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Vietnam War
Early Stages of War
Objectives:
Identify how the United States became involved in
Vietnam.
Recognize how the United States influenced the politics
and military of Vietnam.
Describe the importance of Ngo Dinh Diem.
Define Vietcong.
187. Describe how JFK gradually increased U.S.
involvement in Vietnam.
Explain the downfall of Diem’s presidency.
Identify why the United States became involved
in Vietnam.
 Vietnam was controlled by France going into World
War II, but was taken by Japan during the war.
 On V-J Day, the League for the Independence of
Vietnam (Vietminh) held a rally in support of
Vietnamese self-determination.
 In 1946 France and Vietnam were fighting again.
While Ho Chi Minh (Vietnamese nationalist) looked
for U.S. support, the U.S. backed France because of
the policy of containment.
Recognize how the United States influenced the
politics and military of Vietnam.
 Vietnam forced the French to surrender in May 1954.
 At the Geneva Conference, no settlement was reached on
Vietnamese government. Vietnam was divided at the 17th
parallel, with the Vietminh to the north, and French
leadership to the south.
 In South Vietnamese elections in 1955, the U.S. helped Ngo
Dinh Diem win the presidency. Diem was an unpopular
president, and met resistance from southern Vietminh.
 The U.S. also sent a few hundred military advisors into
South Vietnam to train Diem’s army. They did not yet
engage in direct combat.
Describe the importance of Ngo Dinh Diem.
Ngo Dinh Diem
-government official in Vietnam under French rule
-held nationalist beliefs that were believed to make him
acceptable to Vietnamese people
-showed favoritism to fellow Catholics
-Favored wealthy landholders
-Diem’s military forces tortured and imprisoned political
opponents
Define Vietcong.
Vietcong – southern
Vietminh forces whose
goal was the overthrow
of Diem; called
Vietcong for being
Vietnamese
Communists, although
they weren’t all
communists
187. Describe how JFK gradually increased U.S.
involvement in Vietnam.
 JFK increased the number of military advisors
from several hundred to 16,000
 Kennedy also authorized U.S. forces to engage
in direct combat with Vietcong when attacked
 The death toll in Vietnam increased from 14 in
1961 to 500 in 1963.
Explain the downfall of Diem’s presidency.
 As Buddhist leaders opposed Diem’s rule, Diem
cracked down, arresting and killing hundreds of
Buddhists
 Buddhists increased the extreme nature of protests by
practicing self-immolation – lighting one’s self on fire
 U.S. officials demanded Diem stop his crusade, and
threatened to remove U.S. support for his presidency
 Diem would not discuss political matters with U.S.
officials, and U.S. officials began to encourage South
Vietnamese military to overthrow Diem.
Examples of self-immolation
Explain the downfall of Diem’s presidency.
 Rebels from the military overthrew Diem in early
November 1963, killing Diem and his brother before
U.S. advisors could take Diem out of the country.
Vietnam War
Escalating the War
Objectives:
188. Describe how Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon
increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
Identify the importance of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.
Define Operation Rolling Thunder.
Identify the new technologies used in war.
Identify the importance of the Tet Offensive.
Identify Richard Nixon’s affect on the war.
189. Recognize the end results of the Vietnam Conflict.
On August 2, 1964 the U.S. destroyer Maddox was
attacked by Vietcong in the Gulf of Tonkin,
prompting the U.S. to increase their
involvement in Vietnam.
While the U.S. had been spying with the Maddox
and had fired on the enemy, Lyndon Johnson
claimed it to be an unprovoked attack on the
U.S., and used it as a basis for increased
military action in Vietnam.
188. Describe how Lyndon Johnson and Richard
Nixon increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
After the attack, Johnson asked Congress for permission
to increase military force to prevent communist
takeover.
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution gave the president authority
to take “all necessary measures to repel any armed
attack against forces of the United States.”
Few opposed the resolution, but those who opposed
claimed it gave the power to make war to the
president, when declaring war was a power given to
Congress in the Constitution.
Johnson addressed the American people at midnight on
August 4, 1954 to announce the increase of military
involvement after the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
Define Operation Rolling Thunder.
Identify the new technologies used in war.
Johnson believed airstrikes could bring about an end to
the war. In March 1965 he launched Operation
Rolling Thunder – bombing against targets in North
Vietnam, including the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Other new weapons used in the war included:
1. napalm – gelatinous gas mixture used in fire
bombing because it sticks to target
2. cluster bombs – bombs that spray metal fragments
when exploded
3. defoliants – chemicals that killed vegetation to
expose enemies’ location in the jungle; the most
famous was called Agent Orange
After several years of fighting, citizens in the United States had mixed
reactions:
-the media had covered the war more closely than any war before,
and gave nightly updates on the news
-the progress in the war was measured by casualties, which put
the U.S. ahead; however, the will of the Vietcong was unwavering
-government reports conflicted with media reports, and soon the
nation was broken into hawks and doves
-government leaders suggested that the war was nearing an end
Identify the importance of the Tet Offensive.

January 30, 1968 – The Vietnamese New Year, called Tet

Late at night, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese soldiers
attacked 100 cities, 12 U.S. military bases, and many villages with
nearly 84,000 communist soldiers

The U.S. was victorious in the sense that with little casualties,
they held off the communists in most places, and the communist
forces faced 40,000 deaths

However, the battle was a moral victory for the communists in
that they showed that no part of Vietnam was secure and that the
communists were not near defeat. The Tet Offensive also created
even more doubt about what the government had been telling the
American people.
188. Describe how Lyndon Johnson and Richard
Nixon increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
 Nixon had a plan of Vietnamization – training South
Vietnamese to carry on fighting while pulling the U.S.
slowly out of the fighting – in this way Nixon hoped
to bring about “peace with honor.”
 Nixon expanded the war in 1969 by bombing
Cambodia, hoping to force the enemy into
negotiations.
 As the enemy did not waver, and a cease-fire was not
reached, Nixon continually increased the aggression
against North Vietnam and Cambodia.
189. Recognize the end results of the Vietnam
Conflict.
 January 1973 – a cease fire was finally agreed upon
 1975 – South Vietnamese government collapsed
 After the collapse, North Vietnamese troops overran the south
 Remaining Americans had to evacuate, with some boarding helicopters
on the roof of the U.S. Embassy as the North and Vietcong stormed the
embassy.
 South Vietnam surrendered in April 1975, and Vietnam was unified
under communist rule.
 For the U.S., 58,000 were killed, 300,000 wounded, 2,500 MIA,
thousands affected from defoliant poisoning; many others faced
hostility from citizens for their actions in war