Vietnam Flashcards
When did France colonise Indochina?
19th century
Who led the VietMinh leader?
Ho Chi Minh
When did Japan surrender in WWII?
August 15th 1945
How much money did the US give the French to help them win them back their colony?
$1 billion.
Where and when did the French suffer a major setback?
Dien Bien Phu in 1954. After this they were defeated and signed an armistice in 1954.
How many troops did France loose in Dien Bien Phu?
13,500 of their 16,500
Where was Vietnam partitioned along the 17th parallel?
Geneva Peace Conference
When were the elections scheduled for which America didn’t support?
1956
Under who did the US support?
Ngo Dinh Diem a catholic nationalist
When did Diem stay in power until?
1963, he was assassinated
How did Kennedy describe Vietnam?
‘Cornerstone of the free world in south-east Asia’
What resources was Vietnam rich in?
Tungsten and rubber
How did the US describe the NLF ( Vietcong )?
‘….a bunch of guerrillas in black pyjamas’.
‘…a fourth rate, raggedy ass little country’.
When did the Tonkin incident occur?
August 1964
What in the gulf of Tonkin?
A US destroyer, the Maddox, was fired upon by the North Vietnamese.
What was the Tonkin resolution?
This gave he President the right to use,’.. all necessary measures, in the war’.
What did President Johnson do as a result of the Tonkin resolution?
He ordered air strikes against North Vietnam in March 1965 and sent US troops in South Vietnam.
Why was the US war effort hampered?
The inexperience of the US soldiers and the rotation policy.
The Vietcong were an experienced guerrilla army with civilian support.
The US had made no efforts to win ‘hearts and minds’. The US made little effort with to people and treated them all as the enemy.
What was one of the main reasons why the US lost all support?
My Lai in March 1968, 300 fatalities for 3 guns. This and many other similar incidents.
What were all the American Tactics in Vietnam?
Bombs
Strategic Hamlets
Chemicals
Search and destroy missions.
At the peak how many bombing missions were there a day.?
164 per day.
They wanted to bomb the Vietnamese into submission.
More bombs dropped on Vietnam than all of Europe in WWII.
What % of the South Vietnamese were moved by Strategic Hamlets?
40%
What were the NLF tactics?
Guerrilla warfare.
Punjee Traps
How did the Vietcong use Guerrilla warfare?
They had experience from the French campaign. They hid in the jungle and mingled with the peasants. They knew the terrain intimately. There was a system of tunnels stretching for 200 miles under south Vietnam. The Viet Cong were idealogically cohesive and believed in their cause.
What happened at the Tet Offensive January 1968?
Largest Vietcong attack of the war. 70,000 troops attacked all major cities and towns. Vietcong suffered heavy losses and were pushed back but it was a turning point in the war.
Where were the main attacks in the Tet offensive?
Saigon
What policy was introduced after the Tet offensive?
Vietnamisation.
When was a ceasefire agreed?
January 1973.
When and how did the war end?
1975 with the fall of Saigon and the forced reunification of the country.
How many troops were lost in Vietnam?
58,000 US troops and 300,000 wounded.
2,000,000 Vietnamese were killed in the conflict.
