Vietnam War
Logan Beddes 4th Period
Terms I Know
Cold War: A war that took place in the 1950's to the 1970's.
Containment: Isolating a problem before getting rid of it.
Domino Theory: If one country falls, more will follow.
Draft: Forcing able-bodied men into joining the army.
Ho Chi Minh: Communist leader, prime minister, and president.
Terms I Don't Know
DMZ
De-militarized Zone- a place no military activity should take place
General WIlliam Westmoreland
U.S. general in the Vietnam War. Tried defeating Viet Cong through a search and destroy strategy.
My Lai Massacre
Marines blew up Viet Cong bunkers and tunnels.
National Liberation Front
Anyone could join this front as long as they opposed Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem
Very first president of South Vietnam. His people didn't like him. He threw political opponents into prison camps and essentially killed them.
Pentagon Papers
Information about the war that military analyst Daniel Ellsberg felt needed to be released to the public in America.
Tet Offensive
1968- a coordinated series of vicious attacks on South Vietnam. Named for the lunar New Year holiday, Tet.
Viet Cong
It is a contraction of Việt Nam Cộng-sản, contradicting Vietnamese Communists. They believed in wartime, even women had to fight.
Vietnamization
The plan had a two track formula for the U.S.
•1.) Make the south well trained enough militarily that they could withstand the north on their own
•2.) Strengthen the south’s government to attract a broader base
•1.) Make the south well trained enough militarily that they could withstand the north on their own
•2.) Strengthen the south’s government to attract a broader base
Adding Context to the Vietnamese War
- 1945- The Japanese declare French rule
- 1947- The Truman Doctrine was issued in the US
- 1948- The Cold War opened with the Berlin Airlift ordered by President Truman
- 1950- The Cold War begins with an attack on South Korea from North Korea
- 1954- Geneva Accords are released. Everyone agrees to the terms, but US and South Korea didn't sign them.
- 1960- NLF is officially formed in South Vietnam
- 1962- Cuban Missile Crisis
- 1966- General Westmoreland commands over 1 million troops in Vietnam, including 385,300. U.S. servicemen. Over 5,000 U.S. troops are killed in this year, and 30,000 wounded.
- 1968- From January 30 to February 24 the NLF launches the TET Offensive; simultaneous attacks on all U.S. military bases and 110 cities and towns in South Vietnam. The siege of Khe Sanh begins.
- 1968- Martin Luther King is assassinated, and riots break out in virtually every major American city. There are 125 riots or disturbances in 29 states, and Army Reserve units and the National Guard are called out to restore order.
- 1969- Ho Chi Minh dies
- 1971- The New York Times begins publishing The Pentagon Papers, a top secret Pentagon history of the Vietnam War dating back to 1945, that reveals numerous lies and deceptions told to the American public.
- 1972- To force the North Vietnamese to accept Thieu’s changes Nixon initiates the infamous “Christmas bombing” of Hanoi and Haiphong, during which many U.S. B-52s are shot down.
- 1973- The Paris Peace Accord is signed
- 1973- In a secret letter to North Vietnam’s foreign minister, Pham Van Dong, Nixon pledges over $4 billion in reconstruction aid to North Vietnam- a promise that is never fulfilled.
1947- The Truman Doctrine
This declared the US will fight communism throughout the world.
The Pentagon Papers
This slowed the US down because they had to try and cover their lies while fighting the war. They had two things they had to focus on at the same time.
The Christmas Bombing
It was a ruthless blow that Nixon initiated that turned the war around and lead to the Paris Peace Accord.
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
President Johnson sent a group of US planes against North Vietnamese and asked Congress to support his decision. It became the legal bases for the presidents' military policies in Vietnam. The resolution was repealed in 1971.