Did the power of television force the US to leave Vietnam?
Sources D to L: Did the power of television force the United States to leave Vietnam? Source D: Source D is a North Vietnamese poster from the time of the Vietnamese war. It gives a communist Vietcong point of view. It shows how the Vietnamese were well prepared and knew the terrain and how the Americans were facing problems fighting a guerrilla war. This poster is most definitely a form of propaganda. The poster was created by Vietcong/Vietminh and was used as propaganda probably to recruit more people. It shows the problems the US faced and gives reasons for American defeat. The Vietcong were trying to get across that they were far more skilled than the Americans. They knew the terrain, they had fought guerrilla wars before and thus they were more organised and knew how to fight against there enemy, the Americans. The Americans on the other hand were unsure of the terrain and they weren't used to fighting jungle warfare. The poster clearly shows that the Americans were in a position were they were facing many problems. Also, since the Americans were foreign invaders they could not communicate with locals and this put the Vietcong at benefit because they on the other hand were from the same place and were fighting on there own land therefore they were able to easily communicate with other people and also knew the area quiet well so it would have been easier for them to
How useful are the sources A to G for explaining why there was an anti-war movement in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s?
Vietnam Coursework How useful are the sources A to G for explaining why there was an anti-war movement in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s? The movement against the Vietnam War in 1960s America was one of the largest of its kind, in both national and international comparisons; the movement was heavily linked with other reform groups which were pressurising the American government during that time period. Due to this, opposition to the war came from a diverse number of groups who each had their own reasoning for their anti-militaristic stance - ranging from veteran's opposing based upon their experience or Civil Rights demonstrators who felt they were trying to uphold the rights of the Vietnamese people, whilst not necessarily having the same themselves, domestically. What facilitated the exacerbation of the anti-war movement was the greater access to uncensored information in the extensive television coverage from Vietnam; not forgetting that the right to freedom of speech was also capitalised on by those in education who sought to bolster the importance of student activism, and their pressure group status. Others viewed the conflict as a war against Vietnamese independence, or as intervention in a foreign civil war; others opposed it because they felt it lacked direction and appeared to be potentially unsuccessful - devastation for a nation that was,
How useful are sources A to C in helping to explain why the United States became involved in the war in Vietnam?
History coursework- how useful are sources A to C in helping to explain why the United States became involved in the war in Vietnam? Source A Source A is a speech made by U.S President Johnson. It was a written document which he then spoke to the American audience in April 1965. This was one month after operation rolling thunder. This speech is a primary source/ evidence. The speech was a justification for going in to Vietnam. President Johnson wanted the American public to rest assured that America was going in to Vietnam for the right reasons. Although we are not told who actually wrote this speech we presume that it was written by President Johnson with the help of his advisors. It is clear that he could not have produced this text alone and must have been influenced by the hawks amongst the advisors. President Johnson came to power after the assassination of President Kennedy who was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon Johnson had to fight an election in 1964 and he knew that a tough Vietnam policy would go down with the voters. In August 1964 North Vietnamese Torpedo boats attacked a US destroyer in the gulf of Tonkin. The American congress gave President Johnson the power to direct actions in Indo-China. He launched Operation Rolling Thunder against North Vietnam. America became involved with Vietnam for many reasons. The French faced a humiliating defeat at
I think that the four most significant themes in the Vietnam War were protest movements, foreign policy, tactics and war journalism
Leah Foxcroft – History Pilot Coursework “Vietnam War – The Legacy” ________________ The Vietnam War started in 1955 and has since been often described as one of the most controversial wars the world has ever seen. With almost 60,000 deaths, thousands of people left severely scarred, physically and mentally with affects still being seen more than three decades on, the Vietnam war caused one of the world’s biggest super powers to not only lose its reputation but also the backing of its nation. I am going to investigate the long, short and international significance of foreign policy, tactics, war journalism, and the role of the protests and say why I think these four themes are extremely significant and should be included in the new TV series airing on Channel 4. Journalism The journalism and media coverage returning from the front line did more than inform the general public, some may argue the shocking and honest front pages helped end a war - this indicates the huge significance journalism had in the Vietnam War. Before the US went into Vietnam, journalists had always kept American viewers hopeful and proud – during the Korean War, the American soldiers and government were always presented in a good light. However this media opinion changed post 1955 as journalists began to show a negative presentation of the US in Vietnam. Journalism in Vietnam was
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
The Vietnam War.
The Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was a terrible war fought between the years of 1945 to 1975. Even though the war started in 1945, America did not enter the war until 1961. During 1945 World War II was nearing an end, the Japanese invaded Vietnam, kicked out the French colonial government, and seized control of Vietnam by controlling Bao Dai, the emperor of Vietnam. The history of Vietnam is filled with information, a few of those things would be: how it started, how the United States (U.S.) got involved, the different things that happened during the war, and how the war ended. On September 2, 1945, a scrawny man in a plain khaki tunic spoke before a crowd of half a million people at Ba Dinh square in Hanoi, Vietnam. That day, shops, offices, and schools had been closed for the occasion. Red flags and banners bearing nationalist slogans hung from city buildings as people crowded the streets chanting for a man walking towards the middle of the town to speak. The man, a Communist leader who had taken the name Ho Chi Minh ("he who enlightens"), declared Vietnam to be independent both of Japan and of France. His speech began with the words, "We hold truths that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."(Leone 15) These phrases borrowed from the Declaration of
Why are there different views about the influence of media on the course of Vietnam war?
Why are there different views about the influence of media on the course of war? In this essay I am going to look at the different views on the influence of Media on the course of the war and the different interpretation on this subject. I shall formulate a balanced argument by looking at sources supporting different views as well as assessing the usefulness and reliability of each source. There are lots of different types of media which could have had an influence on the war the main ones being; television, radio, newspapers. However, arguably the most controversial type of media was television. Vietnam was the first and last uncensored war. This meant that there was no restriction to what could be shown meaning that the nation was exposed to the true gruesome horrors of war. 'Vietnam was the first war that issued full freedom to the press, allowing the media to cover the war as they saw it. Due to the absence of censorship, gruesome images were often depicted for the public's viewing. Many wonder if this hurt the war efforts of the United States.' This quote explains the potential damage done to the war effort by public resistance as a consequence of graphic war images in the media. In this essay I am going to look at two arguments about the influence of media on the war; on the one hand people believe that media influenced the course of the war allot, on the other hand
John Keegan, a modern military historian, suggests that Haig was an efficient and highly skilled soldier who did much to lead Britain to victory in the First World War. Is there sufficient evidence in Sources A to H to support his interpret
John Keegan, a modern military historian, suggests that Haig was an 'efficient and highly skilled soldier who did much to lead Britain to victory in the First World War'. Is there sufficient evidence in Sources A to H to support his interpretation? Use the sources and your knowledge to explain your answer. John Keegan is a respected military historian. He is the author of books about World War 1 and so people respect his opinion because he is an expert. There are other experts and they do not all agree so it is important to see what evidence there is that supports his opinion. Source A is part of a report about the aftermath of the battle of the Somme. Haig wrote this in December 1916 for the British cabinet. Haig was commander in chief of the British army at the time. Haig had been criticised because nearly 100,000 soldiers had died at the Somme and 5miles of land was gained on average. In the report Haig is trying to justify his tactics at the battle. Haig wants to defend his reputation and keep his job so the report may be biased. He has a good point that the Germans were 'practically beaten men...thoroughly tired of the war'. This is backed up by source G where a German officer called the battlefield 'the muddy grave of the German Army'. However Haig is not the best person to be commenting on the state of the German army's morale because Haig's command base was 40 miles
The USA should have been successful in Vietnam because of its technological and military supremacy/ however, the USA failed to use this supremacy effectively to defeat a smaller, less advanced enemy. Do you agree or disagree with the interpretat
History coursework question 2 'The USA should have been successful in Vietnam because of its technological and military supremacy/ however, the USA failed to use this supremacy effectively to defeat a smaller, less advanced enemy.' Do you agree or disagree with the interpretation? Explain your answer using sources D to K and knowledge from your studies. In the Vietnam War America failed to win the war even though they had loads of technology and a huge military supremacy because they failed to use this correct fully and didn't have any real tactics. America had many different types of weapons such as saturating bombing from their B-52 planes, which were the most highly advanced at the time of the war. Another example of things that were more advanced than the Vietcong army was chemical warfare, there were 3 types of this and they were Napalm, Agent Orange and agent blue. These all killed many innocent Vietnamese peasants which many American citizens disagreed with. The Vietcong fought against the American army by using things such as guerrilla warfare, the Ho Chi Minh trail and their tunnelling systems. In the end Vietcong won the Americans because they had outstanding knowledge of the surround land of where they were fighting such as the jungle areas, this benefited them as the Americans had better supremacy in both technology and military. The war that they were
Explain why the United States became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam
Vietnam Coursework Explain why the United States became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam The relations between the US and other international states, especially those that were Communist, in the period leading up the increased involvement in the Vietnamese theatre, were reasonably bad - worsened by the deeper US interests across the world; mainly in the 'fight' to contain the spread of a new ideology, Communism. The Truman administration (1945-1953) had been the earliest protagonist in the creation of what was to become the dominant US foreign policy for the next 20 years. A succession of events immediately after the Japanese defeat in August 1945 (such as: the August Revolution, where Ho Chi Minh effectively ruled Vietnam, after Japanese permission allowed him to do so) set the alignment of the countries for a war that would eventually end with the American pull-out of its troops on April 30, 1975. The French were averse to any American involvement and wished to exclude them from observing the placements of their supplies - this was due to fact that France couldn't be seen to be weak enough to have to allow other countries to send military equipment to their war. The emergence of a so-called American-backed Vietnamese army would effectively see the army as unsuccessful in their aims to solidify their colonial status. Linked to this was the earlier French