Vietnam for test

Question 1

How did President Kennedy get involved in Vietnam between 1961 and 1963?

Answer 1

Increased the number of advisers to more than 16,000 by 1963.

Allowed Diem to be assassinated and supported his replacement by anti-communist army generals.

Strategic hamlets programme to stop VC from recruiting peasants. 5,000 built by 1962.

Question 2

Identify five American military tactics used during the Vietnam War.

Answer 2

The Strategic Hamlets Programme

“Search and destroy” patrols

Bombing campaigns (Operation Rolling Thunder)

Herbicides (Agent Orange)

Napalm

Question 3

Describe America’s Strategic Hamlets Programme.

Answer 3

Started by JFK. Whole villages in Viet Cong areas were moved to new sites controlled by the South Vietnamese government. American soldiers controlled who entered and left, and gave building materials, food and money to the villagers to build new farms and homes.

Question 4

What evidence is there that the Strategic Hamlets Programme was ineffective?

Answer 4

Peasants did not like having to leave their homes and villages, and were forced to build new villages without pay.

Many did not see the Viet Cong as a threat, and did not like constantly being stopped and searched. The programme helped to increase support for the Viet Cong.

Question 5

What happened on “search and destroy” patrols?

Answer 5

American troops were sent on patrols from helicopters. They would target villages and destroyed any Viet Cong forces found.

Question 6

What evidence is there that “search and destroy” patrols were ineffective?

Answer 6

Patrols and raids were often based on inadequate information.

Innocent villages were mistaken for Viet Cong bases, leading to civilian casualties and deaths. This made the US army unpopular amongst the Vietnamese population.

(The proportion of civilian to VC killed was 6:1)

Question 7

What is a good example of a failure of a search and destroy mission?

Answer 7

Operation Cedar Falls: 1967

Question 8

Describe the bombing campaigns used by the US army.

Answer 8

Operation Rolling Thunder began in February 1965 and targeted North Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh trail and suspected Viet Cong bases. It ended in 1968.

Question 9

What evidence is there that the bombing campaigns were effective?

Answer 9

It damaged North Vietnam’s war effort and destroyed supply routes.

It affected North Vietnamese industry

Question 10

What evidence is there that the bombing campaigns were ineffective?

Answer 10

The bombing only slowed down the communists – Ho Chi Minh Trail was rebuilt and continued to operate.

The financial cost of the campaigns was enormous – it cost $400,000 to kill one Viet Cong fighter.

Question 11

What were Agent Orange and Agent Blue, and why were they used during the war?

Answer 11

Highly toxic weed killers used to destroy the Vietnamese jungle and crops where Viet Cong fighters and bases were hidden.

Question 12

What was the name of the operation which dropped herbicides like agent orange on South Vietnam?

Answer 12

Operation Ranch Hand. Between 1964 and 1970 over 24% of South Vietnam was sprayed with herbicides.

Question 13

Why did the use of herbicides fail to win over the hearts and minds of the people?

Answer 13

The herbicides were up to 50% stronger than ones used in the USA

Over 3,000 villages were sprayed without warning the inhabitants first.

Caused many health problems for people.

Question 14

What was napalm, and why was it used during the war?

Answer 14

Napalm was another chemical weapon. It was dropped from planes and destroyed Vietnamese jungles / villages.

Question 15

How many tons of napalm were used?

Answer 15

20,000 tons

Question 16

What evidence is there that napalm was ineffective?

Answer 16

The chemical weapon killed many soldiers and innocent civilians.

Question 17

Why did the USA army become weaker after 1967?

Answer 17

Increasing numbers of troops were conscripted and were not professional soldiers. Many were very young, and often did not care about defeating communism.

The army also struggled to recruit soldiers. There were widespread attempts to dodge conscription and of desertion during the war. E.g. There were over 500,000 incidents of desertion.

The morale of the US army was very low. Many soldiers were not committed to fighting in Vietnam.

Drug abuse amongst US soldiers was widespread.

Question 18

What proportion of soldiers killed in the Vietnam War were aged 17-21 years?

Answer 18

60%

Question 19

What type of warfare did the Viet Cong use during the war?

Answer 19

Guerrilla warfare

Question 20

Identify five Viet Cong tactics used during the Vietnam War?

Answer 20

Ambushes (“hanging onto American belts”)

Booby traps

Underground tunnels

Ho Chi Minh trail

Winning over the Vietnamese people

Question 21

What evidence is there that the ambushes were effective?

Answer 21

Ambushes caused 51% of all US casualties during the war.

Ambushes led to close quarter fighting between the US and Viet Cong. This meant that US air power could not be used because of the danger of killing their own troops.

It undermined the morale of US soldiers, who lived in fear of ambushes.

Question 22

Name two booby traps used by the Viet Cong.

Answer 22

The Bouncing Betty land mine.

Punji Pits filled with sharpened bamboo staves.

Question 23

What evidence is there that booby traps were effective?

Answer 23

They were cheap and easy to make, and disrupted US “search and destroy” patrols.

Booby traps caused 11% of all US casualties during the war.

It undermined the morale of US soldiers, who lived in fear of booby traps.

Question 24

How big was the underground tunnel network used by the Viet Cong?

Answer 24

Around 240km

Question 25

What evidence is there that the underground tunnels were effective?

Answer 25

It made Viet Cong soldiers / bases very difficult to locate.

It avoided the worst effects of US air power.

Question 26

What was the Ho Chi Minh trail?

Answer 26

A route from North Vietnam to the South to provide supplies to Viet Cong fighters.

Question 27

Why was the Ho Chi Minh trail effective?

Answer 27

The Viet Cong depended on supplies from North Vietnam to fight the war against America and the ARVN

Question 28

How did many Viet Cong fighters treat the Vietnamese population?

Answer 28

They were expected to be courteous (polite) and respectful. Many Viet Cong fighters were disciplined and often helped the Vietnamese people, such as in farming and education. This helped them to win support from the South Vietnamese people.

Question 29

What evidence is there that the Viet Cong used violence and terror?

Answer 29

Many were forced into supporting the Viet Cong. The Viet Cong killed peasants who opposed them or cooperated with their enemies. They targeted the police, tax collectors, teachers and other employees of the South Vietnamese government.

Question 30

How many Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers died during the Vietnam War?

Answer 30

Approx. 1 million

Question 31

Identify three reasons which explain why the Viet Cong were successful during the war.

Answer 31

The effectiveness of their military tactics

Support from the Vietnamese people

Weakness of the American army

Question 32

Who launched the Tet Offensive?

Answer 32

The Viet Cong

Question 33

When did the Tet Offensive take place?

Answer 33

January 1968

Question 34

What was the Tet Offensive?

Answer 34

Before Tet, the VC attacked the US base at Khe Sanh to distract the US soldiers. The VC and North Vietnamese army then attacked cities and US bases in South Vietnam. They got to Saigon and captured the US embassy and the ARVN headquarters. The old city of Hue was also captured. After three weeks of fighting however, most cities and bases were recaptured by the Americans.

Question 35

Did the Tet Offensive succeed?

Answer 35

No – the Americans and the ARVN managed to regain all the towns and bases that had been captured. 50,000 VC were killed.

Question 36

Why was Tet an important turning point in the war?

Answer 36

Although the USA pushed the VC back, it was still a humiliation for the US. Unusually cities had been attacked on a huge scale.

It was a propaganda victory for the VC as the US public were shocked by what had happened.

The US public were shocked by media images of the VC in the US embassy – it led to a rise in opposition to the war in America.

The media turned against the war. Walter Cronkite, a reporter started to report the war negatively.

Americans were angry that this could happen – they thought the war was winnable!

Johnson decided not to stand for re-election in 1968 – his approval rating decreased.

Congress started to turn against the war and decreased funding for the war.

When elected, Nixon began a process of de-escalation and withdrawal.