know of no one better.”

Question 16

Roughly how much money did the US send to Diem’s regime during the 1950s?

Answer 16

$1.6 billion

Question 17

When was Diem overthrown?

Answer 17

In November 1963, shortly before Kennedy’s assassination

Question 18

Did Diem’s removal in 1963 improve the situation?

Answer 18

No - the Americans continued to support corrupt, but anti-communist, regimes in South Vietnam

Question 19

What did the actions of anti-Communists governments lead to?

Answer 19

A massive increase in support for the Vietcong

Question 20

When was the Vietcong established?

Answer 20

In December 1960

Question 21

Who made up the Vietcong?

Answer 21

• South Vietnamese opponents of the government

- Communists from North Vietnam, acting on Ho Chi Minh’s orders

Question 22

What did the Vietcong use to supply their soldiers?

Answer 22

The Ho Chi Minh trail

Question 23

What did Vietcong troops target?

Answer 23

• South Vietnamese forces, officials, and buildings

- American supply bases

Question 24

How did the South Vietnamese government initially try and deal with the Vietcong?

Answer 24

Using the Strategic Hamlet programme

Question 25

How was the Strategic Hamlet programme supposed to work?

Answer 25

Peasants living in Vietcong controlled areas were moved to villages in areas controlled by the South Vietnamese government

Question 26

Why did the Strategic Hamlet not really work?

Answer 26

It backfired because peasants resented it (they had been removed from their homes) and corrupt officials pocketed money meant for the villagers.

Question 27

When did JFK start sending military personnel to help the South Vietnamese government defeat the Vietcong?

Answer 27

1962 (he called them ‘advisers’)

Question 28

What did JFK say about Vietnam?

Answer 28

That the USA would not ‘blunder into war’

Question 29

What key event happened in America in November 1963?

Answer 29

JFK was assassinated

Question 30

Who succeeded JFK as president?

Answer 30

Lyndon Baines Johnson

Question 31

What was LBJ’s attitude towards Vietnam?

Answer 31

He was more aggressive (he referred to it as a ‘damned little pissant country’) and fiercely anti-communist

Question 32

What was the Gulf of Tonkin incident?

Answer 32

In 1964, North Vietnamese patrol boats fired on US ships. This produced a furious response from the USA.

Question 33

What did the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, passed by Congress in 1964, give to the President?

Answer 33

The power to ‘take all necessary measures to…achieve peace’

Question 34

What did the Tonkin Gulf Resolution really mean?

Answer 34

It gave President Johnson the power to take the USA into a full scale war

Question 35

When did Operation Rolling Thunder begin?

Answer 35

In February 1965

Question 36

What was Operation Rolling Thunder?

Answer 36

A huge bombing campaign against North Vietnamese cities, factories, army bases and the Ho Chi Minh Trail

Question 37

How long was Operation Rolling Thunder supposed to last?

Answer 37

8 weeks

Question 38

How long did Operation Rolling Thunder actually last?

Answer 38

3 years

Question 39

When did 3,500 marines land in Vietnam?

Answer 39

8 March 1965

Question 40

Why was it significant that marines rather than advisers were in Vietnam?

Answer 40

It meant the USA was now officially at war with Vietnam.

Question 41

What did the Eisenhower warn of in 1961?

Answer 41

A ‘military-industrial complex’

Question 42

What was the military industrial complex?

Answer 42

The idea that due to big budgets given to military departments - which were then spent on military contracts - both the armed forces and businesses benefited from a war.

Question 43

Do all historians agree that the military industrial complex was why the USA got involved in Vietnam?

Answer 43

No - in fact the military industrial complex is especially controversial.