Vietnam War

Vietnam War

Reasons for Involvement
1. Poor Leadership of Diem
  1. Nepotistic
  2. He prosecuted Buddhists (80% of population)
    1. Loses support of the South Vietnamese (these people weren't yet communist)
      1. They start to support the Vietcong
2. Domino Theory
  1. If Vietnam falls, so will Laos and Cambodia
  2. Containment
3. Military Industrial Alliance
  1. US Industry and army knew war would generate wealth for US
    1. they put pressure on the government to get involved
4. Gulf of Tonkin 1964
  1. US Maddox (ship) reports it has been attacked by N. Vietnam whilst in the Gulf of Tonkin
    1. Johnson asks Congress for permission to send combat troops
      1. Congress agrees
Reasons for failure
1. Poor US tactics
  1. Tactics ineffective
    1. Causing S. Vietnamese peasants to support VC
    2. Poorly equipped
      1. Guns didn't work in the climate
      2. Backpacks too heavy
      3. Boots rotted away due to the water
    3. Named missions
      1. Strategic Hamlet
        Upset peasants because it moved them away from their homes and ancestors
      2. Search and Destroy
        My Lai massacre
        US soldiers vulnerable to ambush
        Didn't know their enemy
      3. Rolling Thunder
        Horrific damage to land and people
2. Effective VC tactics
  1. Guerilla Warfare
    1. Knew the jungle
    2. Booby traps e.g. punji sticks
  2. No uniform - unidentifiable
  3. Used tunnels and Ho Chi Minh Trail
3. Media
  1. Made US people against the war
    1. Live coverage of the execution of an unarmed V.C. suspect in Saigon
      1. Shocked America
    2. Photo of Kim Phuc after the Trang Bang bombings
      1. Front of a magazine
    3. Walter Cronkite (celebrity) said that the war was unwinnable live on TV
  2. Government realised it had lost the support of the US public, so couldn't maintain war effort
4. Protest Movement
  1. Pressurises government to take America out of the war
    1. Convinces Johnson that US needs to withdraw
      1. He doesn't stand for re-election in 1968
5. Cost
  1. HUGE COST
    1. Needed to help tackle poverty in US at the time
    2. Civil Rights movement happens
    3. Americans refuse to pay taxes, as a protest, because these pay for the war
6. Tet Offensive 1968
  1. US thinks its winning war as VC had suffered great loses
    1. Believed that open combat would ensure a win
      1. VC attack US bases and S.V cities as a SURPRISE
        Initial VC success - make it to Saigon
        Shown on live TV
    2. Failure to US because army realise they can't won because VC have an 'inexhaustible' supply of troops
      1. Army generals tell Johnson they won't win
How they withdrew (1968-73)
1. Nixon's policy
  1. Steps up Rolling Thunder in North Vietnam
    1. Wants to intimidate
    2. Includes Ho Chi Minh trail
      1. Heavily criticised by other countries for bombing Laos and Cambodia
  2. Trained and equipped South Vietnamese troops
    1. They could then continue to fight
    2. Gradually reduce no. of US troops
      1. Last troops withdrawn in 1973
    3. FAILS - Saigon falls in 1975

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	Created by Elliemd about 8 years ago