Vietnam- Why Did The USA Withdraw?/ Tactics? Flashcards
What were the 5 reasons that USA withdrew?
▪️Failure of USA tactics ▪️Strength of Vietcong tactics ▪️TET offensive ▪️Peace movement in USA ▪️Media Coverage (Links into all of them)
What were the USA tactics?
▪️Search and Destroy
▪️Chemical weapons
▪️Consistent bombing
What was the main bombing operation and what happened in it?
Operation Rolling Thunder
Bomb the Ho Chi Minh Trail out of usage
What were the two main chemical weapons used by the USA and what did each one do?
Napalm- Defoliant, burning
Agent Orange- Defoliant
What was SEARCH AND DESTROY?
Where small groups of men went in search of Vietcong hiding in the forest and attempted to kill them
What was wrong with SEARCH AND DESTROY?
▪️They often went in blind
▪️Walked into Traps
▪️They killed innocent people
▪️There was a high American body count
What reasons were there for the South Vietnamese to join the VC?
(From an American point of view)
▪️The Americans were destroying all of the terrain with bombing and chemicals
▪️The Americans killed innocent civilians
▪️Ngo Dinh Diem was a corrupt douchebag
What was wrong with the American BOMBING
▪️Vietnam was just too big to bomb the whole thing
▪️Too EXPENSIVE
▪️The bombing was destroying the landscape
How much did it cost on average to kill one VC fighter and why was this a problem?
$400,000
It was a problem because it was the taxpayers money and they did not like it
What did the peace movements consist of?
▪️Violent/Peaceful flooding of the streets (riots)
▪️Burning Draft Cards
▪️Protests at Universities
Name one good quote that an be used to back up the peace movement.
(Is a Chant)
“Hey, Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”
Why were the peace movements so successful?
As a democracy those in power had to listen to the public or else they would not be voted in again
What were the VC tactics?
▪️Used AK-47's ▪They didn't wear uniforms ▪Guerrilla Warfare ▪️There was no HQ ▪️Kept population happy ▪️Tunnels
Why was the AK-47 better than the M16 in Vietnam conditions?
▪️Simple to use (Children, Farmers) ▪️The M16 broke when dirt got into it ▪️AK-47 could shoot through trees ▪️M16 took ages to fix ▪️Ak-47 took about ten seconds to fix
