USA: Vietnam Flashcards
JFK and Vietnam
JFK increased the number of military advisors from 700 to 15,000. Kennedy also ordered the building of ‘strategic hamlets’that South Vietnamese people were moved to to ‘protect’ them from the VC.
Diem’s faced continuous opposition e.g Buddhist monks burned themselves to death
JFK threatened to withdraw military aid and then backed a plot by South Vietnamese generals to arrest Diem.
He was murdered just three weeks before Kennedy’s own assassination.
US support for South Vietnam
Eisenhower continued to support the south, even though the new leader in the south, Ngo Dinh Diem, was corrupt and very unpopular
US believed in Domino Theory
Eisenhower sent US military advisers to help the South Vietnamese army against the VC
The Gulf of Tonkin incident, 1964,
In August 1964 the USA claimed that US warships had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. This gave the US the excuse they needed and Congress gave Johnson the power to send US combat troops to Vietnam
VC tactics
They built thousands of miles of tunnels, with whole camps underground, so that they could hide..
They were experts at building booby traps, using pits, sharpened sticks and mines. This meant that US soldiers could never relax.
Ho Chi Minh Trail
The Viet Cong were supplied from the north by the Ho Chi Minh trail, which ran through Laos and Cambodia. The Soviet Union and China sent up to 6,000 tonnes of supplies a day
Tet Offensive, 1968.
This was a massive attack by the North Vietnames upon South Vietnam, which began on 30 January 1968.
All the major cities of South Vietnam were attacked
The North Vietnamese suffered very high casualties but many in the US were shocked by this attack particularly as they got into US embassy in Saigon.
The South now seemed more vulnerable than ever and many in America saw it as a humiliating defeat
USA Response to their techniques (viet)
Search and Destroy’ missions were sent into the jungle. Their success depended on the body count. (number of dead Vietnamese).
Operation Rolling Thunder from 1965 led to heavy bombing of North Vietnam Chemical weapons: The US Air Force began to use defoliants like ‘Agent Orange’. These stripped leaves from trees to deprive the VC from hiding places. Napalm was also used to burn villages.
These tactics did enormous damage to Vietnam and did not enable the US to win the hearts and minds of the people
Nixon and Vietnamisation
In 1969 Nixon began peace talks, and started the withdrawal of US forces, but stepped up attacks on North Vietnam.
The Nixon Doctrine of 1969 said that the US would honour its commitments. This led to the policy of Vietnamisation. This was an attempt to make sure the South Vietnamese could defend the country on their own with help from the US.
Nixon hoped that they could withdraw with honour, without it looking like a defeat.
Vietnamisation was not successful as the South Vietnamese felt abandoned and this gave a boost to the North.
Attack on Cambodia
Attacks on Cambodia, 1970 - Bombing continued under Nixon, including attacks on neighbouring countries to target the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Damage was done but it did not stop the trail operating
Huge outcry in US about the bombing – Congress was furious and called for less funding for war and faster withdrawal
Laos, 1971
US provided air support for South Vietnamese invasion to defeat communist groups in Laos and destroy the HoChi Minh trail. Battle of Tchepone was bloody and eventually resulted in the ARVN retreating
Invasion of Laos raised serious doubts about Vietnamisation – howver the trail and North Vietnamese bases in Laos remained secure
