The Vietnam War

Question	Answer
What were the main events in Dien Bien Phu?	France had lost in the indochinese war and in the battle Dien Bien Phu. The French wanted to find and destroy the Vietminh and so based 12,000 troops at Dien Bien Phu military base The Vietminh then brought 54,00 troops and artillery March 1954 the Vietminh attacked and destroyed the French air strip and eventually surrounded the French. The battle ended on May 7th, it lasted 55 days and left 1,500 french soldiers dead, 4,000 wounded and 10,000 captured.
What were the consequences of Dien Bien Phu?	The French were demoralised and humiliated and they signed a peace treaty with the Vietminh. At the Geneva peace conference it was agreed that Vietnam was to be divided up into 2 countries (North and South)
What were the 6 different types of Guerrilla warfare?	Booby Traps Maintenance of Supply Routes Ambush Hit and Run Tunnel Networks No fixed HQ's and blending into civilians
What were the main aims of Booby traps, what were some examples of what they were and what affect did it have on the enemy?	The main aim was to kill the enemy Some examples were : Trap wires, Bouncing betty's, Pit with sharpened sticks in It caused 11% of the US Army injuries US Soldiers had to go on patrols, it had bad phycological affect on the ones who went.
What were the 4 rules that the Viet Cong abided by to try and win the war?	Support the locals civilian and villages so they support you against the enemy Attack when the enemy is tired or camped to give the Viet Cong the biggest advantage. Retreat when the enemy attacks in force They have no fixed base camps or HQ
What was the main aim of the tactic 'Ambush', how did they carry the tactic out and what affect did it have on the enemy?	The main aim was to surprise the enemy They carried it out by hiding in: Trees, bushes, villages, undergrowth They killed a lot of soldiers that were on patrol by this (around 58,000 died and 58% of the deaths were because of ambushes)
What was the main aim of the hit and run tactic, how did they carry out the tactic and what affect did it have on the enemy?	Main aim was to attack the enemy then retreat. They carried out the tactic by attacking when the enemy was weak, and then retreated quickly into places like the jungle, countryside, villages The affect on the enemy that they were harasses and weakened by the tactic
What was the main aim of the tunnel networks tactic, how did they carry out the tactic and what affect did it have on the enemy?	The main aim was to give the Viet Cong a place to live and also what they used to help them carry out ambushes. They created around 240km of tunnels that were spread out across Vietnam, some were already created from the war with Japan.
What was the main aim of the maintenance of supply routes tactic, how did this help them to try and win the war?	The main aim was to maintain the routes that supplied the Viet Cong with food and weapons, from the North Vietnam (China) Because byclices were the main transportation the supply routes needed to be maintained and well hidden from the enemy.
What was the main aim of the tactic of not having any fixed HQ and the soldiers blending into civilian population, and how did this help the Viet Cong to win the war?	The main aim was to confuse and frustrate the US army because they couldn't target them in certain points It helped them to win the war because the US couldn't pin point and destroy any one place to damage the Viet Cong. The army also could tell apart the soldiers from the civilians and so could target them.
What was operation rolling thunder and what were the affects on the North Vietnamese and the US?	It was a bombing campaign against the north Vietnamese which lasted 3 years and in total 84,000 bombs were dropped. It cost the North vietnamese $300 million in damage, but it failed to demoralise them. It cost the US $900 million
What was the Hearts and Minds campaign and what affect did it have on the civilians of South Vietnam?	It was a campaign to get the south vietnamese civilians on side. They tried to win over the opinions of the south Vietnamese by providing services, such as schools, new houses, sewers, medical centres and improving roads. Because of the US Bombing it led to more people joining the Viet Cong, and this campaign had no affect on the opinions of the civilians against the US
What were the search and destroy missions and what affect did it have on both the US soldiers and the south Vietnamese civilians?	The search and destroy missions were missions to find and kill any enemy or associates of the enemies and then return to base. The affect on US soldiers was that some inexperienced soldiers walked into traps and died. The affect on civilians was that some that were innocent were mistaken for soldiers and killed and the raids were based on poor intelligence
What were the chemical weapons tactics, what were some examples of some that were used and what affect did it have on the civilians and the North Vietnamese soldiers?	Chemicals that were used to try and flush out the Vietcong out of the jungles, and to also try and cut off their supplies from home. One example is Agent Orange, which was a chemical that was sprayed on al the vegetation in the jungle Another example is Agent Blue, which was sprayed on all the crops, which denied the enemy food, but also the civilians. Another example was Napalm which was a chemical that burned the skin to the bone and killed people through the shock of the pain alone, it led to 5th degree burns. A lot of these chemicals, even to this day have led to birth defects in south Vietnamese people, and it also led to more and more people turning to the Vietcong.
What was the My Lai massacre, who was involved and what happened when the soldiers entered My Lai?	The My Lai massacre was when the US soldiers (Charlie Company) aggressively marched into the village and went crazy and started to attack and kill old men, women and children, some women were raped, they also mutilated some people. around 500 were killed overall and between 70 and 80 executed.
What was the Tet Offensive and what did it lead to?	The Tet offensive was when during the Tet holiday (Vietnamese new year) the Vietcong fighters launched a huge offensive and attacked over 100 cities and other major military targets, such as in Saigon when a commando unit captured the US embassy for 6 hours. This led to them changing their tactics from guerrilla warfare to fighting in the open and directly taking the US military on.
What was the Fulbright hearing and what were the events of it?	The US Government had been questioning the war and so launched an investigation upon it. John Kerry, who was a famous war veteran complained about the war and said he thought that by fighting in the war he would be helping people, and that the massacres like My Lai were not a one off event and that they were direct orders.
What was the outcome of the Fulbright hearing?	It showed the American people that the governed didn't fully support the war at first and that now they were starting to turn against it.
What were the Kent state university protests and what were the events that occurred there?	The kent state university students held a protest against the invasion of Cambodia. The police called the national guard, which arrives at the university and stated to open fire on the students, which led to the death of 4 people and 11 injured.
What were the consequences of the outcome of the Kent State university protest?	The Media, Press and public were all horrified at the actions of the national guard 400 colleges were closed and 2 million students went on strike
What were some Black/ Civil rights protestors that were opposed to the war?	Muhammed Ali, who was a famous boxer, refused to be drafted because he didn't want to fight on behalf of a country that didn't provide equal rights, and because of that he was stripped of his title. Martin Luther King, showed the american people that the US goverment was spending 1/2 a million on the war but on average only $53 on black people.
What were some other protest movements against the war?	The War Veterans march in 1971, which was 300,000 of the veterans that had returned from the war badly injured. Rich white people, burned their draft cards and moved out of the country and stayed out until the war was over (stayed in places like Canada or Europe etc.). There were marches against President Johnson, and they portrayed him as a war criminal and in summer of 1968, 10,000 demonstrators went to Chicago to the Democratic Party Convention to protest against the war.
What were the early representations of the war in America?	They used to be very supportive, especially of the soldiers who were reported as helping the Vietnamese civilians. In 1968, John Wayne made a film to show how 'Brutal' the Vietcong were called the 'Green Berets'
When did the views of the war start to change, and what did they change to?	In 1965, CBS released a video of the American soldiers setting fire to the houses of the Vietnamese, and people started to doubt their opinions on the war and what was really happening compared to what they were told On February 1968, John Wheeler wrote an article of the fear and bitterness of the soldiers at having to fight in this war. People also realised that the film 'The Green Berets' was not realistic
What did the affect of the media coverage of the war have on the publics views of the war?	Cover ups of events like the My Lai massacre, and the public execution of the Vietcong soldier Loan and pictures of children that had been attacked with napalm by soldiers, being exposed by the media started to change everyones views and opinions of the war and the soldier fighting in it completely. Some protestors of the media, just claimed that they were all simply tying to scare and horrify the public by all of these stories, however before 1968 most of the stories were Pro-American. TV reporting only started to become hostile when the public opinions started to turn against the war, and so Americans used to watch the news and make up their own minds, but after 1968 the war started to lose its public support back home.
What are some reasons for the Vietcong winning the Tet Offensive?	The American soldiers were taken by surprise The American embassy in Saigon was captured for 6 hours Hue was captured and held for 25 days President Johnson didn't stand for re election because the public had lost faith in him It made most of the American believe that the war was going to require more effort and longer than it was worth
What are some reasons for the Americans winning the Tet offensive?	45,000 Vietcong soldiers were killed. The Vietcong were effectively wiped out The North Vietnamese morale fell Soldiers of North Vietnam surrendered/ deserted The peasants of South Vietnam didn't rise up and join the Vietcong, which would of made them stronger and harder to beat.
How did the Americans use the attacks on Cambodia and Laos to 'get out' of the Vietnam?	The North Vietnamese army were using some of their bases in their neighbouring Cambodia, and the US had been secretly bombing Cambodia since 1969 and in 1970 Nixon decided to invade Cambodia with 100,000 troops, this led to them capturing lots of the North Vietnamese's weapons. In Laos, they were trying to take over, and when the South Vietnamese attacked the Americans defeated them, causing them to retreat.
How did the Americans use Richard Nixon, Madman theory and a new policy to 'get out' of Vietnam?	When Nixon became president in 1969 he introduced 'Vietnamism' which was getting the South Vietnamese to fight the Vietcong whilst the Americans withdrew between 1969 and 1971. The mad man theory, which was to connive to North Vietnamese that he was insane and willing to nuclear bomb them, which didn't work.
How did the Americans use the 1972-3 Paris Peace agreement to 'get out' of Vietnam?	There was secret peace talks between leaders of the US and the North Vietnamese in october 72, but over christmas of 72 Nixon increased the bombings of North Vietnam to try and force the peace talks because the North Vietnamese were threatening to not surrender. On the 27th of January 1973, the US and NV agreed to a ceasefire and the withdrawal of US troops and the return of political prisoners
What happened after the final withdrawal of the US troops on the 29th of March 1973?	The amount of money that the US gave to the South Vietnamese army to fight the North Vietnamese was reduced, which led to the collapse of the SV economy, March 1975 NV army invaded the south, and the SV army surrendered 30th April 1975 the NV army entered Saigon and the last of the Americans there were flown out. Reporters said that the NV took out their revenge on the SV and killed 60,000 of their supporters

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	Created by Iona Diack about 8 years ago