Vietnam review from book

Ho Chi MinhIn 1930, a revolutionary leader named Ho Chi Minh hoh chee mihn united three Communist groups to form the Indochinese Communist Party ICP and took control of South Vietnam..

The Vietnam War

Creating America

Chapter 30

Ho Chi Minh

In 1930, a revolutionary

leader named Ho Chi

Minh (hoh chee mihn)

united three Communist

groups to form the

Indochinese Communist

Party (ICP) and took

control of South

Vietnam

Domino Theory

• U.S Presidents used the domino theory to

explain the need to support anti-Communists

Ngo Dinh Diem

• In spite of U.S aid, Diem did

not establish a democratic

government in South Vietnam

Instead, his government was

corrupt

• In the countryside, for

example, he let landlords take

back land given to peasants In

addition, he jailed, tortured,

and killed opponents

Viet Cong

• Diem’s opponents included South

Vietnamese Communists In

1960, they joined with other

dissatisfied South Vietnamese to form the Viet Cong

Ho Chi Minh Trail

• The Viet Cong fought to overthrow the Diem government and reunite the country under

Communist rule

• North Vietnam supported the Viet Cong,

sending soldiers and supplies along a network

of paths called the Ho Chi Minh Trail

• This supply line wove through the jungles and mountains of neighboring Laos and Cambodia

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• The U.S destroyer Maddox had been

patrolling in the Gulf of Tonkin when North

Vietnamese torpedo boats fired on it

• Congress passes the Gulf ofTonkin

Resolution.

• This gave the president the power to use military force in Vietnam

“Containment” of Communism

• Three events led President Kennedy to step

up efforts to stop the spread of communism

• 1 The failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba

• 2 The Soviets erecting the Berlin Wall

• 3 The Cuban Missile Crisis

Escalation of the Conflict

• Many Americans thought that, with their superior weapons, U.S ground forces would quickly defeat the Viet Cong and drive them out of the villages.

• Many conditions frustrated American soldiers,

however First of all, they could wage only a limited war, partly because the government feared drawing China into the conflict.

• Also, most U.S soldiers in Vietnam were young and inexperienced The average soldier was 19 and

served a one-year tour of duty.

Identifying the enemy

• The Vietnam War differed from World War II in that

there was no frontline The Viet Cong mixed with the general population and operated everywhere,

attacking U.S troops in the countryside and in the

cities

• Even a shoeshine boy on a city street corner might toss

a grenade into an army bus carrying American soldiers

• Marine captain E J Banks described his frustration:

“You never knew who was the enemy and who was the friend The enemy was all around you.”

Guerrilla Warfare

• Because they could not match American

firepower, the Viet Cong relied on guerrilla

warfare, surprise attacks by small bands of

• They riddled the countryside and jungles with land mines

and booby traps, such as

bamboo stakes hidden in

covered pits They hung

grenades from trees and hid them in bushes

• Every day, U.S Army and Navy nurses treated young soldiers with gruesome wounds

The Climate

• Even the land and climate of Vietnam proved difficult The heat was suffocating and the rain almost constant

• Soldiers sweated through tangled jungles

After wading through flooded rice paddies,

they had to pick leeches off their feet and

legs

• “It seemed like the whole country was an

enemy The animals, the reptiles, the insects, the plants And the people.”

The Enemy

• Finally, the Viet Cong

were a very

dedicated enemy

They took heavy

losses, built up their

ranks again, and kept

on fighting year after

year because they

believed in their

cause

Chemical Warfare

• One of the strengths of the Viet Cong was

their ability to hide in the jungle and in

underground tunnels To reveal and destroy Viet Cong hideouts, American troops used

chemicals that ruined the landscape

• Over wide areas, U.S planes dropped bombs

of napalm, jellied gasoline that burns

violently Planes also sprayed Agent Orange, a

chemical that kills plants, over the jungles

• Such chemicals helped destroy the hideouts and food supplies of the Viet Cong But in the process, they also harmed innocent

Vietnamese villagers This undermined the

villagers’ support for the United States

• Later, people learned that Agent Orange

harmed U.S soldiers as well Veterans

exposed to it have suffered from skin diseases and cancers

Search and Destroy Missions

• Search-and-destroy

missions were another

American war tactic that

• “Their homes had been wrecked, their

chickens killed, their rice confiscated [taken

away]—and if they weren’t pro-Vietcong

before we got there, they sure were by the time we left.”

William Ehrhart, quoted in Vietnam: A History

by Stanley Karnow

Tet Offensive

• This was a surprise attack on U.S military

bases and more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam It came during Tet, the

Vietnamese celebration of the lunar New

Year

• In preparation for the Tet offensive, the Viet Cong hid weapons in vegetable trucks, food

trucks, peddlers’ carts, and even coffins They smuggled these weapons into South

Vietnamese cities

• Soldiers dressed in civilian clothes entered the cities on buses, on motorcycles, and on foot

No one could tell them apart from the war

refugees who streamed into the cities from

the countryside or from visitors coming for

the holiday

• The Viet Cong fought to take over the cities

during the offensive They killed not only

enemy soldiers but also government officials, schoolteachers, doctors, and priests

• The Tet offensive was a military defeat for the Communists They gained no cities and lost 45,000 soldiers, while the South Vietnamese lost 2,300 soldiers and the United States

1,100

The Turning Point

• The Tet offensive

also made many

Americans ask

whether the U.S

mission in Vietnam

was wise To retake

some cities, troops

had to almost level

them with bombing

and shelling

• In July 1969, Nixon announced his strategy of

Vietnamization It called for gradually

withdrawing U.S forces and turning the

ground fighting over to the South Vietnamese

• However, Nixon had secretly ordered

bombing in Cambodia to stop troop and

supply movement on the Ho Chi Minh trail

• The public was angered by this expansion of the war

• In 1973, the United States and South Vietnam signed a peace agreement with North

Vietnam and the Viet Cong

• North Vietnam agreed not to invade South

Effects of the Vietnam War

• The Vietnam War took a heavy toll on

American soldiers About 58,000 died, and more than 300,000 were wounded Many suffered permanent, disabling injuries

Returning soldiers often had recurring

nightmares and other stress-related

problems To make things worse, they came home to a public that treated them coldly