Tet Offensive & Vietnamisation Flashcards
When was the Tet Offensive?
1968.
How many cities were attacked by the VC during the Tet Offensive?
36, including Saigon, where they temporarily held the US Embassy.
Who suffered heavier losses? VC or America?
VC, by a country mile.
Why was the Tet Offensive so disastrous for America?
Because it’d been reported by news cameras and the reports made it look like the US had no control over what was going on, they looked weak.
Public Opinion shifted massively against US Involvement in Vietnam.
Thousands of civilian casualties, lots of destroyed buildings.
This caused Johnson not to seek re-election.
When did Nixon take office?
1969.
Which policy did Nixon introduce?
Vietnamisation.
What was Vietnamisation?
This meant training the SV army to fight without American aid, and withdrawing troops from Vietnam.
Between 1969 and 1971, how many US troops were withdrawn from Vietnam?
400,000.
By 1971, how many US troops were left in Vietnam?
150,000.
What was the attitude of the remaining US troops?
Pessimistic, they often disobeyed officers and even turned against each other, known as fragging.
During the process of Vietnamisation, what was happening to the ARVN (SV)?
The ARVN was expanding and getting ready to fight this war without US soldiers, trained and equipped by the USA.
By the time Nixon took office in 1969, what was the general attitude to the war in Vietnam?
Most people wanted USA out of there, peaceful solution was being discussed.
When did peace talks begin?
In Paris in 1968, they continued until 1973.
What did the USA demand at the peace talks?
That South Vietnam be an independent state, free from North Vietnamese rule.
What did NV demand at the peace talks?
That South Vietnam be united with North Vietnam as one communist country.
How did the USA put pressure on NV to succumb to their demands?
By bombing North Vietnam.
Why did Nixon order that Laos and Cambodia be bombed too?
Because North Vietnam were supplying the VC along the Ho Chi Minh Trail which went through Laos and Cambodia.
When did US troops enter Cambodia and what was their goal?
1970, goal was to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Heavy bombing on NV took place over which 2 years?
1971-1972.
What was going on whilst this bombing was taking place between 1971-1972?
The North had begun their invasion of the South, it had been slowed by the bombings though.
When did peace talks resume?
Paris in January 1973.
