Vietnam War Flashcards
Who ruled Vietnam between 1945 and 1954?
The French
Which country came communist in 1949?
China
Which communist country began financially supporting Ho Chi Minh (the leader of the Viet Minh) from 1949?
China
What did the USA do to counter the Chinese funding of Ho Chi Minh?
The USA funded the French war effort with $500 million per year
What percentage of funding did the Americans provide for the French war effort?
80%
What did the Viet Minh fight for?
Vietnamese independence (i.e. to be free from foreign rule)
After what battle did the French withdraw from Vietnam?
Dien Bien Phu
What was agreed at a 1954 peace conference in Geneva?
Vietnam was split into North and South Vietnam
That elections would be held within two years to reunite the country
Why did the Americans not allow the elections in Vietnam to happen?
They feared the communists would win
Why did the Americans worry about Vietnam falling to communism?
The believed in the Domino Theory and believed it would start a chain reaction where other countries (like Laos, Cambodia and Thailand) would also become communist.
What was the American policy towards communism known as?
Containment Theory
Who did the USA support in South Vietnam from 1955 onwards?
Ngo Dinh Diem
Why did the Americans support Diem?
Diem was fiercely anti-communist and would imprison or exile (send out the country) communists
Why was Diem so unpopular with people in Vietnam?
1) LANDLORD He belonged to the landlord class, which treated peasants with contempt
2) CATHOLIC He was a Catholic and showed little respect for the Buddhist religion (of which the vast majority of Vietnamese people followed)
3) CORRUPT Diem’s regime was corrupt. He gave key jobs to family and
What did the Dulles, US Secretary of State, say about Diem?
“We know of no one better.”
Roughly how much money did the US send to Diem’s regime during the 1950s?
$1.6 billion
When was Diem overthrown?
In November 1963, shortly before Kennedy’s assassination
Did Diem’s removal in 1963 improve the situation?
No - the Americans continued to support corrupt, but anti-communist, regimes in South Vietnam
What did the actions of anti-Communists governments lead to?
A massive increase in support for the Vietcong
When was the Vietcong established?
In December 1960
Who made up the Vietcong?
- South Vietnamese opponents of the government
- Communists from North Vietnam, acting on Ho Chi Minh’s orders
What did the Vietcong use to supply their soldiers?
The Ho Chi Minh trail
What did Vietcong troops target?
- South Vietnamese forces, officials, and buildings
- American supply bases
How did the Diem and Kennedy initially try and deal with the Vietcong?
Using the Strategic Hamlet programme (1962)
How was the Strategic Hamlet programme supposed to work?
Peasants living in Vietcong controlled areas were moved to villages in areas controlled by the South Vietnamese government
Why did the Strategic Hamlet not really work?
It backfired because peasants resented it (they had been removed from their homes) and corrupt officials pocketed money meant for the villagers.
When did JFK start sending military personnel to help the South Vietnamese government defeat the Vietcong?
1962 (he called them ‘advisers’)
What did JFK say about Vietnam?
That the USA would not ‘blunder into war’
What key event happened in America in November 1963?
JFK was assassinated
Who succeeded JFK as president?
Lyndon Baines Johnson
What was LBJ’s attitude towards Vietnam?
He was more aggressive (he referred to it as a ‘damned little pissant country’) and fiercely anti-communist
What was the Gulf of Tonkin incident?
In 1964, North Vietnamese patrol boats fired on US ships. This produced a furious response from the USA.
What did the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, passed by Congress in 1964, give to the President?
The power to ‘take all necessary measures to…achieve peace’
What did the Tonkin Gulf Resolution really mean?
It gave President Johnson the power to take the USA into a full scale war
When did Operation Rolling Thunder begin?
In February 1965
What was Operation Rolling Thunder?
A huge bombing campaign against North Vietnamese cities, factories, army bases and the Ho Chi Minh Trail
How long was Operation Rolling Thunder supposed to last?
8 weeks
How long did Operation Rolling Thunder actually last?
3 years
When did 3,500 marines land in Vietnam?
8 March 1965
Why was it significant that marines rather than advisers were in Vietnam?
It meant the USA was now officially at war with Vietnam.
What did the Eisenhower warn of in 1961?
A ‘military-industrial complex’
What was the military industrial complex?
The idea that due to big budgets given to military departments - which were then spent on military contracts - both the armed forces and businesses benefited from a war.
Do all historians agree that the military industrial complex was why the USA got involved in Vietnam?
No - in fact the military industrial complex is especially controversial.
What did the US believe about their technology and manpower?
That it was vastly superior to that of the Vietcong and that this would lead to a swift and decisive victory
How many soldiers did the Vietcong have in 1965?
170,000 soldiers
Who would have won in open warfare between the Vietcong and the USA and South Vietnamese government troops?
The USA and the S. V. troops - they had vastly superior weapons and outnumbered the Vietcong
What were the basics of guerrilla warfare?
Ambush the enemy and then retreat into the jungle or into the tunnels underground
When had Ho Chi Minh used guerrilla tactics before?
Against the French (before they left in 1954)
Why were guerrillas hard to tell apart from peasants?
They didn’t wear uniforms
Did guerrillas use a permanent base?
No - they had no known base camp or headquarters
Why did ambushes particularly affect US troops?
It greatly damaged their morale. They lived in constant fear of ambushes or booby traps
What percentage of US casualties came from booby traps?
11%
What percentage of US casualties came from ambushes or hand-to-hand combat?
51%
Why did the Vietcong prefer close quarters combat?
They knew the Americans would not bomb the area for fear of hitting their own men. This was known as “hanging on to the American belts”.
How did the Vietcong try and get the support of Vietnamese peasants?
- Vietcong fighters were expected to be courteous and respectful to the Vietnamese peasants.
- They sometimes helped out in the fields during busy periods
Were the Vietcong always respectful towards the peasants?
No - they could be ruthless and might kill any peasants who opposed them or helped the enemy.
They also terrorised police, tax collectors, teachers etc. who were employed by the SV government.
Between 1966 and 1971, how many civilians did the Vietcong kill?
Around 27,000 civilians
How many Vietnamese worked to keep the Ho Chi Minh trail open?
40,000
How many Vietcong soldiers were estimated to have been killed during the Vietnam War?
Roughly 1 million
What was the greatest strength of the Vietcong fighters?
Their refusal to ever give in (remember - they were fighting for the independence of their country)
What was the main US tactics during the Vietnam War?
Bombing (Operation Rolling Thunder)
What did Operation Rolling Thunder target?
- military and industrial targets in North Vietnam
- towns and cities in N and S. Vietnam
- the Ho Chi Minh trail
- Cambodia and Laos, who were sympathetic towards the Vietcong
In what ways did Operation Rolling Thunder work?
- It damaged North Vietnam’s war effort and disrupted supply routes
- From 1970 to 1972 intense bombing of North Vietnam forced them to negotiate for peace
In what ways did Operation Rolling Thunder fail?
-Bombing could not defeat the communists, only slow them down
- Even after major bombing raids in 1972, the Communists were still able to launch a major assault on the South
- Civilian casualties as a consequence of bombing turned the Vietnamese people against the Americans
What policy did General Westmoreland introduce to combat guerrilla warfare?
Search and destroy
How did ‘Search and Destroy’ work?
- Heavily defended US bases were set up in South Vietnam
- Helicopters full of US troops would descend on a village and search and destroy and Vietcong soldiers
What were some of the problems with Search and Destroy?
- The raids were based on inadequate information
- Inexperienced US troops often walked into traps
- Innocent villagers were often killed
- Made Americans more unpopular with civilians
What was Agent Orange?
A chemical weapon that destroyed jungle (a defoliant)
Why was Agent Orange used?
To destroy the jungle where the Vietcong would hide
How much Agent Orange was used during the Vietnam War?
82 million litres
What was napalm?
A highly flammable jelly that burned through jungles - but also through skin and bone if it landed on humans
Why was Agent Orange controversial?
It is argued that it caused long-lasting health problems for as many as 3 million Vietnamese people
Why was napalm important in changing people’s views on the war?
A photograph by Nick Ut in 1972 won the Pulitzer Prize. It showed a 9 year old girl running naked after Napalm burned off her clothes.
Many American people were disgusted.
Approximately how many bombs were dropped on Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia)?
13 million tonnes worth - or nearly double the amount dropped by the USA during the entirety of WWI
Which event marked the decline of public opinion for the Vietnam war?
The Tet Offensive
What happened in the Tet Offensive?
- 30 American targets and dozens of South Vietnam cities were attacked.
- None of the attacks were successful, but the media questioned why it had been so easy for the Viet Cong to take over these bases
How many fighters did the Viet Cong lose in the Tet Offensive?
10,000 experienced fighters
What was journalist Walter Cronkite’s response to the Tet Offensive?
“What the hell is going on? I thought we were winning this war”
Why did media coverage of the Vietnam war undermine the war effort?
- The horrors of war could be seen 24/7 in America
- The atrocities committed by the Viet Cong rarely made the news, making it seem like it was a one-sided war
- The anti-war movement started to gain more coverage, spreading that idea throughout America
- WWII had had just as many horrors and atrocities but had more support; WWII had been censored
Why did the media coverage of the Vietnam war not have that much of an effect on public opinion?
- American attitudes were changing anyway and the media just reflected those views
- Shocking scenes were rarely shown on screen; less than 25% of reports shows dead or wounded
- Research shows that from 1965-70, only 76 out of 2300 TV reports showed heavy fighting
What other event in 1968 caused a massive drop in public approval of the war?
The My Lai Massacre
What happened at the My Lai massacre?
In response to the Tet offensive, a small handful of American troops killed 300-400 unarmed villagers in the My Lai valley. Most of them were women, children, and old men.
How did the Vietnam War highlight racial inequality in America?
- Few African-Americans were in college, meaning few could escape the draft
- 30% of African-Americans were drafted, compared to only 19% of white Americans
- 22% of US casualties were African-American, even though they only made up 11% of the US force
How did Muhammad Ali make his stand against the war and the Civil Rights movement?
- Refused to obey the draft because of his Muslim faith
- His passport was removed and he was stripped of his world title
What did Vietnam symbolise for the student community?
Instead of symbolising a US crusade against Communism, Vietnam became a symbol of defeat, confusion and corruption
What chant did students taunt President Johnson with?
“Hey, Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”
What does it mean to ‘draft dodge’?
To refuse to serve in Vietnam when they were called up
What criminal offence would often occur at protests?
Burning the American flag
How many demonstrations were there in the first half of 1968?
Over 100 demonstrations involving 40,000 students
What happened in America in November 1969?
A
700,000 anti-war protesters demonstrated in Washington DC (largest political protest in American history)
What happened at Kent State University in 1970?
- Students organised a demonstration against Nixon’s decision to invade Cambodia
- National Guard troops opened fire on the demonstrators
- 4 students were killed and 11 injured
- It came to light that 3 of those killed weren’t even protesting
- Went against a key pillar of democracy - the right to protest/freedom of speech
What is a media war?
When all the events of the war are shown on TV and in the news to those not fighting
When was the Tet Offensive?
January 1968
How many fighters did the Viet Cong lose in the Tet Offensive?
10,000 experienced fighters
What happened in the Tet Offensive?
Viet Cong troops attacked nearly 30 American targets and dozens of South Vietnamese cities
What was the objective of the Tet Offensive?
To get the South to uprise with them; that didn’t happen
What effect did the Tet Offensive have on America’s involvement?
- Raised questions about US involvement and the Vietnam war in general
- How could the Communists launch this attack when America had 500,000 troops and $20 billion a year in funding?
- How was the attack able to cause so much disruption?
How long did the Viet Cong hold Sai Gon?
2 days
How did the Tet Offensive change American media coverage?
Before the offensive, most of the coverage had been positive
After the offensive, coverage became negative and harnessed many protests
What did Walter Cronkite say about the Tet Offensive?
“What the hell is going on? I thought we were winning this war!”
What happened during the My Lai massacre?
300-400 unarmed Vietnamese villagers, mostly women, children and old men, were shot dead in the My Lai valley
When was the peace conference in Paris?
March 1968
What did President Johnson conclude about the war after the Tet Offensive?
The the war could not be won militarily
Why did Johnson not stand for re-election?
He knew he would lose
What were the US strategies to extricate US troops from involvement in Vietnam?
- Peace negotiations with North Vietnam
- ‘Vietnamisation’ of the war effort
- Increase bombing
- Pressure on the USSR and China
What was ‘Vietnamisation’?
The building up of South Vietnamese forces and involvement in the war so that US troops could withdraw
How many US troops left Vietnam between April 1969 and 1971?
400,000 troops
Who was the chief Vietnamese peace negotiator?
Le Duc Tho
Why did Nixon increase the bombing campaigns?
To show he was not weak. He invaded Viet Cong bases in Cambodia, causing outrage across the world
How did Nixon improve relations with China?
In February 1972, Nixon was invited to China. He asked China to pressure Vietnam to end the war
How did Nixon improve relations with Soviet Russia?
In 1970 he began Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) with the USSR to limit nuclear weapons. He asked Moscow to pressure Vietnam to end the war
When did America officially leave Vietnam?
29 March 1973
When did South Vietnam fall to North Vietnam?
30 April 1975
