The French in Indochina
France's underestimation of Vietnam led to their defeat at Dien Bien Phu. The French did not realise that their imperialism would lead to the spread of communism and Vietnamese nationalism. Vietnamese utilisation of their environment and guerilla warfare tactics led to their victory in Dien Bien Phu. France underestimated the determination of the Vietnamese "You can kill ten of our men for every one we kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and we will win."- Ho Chi Minh. The French underestimated the impact of French Imperialism and the effect it had towards the spread of communism. During the French reign over Indochina, there was a European superiority over the indigenous people of their colonies, who were considered to be inferior and a burden. France's colonialist approach led to the exploitation of human and natural resources, in order to gain the glory of an expanded France. The feudal system created a hierarchy that limited people's wealth, creating a large poor population. The French monopolised Indochinese trade and introduced taxes on products such as salt, wine and opium. The French system exploited Vietnamese farmers, destroyed traditional cultural values and stimulated poverty. France made poor political decisions, such as reintroducing corvee and village quotas, and the Vietnamese held a strong sense of hostility towards the French. Tran Binh
Do you agree with the interpretation of the problems faced by the United States soldiers in Vietnam? Use the source and knowledge from your studies to explain your answer
Study Source A. Do you agree with the interpretation of the problems faced by the United States soldiers in Vietnam? Use the source and knowledge from your studies to explain your answer To some extent I agree with the interpretation given in source A of the problems faced by the United States soldiers in Vietnam. The source suggests that the US troops were not skilled enough to fight in the war, and that the soldiers were inexperienced, 'an increasing number of recruits scored low on the intelligence tests that they would never had been let into the normal peacetime army'. Furthermore, it suggests the US army were desperate for as many soldiers as they could get hold of; this had been a major factor. From my own knowledge I know that the average age of a soldier from the US army had been 19, this implies that most soldiers were too young and therefore must have been inexperienced. I know that after the official trained US army had arrived in Vietnam, the US was forced to conscript. If you were not well educated, you stood a greater chance of being recruited. Therefore, a lot of new recruits in Vietnam were not very intelligent. However, the source has some limitations in its interpretation. From my own knowledge I know that the US soldiers were fighting in the Vietcong territory, so they weren't familiar with the area. Therefore, the Guerrillas had a better chance of
How important was the role of the media during the Vietnam War?
How important was the role of the media during the Vietnam War? The Vietnam War was the first televised war in history. Throughout the history of war, the Vietnam War has been distinguished as being one of the most infamously protested against on. It began in mid-1965, when Lyndon Johnson dispatched large numbers of U.S. combat troops, beginning what is still surely the biggest story, television news has ever covered. The war began because North Vietnam was a communist country and the US wanted to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment. The media played an important role in the war as the media brought the war into American homes. The coverage showed the realities of warfare: wounded civilians, children who had lost their parents, villages destroyed, search and destroy missions etc. The media made people in American homes realize that the war was pointless and that America was being unfair as it had no right to impose its views on a poor nation like Vietnam. The media was valuable in showing the American citizens the US tactics such as chemical weapons: Agent Orange, Napalm and others. As Source A shows, these weapons were very dangerous and cause a lot of havoc throughout North Vietnam. Although the chemical weapons assisted the US military against the Viet Cong, the media had a powerful impact on the people of America
Vietnam war, representation work. In this essay I will evaluate the content, accuracy and objectivity of the representations, before I establish which is most reliable regarding the reaction of the American public to presence of US forces in Vietnam.
Choose the one which you think is the best Representation of the way in which people in the USA reacted to the Vietnam War. Explain your choice. It is clear as the Vietnam War went on that a divergence in public opinion began to emerge, as more and more people doubted the US's cause in Vietnam. A survey questioning the public's opinion on whether the US government had made the right decision to take action in Vietnam (taken from the digital history website) shows that on August 1965 only 39 per cent of the US public doubted the US's cause, comparable to the 72 per cent in May 1971. These statistics show the rapid decline of the support for the American army. Several incidents which induced worldwide antagonism include the My Lai Massacre and the Tet Offensive which could have had some effect on the US public's morale, thus causing intensifying doubt. It is clear that each of the following sources impart different depictions of the American army; however all provide us with seemingly pessimistic insights regarding the US's immersion in Vietnam. In this essay I will evaluate the content, accuracy and objectivity of the representations, before I establish which is most reliable regarding the reaction of the American public to presence of US forces in Vietnam. I personally think that Representation 2 is the best source for withdrawing information on the way in which people in
Throughout the Vietnam War, the Americans used various tactics to try and defeat their opponent, two of which were Search and Destroy and defoliation.
Vietnam Controlled Assessment; Draft Part A Throughout the Vietnam War, the Americans used various tactics to try and defeat their opponent, two of which were ‘Search and Destroy’ and defoliation. What were Search and Destroy and Defoliation? Search and destroy involved ground forces, transported by helicopter units and supported by artillery, would locate enemy forces then destroy them, and sometimes the enemy base also. The tactic was very focused on attacking the communists within Vietnam and gaining ground, rather than gaining the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people. Barry Romo, US army 196th INFANTRY is quoted saying “The idea was to go out and try to destroy the infrastructure and the people, of the communist movement.” Defoliation was a totally different strategy, not involving personal encounters with the Vietnamese, or the use of any ground troops. Instead, planes dropped chemicals known as defoliants over suspected parts of the Ho Chi Minh trail, destroying the thick shrubbery and jungle areas. The particularly favoured acid was a defoliant named ‘Agent Orange’, and according to Source 1, 77million litres of it were sprayed over the country during the war. Areas of inland forest, borders of Laos and Cambodia were some of the worst hit. Why were they used and When? Search and destroy was used between 1965 and 1967, and was first instigated
How coverage of Vietnam in the USA led to demands for peace
How coverage of Vietnam in the USA led to demands for peace Media coverage of the Vietnam War was completely different and unlike any other war coverage as it brought the war to the homes of American citizens; allowing them to see things like never before due to the major growth of technology all over the USA. However, at the beginning of the war, public opinion and the attitude of the government towards journalists was significantly different in comparison to the last few years of the war. The relationship between the US military and government and the media was had always been reasonably good in any conflicts before Vietnam in which America had been involved in; such as the Korean War where US actions were always presented in positive light. This method of reporting and forming happy enthusiastic stories to keep the American public optimistic and panic free was similarly used at the start of the Vietnam War. The US Army also created MACV, also known as Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, to form a link with the journalists. In the early 60’s, at the beginning, the MACV would help the journalists gain transport to areas of conflict, interviews and frequent reports and the journalists were expected not to reveal
Discuss the effectiveness of US tactics such as 'defoliation' and 'search and destroy'
During the Vietnam War, the tactics most commonly used and with the most notoriety today are, ‘search and destroy’ and ‘defoliation’. With the realization that bombing would not be enough to triumph over a guerrilla army, the US commander General Westmoreland created a strategy of ‘search and destroy’. From heavily defended US bases in the south of the country, US and South Vietnamese forces would locate enemy forces and destroy both them and occasionally their base areas in raids from helicopters. Defoliation on the other hand was a way to prevent the enemy any cover or subsistence in the jungle terrain. American forces used an array of chemical herbicides: fast-acting Agent Blue was the chosen herbicide for crops, while Agent Orange was the favoured herbicide for forested areas. So with all the effort put into these tactics just how effective were they? To determine the effectiveness of these US tactics I have created two success criteria: did the tactic cause change that helped the war effort? And what were the drawbacks? For historian Christian Appy, “search and destroy was the principal tactic; and the enemy body count was the primary measure of progress” [1] and with that in mind, the search and destroy tactic appears effective right off the bat. According to US reports in one of the search and destroy missions named Operation Junction City “nearly
Operation Rolling Thunder was the name given to Americas sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam
Operation Rolling Thunder was the name given to America’s sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Operation Rolling Thunder was a demonstration of America’s near total airsupremacy during the Vietnam War. It was started in an effort to demoralise the North Vietnamese people and to undermine the capacity of the government in North Vietnam to govern. Operation Rolling Thunder failed on both accounts. Operation Rolling Thunder was given government approval and officially started on February 24th 1965though the first attack did not occur until March 2nd when 100 US and VNAF planes attacked an ammunition base at Xom Bang. The bombing campaign lasted until October1968, despite the fact that it was meant to have been no more than an eight-week campaign. The execution of the operation was blurred from the start. The US Air Force was restricted as to what it could bomb out of fear of provoking a Soviet/Chinese response. Whereas the US military wanted a bombing campaign that had clear military results (such as severely limiting the way the NLF could operate in South Vietnam) the ‘hawks’ in Washington DC wanted to demonstrate to the North Vietnamese government the awesome military power the US could muster – a military power that the North could not hope to match. The failure of Operation Thunder to undermine the government of Ho Chi Minh in
Why did the USA become increasingly involved in Vietnam between 1964-1968?
Question B – Why did the USA become increasingly involved in Vietnam between 1964 and 1968? The USA became increasingly involved in the Vietnam War between 1964 and 1968 for a number of different reasons. After Kennedys reign of presidency, Lyndon Johnson took hold of a difficult situation in Vietnam. The South Vietnamese government was very corrupt, the Viet Cong were making large gains in rural areas of South Vietnam and guerilla tactics were proving very hard to combat. One key reason why the US became progressively involved in Vietnam was the fear of the Domino theory. The Domino theory was arguably the most significant cause for the escalation of US support in the Vietnam War. The Americans feared that if they left the corrupt South Vietnamese government alone, the whole country would collapse to communism and ultimately spread to neighboring countries such as Laos and Cambodia. The most important reason as to why the United States became increasingly involved in Vietnam was the long-term effect of the Domino Theory. The Domino Theory was the belief that once one country had fallen to communism, its neighbors would do the same. The Domino Theory was very important for the Americans if they were to win the Cold War, as they had to keep as few countries from going communist as possible. If South Vietnam were to fall communist, its neighbors in South East Asia may do
Vietnam war, representation work. In this essay I will evaluate the similarities,differences and objectivity of the representations, before I establish which is most reliable regarding the reaction of the American Public in the Vietnam War
Both representations are about the way in which people in the USA reacted to the war in Vietnam. Representation 1 is a secondary source, an extract from a book entitled ‘The Vietnam War’ written by Douglas Willoughby. It would be helpful to know the nationality and age of Douglas Willoughby to determine any possible bias or first-hand experience of the Vietnam conflict. It appears to be an unbiased account of the anti-war movement in America and is written to objectively inform the reader. Representation 2 is a cartoon by an American cartoonist called John Fischetti and is therefore a more subjective representation of anti-war protests, with the intention of entertaining and amusing the radar. As such it is not as reliable as Representation 1 and is undoubtedly and exaggeration to deliberately make fun of the protesters/ John Fischetti had served in the Second World War and would have been very much aware of the horrors of war. Representation 1 was written in 2001 and has the advantage of hindsight, with the author having access to a wide range of different sources of information about the anti-war movement. Representation 2 was drawn during the Vietnam War and is a representation of the way that people reacted during the war. As it is mocking those opposing the war, it is likely that this cartoon is from the early years of the war when opposition was not as strong