Vietnam source based work

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Coursework 2 – Vietnam

1.In source A Kennedy refers to Vietnam as the ‘cornerstone of the Free World in Southeast Asia. By this he means that Vietnam is an essential country in the non-communist world. He refers to the ‘red tide of communism’ and by this he is referring to the domino theory, when one country becomes Communist its neighbouring countries become communist and then communism spreads further. From the source I can learn that America got involved in the Vietnam War because Kennedy believed that it was a very important country to the non-communist world. This is what he means by the phrase ‘crucial to the Free World’. He believed that Vietnam was essential to the economy of Southeast Asia. He thought that if Vietnam became Communist then all the surrounding countries would also become communist. This is why America got involved in the Vietnam War to prevent the threat of Communism spreading.

2. Source B refers to the ‘commitment of North Korea to take the South in 1950’ and this worried the Americans because they didn’t want the same thing that happened in North Korea to happen again in Vietnam. Another reason for America’s involvement was so that they could spread their ‘political ideas around the world’. This was so they could make clear to the rest of the world their anti-communist ideas. Source B is a statement made by the US government and it is the same as what Kennedy says in Source A. In source A Kennedy refers to the ‘red tide of communism’ and in source B the statement it says ‘a Communist government has set out to conquer a sovereign people’. These two sentences are both referring to the same thing but by using different words. So the main reason America got involved was to stop Communism from spreading. In source C the soldier gives me the impression that war was seen as a crusade. It says that war was ‘attractive to young men’. It shows that the American soldiers wanted to save the world and be the best so that they could take the glory.

3.The US was unable to defeat the VC for many reasons. In source C it states that ‘war is attractive to young men who know nothing about it’. This gives me the impression that the American soldiers were ignorant and ill prepared to fight in the Vietnamese climate and countryside. It also states in source C that the ‘VC chose to fight a set piece’ very rarely. This shows that the Viet Cong were more tactical as they knew that the Americans would be more powerful in set pieces as they had more soldiers and firepower. There mission was simply to kill and this also shows that America’s tactics were not as good. Source D was written by Ho Chi Min who was the leader of the VC. It says that the soldiers should ‘nibble at the enemy’ in a way that he can ‘neither eat or sleep’ this was a tactic which the VC used to tire out the American soldiers. The tactics they used were those of only fighting at night and setting up traps such as land mines. The anti personnel mines were not intended to kill the American soldiers. The idea was that it would destroy the soldier’s limbs. This meant that more soldiers would be taken out as they would have to carry the soldier whose limbs had been destroyed. It also used up medical staff. This was a very clever tactic used by the Vietnamese to take out more soldiers and to lower the moral of the American soldiers.

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Source E is the instructions given to the guerrillas from the Vietnamese National Liberation Front. It tells the guerrillas how they should treat civilian people. It states that ‘when staying in a civilian house, maintain it as if it is your own’. This shows that the guerrillas looked after and treated innocent civilians with a great deal of respect. By doing this the guerrillas gained support from the Vietnamese people. Source E contradicts source C because in source C it says that some ‘men acquired a contempt for human life’ whereas in source E it says that you should ...

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