Vietnam War

Question 1

northern zone to be governed by

Answer 1

viet minh

Question 2

southern zone to be governed by

Answer 2

ngo dinh diem

Question 3

it was divided at the

Answer 3

17th parallel

Question 4

why was ng dinh diem a horrible leader

Answer 4

he was a rich landowner in a country of poor peasant farmers

he was a catholic and discriminated against buddhists

he was a staunch anti communist

Question 5

what was the viet cong?

Answer 5

• fought a guerrilla war against the government of south vietnam
• was supplied by communist NV and hoi chi min
• the vietcongs message of independence from foreign control and ending the concentration of land ownership among rich landlords was popular with peasants

Question 6

why did the USA get involved in vietnam

Answer 6

• south vietnam looked in danger of being overthrown by the vietcong guerillas
• domino theory
• financial aid unsuccessful, force was needed
• ngo dinh diem was assasinated in 1963 november.
• in august 1964, an american naval vessel was attacked at the gulf of tonkin by NV torpedo boats, this gave LBJ and excuse to attack NV

Question 7

tactics used by US

Answer 7

bombing: air raids on hanoi, operation rolling thunder, three million tonnes of bombs dropped, highly inaccurate due to jungle landscape

s&d: send soldiers into jungle, my lai massacre, destroy any place that people thought contained viet cong weapons or soldiers

napalm and agent orange: napalm burnt skin down to the bone, agent orange was used to destroy jungle cover but affected the water lines and caused birth defects and poisoning

Question 8

tactics by VC

Answer 8

• treated peasants with respect and helped them with workloads. peasants gave them shelter and food
• guerilla: booby traps, spikes covered in faeces, meant to maim not kill, tunnels existed everyhwere

hoi chi minh trail: trail used to supply VC with aid and resources from the north and other places

Question 9

why did us tactics fail in vietnam?

Answer 9

• hoi chi minh trail
• ter offensive: launched massive attack on us embassy and us held areas across vietnam. made us realize they could not win
• guerilla warfare: demoralising effects, constant fear and unwillingness to fight
• lack of support back home
• role of media: my lai damaged reputation
• search and destroy was often wrong and immoral. undermined support for us
• failure of rolling thunder: bombs often missed their vietcong targets, as they had elaborate underground bases