Vietnam

Question 1

What happened following the Geneva accords in 1954? (ceasefire and whose in control?)

Answer 1

Ceasefire declared
- North under Ho Chi Minh
- South under Diem

Question 2

What happened in August 1956?

Answer 2

Diem refuses to hold elections prepared in Geneva Accords

Question 3

How did Ho Chi Minh consoldiate his position in the North?

Answer 3

Land reforms
- Regime seized privately owned land and redistributed it among the rural farming population

Question 4

What was the response to the land reforms?

Answer 4

• Public denunciations (condemning) of landowners and landlords was a common place
• In 1956 , the military had put down a revolt

Question 5

How many died in the 1956 revolt against the land reforms and how many fled?

Answer 5

6,000 died and 1 million fled

Question 6

What was the outcome of the land reforms for the North? (Positive)

Answer 6

Full scale collectivisation was well underway and agricultural production had increased

Question 7

When was the revolutionary violence strategy adopted?

Answer 7

1959

Question 8

What was the revolutionary violence strategy?

Answer 8

Served as a declaration of war on the South and the aim was to use military force to overthrow Diem’s regime and they undertook a policy of supporting anti-Diem groups in the South

Question 9

What corrupt aspects were apart of Diem’s regime?

Answer 9

• Discrimination against Buddhists
• Imprisoned or killed those who opposed him (1000s)

Question 10

When was the NLF established?

Answer 10

December 1960

Question 11

What was the NLF?

Answer 11

Co-alition of groups who opposed Diem and his policies

Question 12

What was the NLF’s manifesto?

Answer 12

10 point programme

Question 13

When was the Ho Chi Minh trail established?

Answer 13

1959

Question 14

What was the Ho Chi Minh trail?

Answer 14

Enabled communist troops to travel from North Vietnam to areas close to Saigon in the South

Question 15

Statistics regarding the Ho Chi Minh trail

Answer 15

• Estimated the NLF received 60 tons of aid per day from the route
• 6 months to begin then 6 weeks to get across
• Could send up to 20,000 soldiers through a month

Question 16

What is insurgency?

Answer 16

A group who refuse to accept the ruling/government power

Question 17

What is counterinsurgency?

Answer 17

Tactics that are used to defeat guerrilla or unconventional warfare focusing on intelligence gathering, targeting leaders and infiltrating the enemy

Question 18

When did Kennedy send General Taylor to South Vietnam?

Answer 18

November 1961

Question 19

What did General Taylor recommend after his visit?

Answer 19

• Increase in helicopter forces
• Greater training support for the South Vietnamese Army
• An increase in the numbers of US combat forces (10,000)
• Some strategic bombing of North Vietnam

Question 20

How did Kennedy respond to Taylor’s recommendations?

Answer 20

Chose to adopt a compromise, he remained committed to counterinsurgency rather than sending in ground troops, but did see reason in strengthening the South Vietnamese Army

Question 21

When was the Strategic Hamlet Programme?

Answer 21

March 1962

Question 22

What was the aim of the Strategic Hamlets?

Answer 22

Create armed stockades which would house South Vietnamese rural peasants.
This would then isolate such people from the Vietcong

Question 23

By September 1962 how many Southern Vietmanese were in hamlets and how many hamlets were there?

Answer 23

4 million and 3,000 hamlets

Question 24

Why were the hamlets a failure?

Answer 24

• Corrupt officials took money meant for medical aid and seed etc which alienated the disaffected peasants
• The scheme was flawed as it was almost impossible to isolate Vietcong agents from the hamlets.

Question 25

When was the Buddhist crisis?

Answer 25

MAy 1963

Question 26

What was the Buddhist crisis?

Answer 26

Diem banned Buddhists flying flags to celebrate Buddhas birthday and they were prevented from hearing a speech by their leader. Their protests grew and became organised with anti-government propaganda, hunger strikes and mass rallies. It became worse when a Buddhist burnt himself alive in June others did the same.

Question 27

When was Diem assassinated?

Answer 27

2nd Nov 1963

Question 28

How many military advisers did USA have in Vietnam? (1961,62,63)

Answer 28

3,000
10,000
16,000

Question 29

What was the estimated aid per year from the USA?

Answer 29

$1.2-1.3 billion

Question 30

What was the doctrine of credibility?

Answer 30

‘Domino theory’ was shifting to ‘doctrine of credibility’ (keeping up the credibility of the US’s reputation as a global superpower)

Question 31

What was napalm?

Answer 31

Gel dropped from air that spread out widely and was then able to be set alight

Question 32

What was agent orange?

Answer 32

Chemical weapon used to kill crops and defoliate the jungle

Question 33

Why did the US use chemicals and why was this a problem?

Answer 33

A way to seek out insurgents in the jungle
- Innocent people were the ones who suffered
- Insurgents were impossible to find
- Chemicals caused burns and other injuries

Question 34

Who was Henry Cabot Lodge?

Answer 34

US ambassador to S Vietnam

Question 35

Reasons to why there was conflict in Asia/Vietnam

Answer 35

• US and containment
• Diem’s failures
• Ho Chi Minh’s leadership
• The NLF
• US support for Diem’s regime

Question 36

When was the coup instigated against Diem?

Answer 36

Nov 1 1963