vietnam

• Gulf of Tonkin Incident - 1964


  -US boat is "attacked" by NV

  -President passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (unlimited power to escalate)

  -US bomb NV

  -VC begin to attack US air bases
• 1965 - BOOTS ON THE GROUND


  -US marines are send in to protect the air bases

  -End of the year, there's half a million of them
• US Tactics


  Technology:

  • air tech doesn't work in Vietnam (jungle)
  • they're over-reliant on their airpower

  G.I.

  • inefficient, not properly trained
  • low morale
  • high usage of drugs and alcohol
  • M16 not good in jungles, got jammed often
  • high fear everywhere (booby traps)
  • fragging, killing of their own officers

  Search and Destroy

  • "Zippo raids"
  • My Lai Massacre - high media coverage
  • burnt down villages
  • killing and rape of villages

  Chemical Weapons - defoliants

  • Agent Orange - weedkiller used to destroy the jungle
  • Napalm - burning, sticky substance used to kill villagers, even children
• VC Tactics

  VC soldier

  • more desire, fighting for homeland
  • "A bag of rice" - can survive 3-4 months in the jungle, knows what is edible

  Guerilla Warfare

  • "hit and run" - attacked and disappeared
  • "hanging on the belts of the enemy" - got as close as possible, rise in fear and paranoia

  Booby Traps

  • Punji sticks with poo, caused infection and are very sharp
  • Bouncing Betty's, little mines in the ground

  Ho Chi Minh Trail

  • quick to fix

  Tunnels

  • whole system underground, camouflaged
  • only VC can fit, they're much slimmer
• Tet - 1968


  13th Jan

  -VC attack 100 cities

  -easily defeated by US

  But, there's negative media coverage in US

  1 - US embassy in Saigon got captured

  2 - Chief of Police executes VC in broad daylight

  3 - Hue, took 4 weeks to recapture

  4 - Walter Conkrite from CBS, leads to LBJ not trying for President again
• Opposition


  Growth of "counter culture":

  • music (Beetles, Woodstock etc)
  • fashion (hair, hippies etc)
  • politics - make peace, not war
  • drugs (LSD, weed)

  Protests - clash with police, police brutality

  1970 - Kent State Uni - student protest ending with 4 dead

  Draft dodging:

  • burning draft cards
  • anti - lottery system (ran on bias, selecting lower class men)

  Reaction by PRO-WAR:

  • "Hard Hats" - construction workers, engineers etc
  • "Silent Majority" - older generation
• Endgame - how they got out

  1969 - Nixon is president

  - wants "peace with honour"

  - withdraw but not lose SV to the commies

  1 - Vietnamisation

  - pass fighting to the ARVN (SV army)

  - US army withdraw

  2 - "Mad Bomber Theory"

  - bomb NV into the stone age

  - invade Cambodia

  - Operation Linebacker

  3 - Linkage to Detente

  - get USSR to pressure NV to negotiate

  * 1973 - Paris Peace Treaty, US withdraw

  * 1975 - NV + VC attack SV

  - South surrenders, so US lose
• Eisenhower 1953 - 1961


  1954 - Geneva Agreement

  • temporary divide along 17th Parallel
  • elections to be held in the future

  Diem (South)

  • corrupt, holds fixed elections
  • persecuted Buddhists
  • US supported Diem's government to prevent commies from taking over
• JFK 1961 - November 1963


  Increases military advisors to 16,000

  • equips 20,000 ARVN soldiers
  • spends $270mil in military support for Diem
  • supported a coup d'etat to remove Diem from power

  Strategic Hamlet Program

  • fortified villages (protected by ARVN)
  • VC soldiers would invade during the night
  • ^ increase in VC support
• LBJ November 1963 - 1969


  "boots on the ground"

  March 1963 - 3,500 US soldiers

  December 1963 - 200,000 US soldiers

  1964 - 60,000 VC in SV

  - Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Operation Rolling Thunder (USA)


  *7th February 1965-68

  • bombing raids on industrial areas in NV, which extended to the south
  • more bombs dropped than by the allies in WW2

  + disrupted supply routes

  + damaged cities with a VC presence

  -Ho Chi Minh Trail was rebuilt quickly

  -damaged the countryside, turns locals against US

  -increased support for NV

  -very expensive ($400,000 to kill 1 VC)