Vietnam War Flashcards
When did the Tet Offensive take place?
In January 1986
What was the Tet Offensive?
- When the communists launched a major offensive during the Tet New Year holiday.
- Viet Cong fighters attacked over 100 cities and other military targets.
- Around 4500 fighters tied down a much larger US and South Vietnamese force in Saigon for two days.
- Yet, the Tet Offensive was a disaster for the communists also, they hoped that the people of South Vietnam would join them but the communists lost around 10,000 experienced soldiers.
Why was the Tet Offensive considered a turning point in the war?
- It raised hard questions about the war in the USA.
- There were nearly 500,000 troops in Vietnam and the USA was spending $20 billon a year on the war - why had the communists been able to launch a major offensive that took US forces completely by surprise?
- US and South Vietnamese quickly retook the towns captured in the offensive, but in the process they used enormous amounts of artillery and air power. Many civilians were killed and the ancient city of Hue was destroyed. Was this right?
- Until this point the media coverage of the war was generally positive. This changed during the offensive when CBS journalist Walter Cronkite asked “What the hell is going on? I thought we were winning the war.” Don Oberdorfer of the Washington Post later wrote in 1971 that as a result of the Tet Offensive “the American People and most of their leaders reached the conclusion that the Vietnam War would require greater effort over a longer period of time than it was worth.”
- After the Tet Offensive President Johnson concluded that the war could not be won militarily. he reduced the bombing campaign against North Vietnam and instructed his officials to begin negotiating for peace with the communists. In March 1968 a peace conference began in Paris.
- Johnson also announced that he would not be seeking re-election as President. it was an admission of failure. In the election campaign both Republican and Democrat candidates campaigned to end US involvement in Vietnam. The anti-communist feeling was so strong that if they supported continuing the war they would have had no chance of being elected anyway. It was no longer a question of ‘Could the USA win the war?’ - now it was ‘how can the USA get out of Vietnam without it looking like a defeat?’
How many cities were attacked during the Tet Offensive?
100
How many fighters tied down the US and South Vietnamese force for 2 days in the Tet Offensive?
around 4500
How many experienced fighters did the Viet Cong lose?
10,000
How many US troops were in Vietnam?
Nearly 500,000 troops
How much was the USA spending per year on the war?
$20 billion
Who said “What the hell is going on? I thought we were winning the war.”?
CBS Journalist Walter Cronkite
Who was Walter Cronkite?
CBS journalist who said “What the hell is going on? I thought we were winning the war.”
Who wrote in the Washington Post that as a result of the Tet Offensive “the American People and most of their leaders reached the conclusion that the Vietnam War would require greater effort over a longer period of time than it was worth.”?
Don Oberdorfer of the Washington Post
What did Don Oberdorfer of the Washington Post write about the Tet Offensive in 1971?
that as a result of the Tet Offensive “the American People and most of their leaders reached the conclusion that the Vietnam War would require greater effort over a longer period of time than it was worth.”
After the Tet Offensive what did President Johnson conclude about the Vietnam War? What did who do because of this?
that the war could not be won militarily. he reduced the bombing campaign against North Vietnam and instructed his officials to begin negotiating for peace with the communists.
When did a peace conference begin in Paris?
In March 1968
In March 1968 where did a peace conference begin?
Paris
When did the My Lai Massacre happen?
March 1968
What were the events of the My Lai Massacre?
- In March 1968, Charlie Company started a search-and-destroy-mission in South Vietnam; they were young and inexperienced.
- They had all been told they would find a Viet Cong headquarters and 200 Viet Cong fighters.
- They were to burn all houses, destroy all livestock and, since all the villagers would have left for market, they were under the impression they should kill everyone they found in the village.
- In four hours, between 300 - 400 civilians were killed, mostly women, children and old men.
- Some were killed working in the fields, others mowed down by machine gun fire in an irrigation ditch. Some were shot in their homes.
- Still, the US soldiers acted with extraordinary brutality: raping and torturing villagers before killing them, and dragging dozens of people (including young children and babies) into a ditch and executing them with automatic weapons.
- No Viet Cong were found in the village. Only three weapons were recovered.
- The massacre reportedly ended when an Army helicopter pilot, Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, landed his aircraft between the soldiers and the retreating villagers and threatened to open fire if they continued their attacks.
What were the reactions at the time to the My Lai Massacre?
- At the time, the army treated the operation as a success.
- The commanding officer’s report said that 20 non-combatants had been killed by accident in the attack, but the rest of the dead were recorded as being Viet Cong.
- The officers and men involved were praised. The event passed into army folklore.
- All the soldiers knew that it had taken place, but they just took it to be a normal and inevitable part of the war.
