Vietnam - Why US failed and withdrew Flashcards
Identify 3 reasons why the US failed in Vietnam.
Poor tactics
Communist tactics
The Tet Offensive
Identify 5 American military tactics used during the Vietnam war.
- Strategic Hamlets Programme.
- Search and destroy patrols
- Bombing campaigns (Rolling Thunder)
- Herbicides (Agent Orange)
- Napalm
What was the Strategic Hamlets programme?
Whole villages in Viet Cong areas were moved to to new sites controlled by the South Vietnamese government.
Who controlled who entered and left the Hamelts?
American soldiers.
What did the American soldier’s give to the villagers of the Hamlets?
Building materials, food, money to build new farms and homes.
What evidence is there to show that the Strategic Hamlets programme was ineffective?
Peasants did not like having to leave homes and villages.
Forced to build new villages without pay.
How did the Strategic Hamlets programme increase support for Vietcong?
Many did not see Viet Cong as a threat, and did not like being constantly stopped and searched.
What happened on search an destroy patrols?
American troops were sent on patrols form helicopters. They would target villages and destroyed any Viet Cong forces they found.
Why were the search and destroy patrols ineffective?
Innocent villages were mistaken for Viet Cong bases, leading to high civilian casualties and deaths.
What did the search and destroy patrols mean for the feeling towards the US army from civilians?
US army grew unpopular.
What was the proportion of civilian to Viet Cong killed by search and destroy patrols?
6 to 1
What is an examples of a failed search and destroy mission?
Operation Cedar Falls - 1967
When did Rolling Thunder begin?
February - 1965
What did Rolling Thunder target?
North Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh trail
Suspected Viet Cong bases
When did Rolling Thunder end?
1968
What evidence is there that the bombing campaigns were effective?
Damaged NV’s war effort and destroyed supply routes.
Affected NV’s industry.
What evidence is there that the bombing campaigns were ineffective?
Financial cost was enormous - it cost $400,000 to kill one Viet Cong fighter.
Ho Chi Minh trail rebuilt and continued to operate.
What were Agent Orange and Agent Blue?
Highly toxic weed killers used to destroy the Vietnamese jungle and crops where Viet Cong fighters and bases were hidden.
Why did Agent Orange make the US very unpopular with the Vietnamese?
Over 3,000 villages were sprayed without warning the inhabitants.
Caused many health problems for people.
What was napalm?
A chemical weapon used to destroy Vietnamese jungles and villages.
How many tonnes of napalm were used?
20,000 tons
What evidence is there that napalm was ineffective?
Killed many innocent civilians.
Give 4 reasons to why the US army became weaker after 1967.
- Lack of professional and experienced soldiers.
- Struggles to recruit soldiers.
- Morale of the US army was very low.
- Drug abuse amongst US soldiers.
What was the morale of the US soliders?
Many did not care about defeating communism and not committed to fighting in Vietnam.
What percentage of soldiers killed in the Vietnam war were aged 17-21?
60%
What type of warfare did the Vietcong use?
Guerrilla warfare
Identify 5 Viet Cong tactics used.
- Ambushes
- Booby traps
- Underground tunnels
- Ho Chi Minh trail
- Winning over the Vietnamese people
Give evidence suggesting the ambushes were effective.
Caused 51% of US casualties.
Why did ambushes mean that US air power could not be used against the Viet Cong?
It led to close quarter fighting, meaning there would be a danger of killing their own troops.
Name 2 booby traps used by the Viet Cong.
- Bouncing Betty land mine
- Punji Pits filled with sharpened bamboo staves
What did the booby traps disrupt?
Search and destroy patrols.
What percentage of US casualties did booby traps cause?
11%
How big was the underground tunnel network used by the Viet Cong?
240 km
Give evidence suggesting that the underground tunnels were effective.
Made Viet Cong bases and soldiers difficult to locate.
Avoided US air power.
What was the Ho Chi Minh trail?
A route from North Vietnam to the South to provide supplies to Viet Cong fighters.
Why was the Ho Chi Minh trail important?
The Viet Cong depended on supplies from North Vietnam to fight against America and the ARVN.
How were the Viet Cong respectful to the Vietnamese people?
Expected to be courteous and respectful.
Often helped in farming and education.
What evidence is there that the Viet Cong used violence and terror?
Killed peasants who opposed them or cooperated with their enemies.
What groups did the Viet Cong target?
Police
Tax collectors
Teachers
(employees of the S.V. government)
How many VC and N.V. soldiers died during the war?
1 million
3 reasons why the VC were successful during the war.
- Effective tactics
- Support from Vietnamese
- Weakness of US
Who launched the Tet Offensive?
The Viet Cong
When was the Tet Offensive?
January 1968
What was the Tet Offensive?
A coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam.
Did the Tet Offensive succeed?
No - the US and the ARVN managed to regain all the towns and bases that had been captured.
How many VC were killed in the Tet Offensive?
50,000
What did the Tet Offensive mean for the US public?
Propaganda victory for VC - US public shocked by media images of the VC in the US embassy.
Led to a rise in opposition to the war in America.
What was the media response to the Tet Offensive?
They began to turn against the war. Walter Cronkite started to report on the war negatively.
What was Johnson’s response to the Tet Offensive?
Decided not to stand for re-election in 1968 - his approval rating decreased.
What process did Nixon begin when elected?
De-escalation and withdrawal.
What was congress’s response to the Tet Offensive?
Turned against the war. Decreased funding.
6 reasons why America withdrew it’s troops from Vietnam in 1973.
- Military failures
- Success of Viet Cong
- Tet Offensive
- Human and Economic cost
- Media
- Rise of protest and opposition.
How many US soldiers died during the war?
58,000
How much was America spending every year on the war?
$167 billion by 1973
How did the cost of war impact US society?
More divided society in terms of race and poverty.
Meant money could not be spent on Johnson’s Great Society Programme.
What were American attitudes towards the war before 1968?
Supportive of the war.
What evidence of opposition to the war was there before 1968?
MLK privately criticised the war from 1965.
In 1965 a Quaker burned himself to death outside the Pentagon.
How did the media portray the Vietnam war between 1965-67?
Positive towards the war.
Newspapers, television and journalists largely showed support.
What happened to the attitude of the media after 1968?
Began to question if the war was winnable.
Critical of US involvement in Vietnam.
What did Walter Cronkite say about the war following the Tet Offensive?
The war was unwinnable.
What did some news stations begin to report on from 1968?
Napalm, massacres, teenage US soldiers killed.
What was the war also known as?
The living room war as people could watch what was happening on their televisions.
When did the My Lai massacre take place?
March 1968
What was the My Lai massacre?
American soldiers on a search and destroy mission killed nearly 400 civilians in My Lai.
What groups made up the majority of deaths in My Lai?
Women, children and the elderly.
At first, how was the My Lai massacre officially recorded?
As a success. US troops were reported to have killed 90 VC fighters.
What happened 18 months after the My Lai massacre?
The American press got hold of the story of the massacre and published photographs of the incident.
Which US officer was trialled and imprisoned for the massacre?
Lieutenant William Calley.
What was the affect of the massacre on American attitudes?
Created a negative and anti-war feeling.
How did the media and anti-war protests encourage America to withdraw?
Put pressure on the US government to end involvement in Vietnam, in order to keep the public on their side for future elections.
How did students protest against the war? (4)
- Burned draft cards.
- Sit-ins/ boycotts
- Marches
- Demonstrations
What was the draft?
Compulsory service in the armed forces. Men were drafter from 18.
Why was the draft controversial?
Many felt it was unfair as poor families were often drafted in greater numbers.
What protest took place in 4th May 1970?
Kent State University protest.
What happened in the days before the Kent State protest?
Several anti-war protests that were broken up by the National guard with tear gas.
What were the students at Kent State protesting about?
The invasion of Cambodia.
What happened at Kent State?
National guard fired at the crowd and 4 students shot dead.
What impact did Kent State have on public attitudes towards the war?
Helped to turn more people against the war.
How did attitudes towards the war from congress change over time?
More opposition as time went on.
What happened after the Paris Peace Accords of 1973?
It refused to give much funding to the SV government, leading to the collapse of SV by 1975.
Why did opposition to the war increase?
- Human and economic cost.
- African American opposition as less money being spent to aid civil rights.
- Media turned public opinion against war.
- Events like Tet, My Lai and Kent State.
Why did some Americans support the war?
Fear of communism (main reason)
Patriotism (loyalty to US gov.)
Who supported the war?
Hard hats
Ex-soldiers
Hawks in government
When was the hard hat riot in New York?
8 May 1970
What happened 8 May 1970?
Construction workers beat up anti-war protestors during their lunch break in New York.
What happened on 20 May 1970?
Riot leader, Peter Brennan, led a pro war rally outside city hall, New York.
What speech did Nixon make in November 1969?
Silent majority speech.
What impact did Nixon’s silent majority speech have?
Led to increase in public support.
Meant Nixon could try to get the NV to agree to a peace that he wanted.
Evidence of the positive support after Nixon’s speech.
- 77% of people showing support for Nixon’s policy.
- Over 30,000 letter of support sent to Nixon.
- House of Representatives and Senate passed resolutions supporting the war.
What did the Tet Offensive _ January 1968 show to American public?
That despite all the soldiers, bombs and money spent in Vietnam, they were not making progress against the Vietcong or communism.
