Vietnam War

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GCSE History (Paper 1) Flashcards on Vietnam War, created by eecavendish on 01/05/2014.
eecavendish
Flashcards by eecavendish, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by eecavendish over 10 years ago
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Resource summary

Question Answer
What was the NVA? North Vietnamese Army - Communist
What was the Vietcong? Communist guerrilla army based in South Vietnam
What was the ARVN? Army of the Republic of Vietnam - fought alongside the USA
Who was the leader of North Vietnam? Ho Chi Minh
What foreign support did North Vietnam have? USSR and China
What foreign support did South Vietnam have? USA
Who was Ngo Dinh Diem? The leader of South Vietnam
Why was Diem an unpopular leader? He was a Catholic and did not respect the Buddhist traditions. Guilty of nepotism (giving high status jobs to family/friends)
Why were the USA wary of Ho Chi Minh? They feared a communist takeover of the entire region
How did Eisenhower contribute to the Vietnam war from 1953-61? He gave financial support to Diem and sent military advisors to the area
How did Kennedy contribute to the Vietnam war from 1961-63? Increased number of military advisors, allowed US combat missions, overthrew unpopular Diem, increased financial support
How did Johnson contribute to the Vietnam war from 1963-69? Introduced ground and air forces after the Tonkin incident, massively increased US involvement
How did Nixon contribute to the Vietnam war from 1969-74? Gradually withdrew troops and oversaw the ceasefire in 1973
How did the geography of Vietnam affect the way in which the war was fought? The Viecong had a home advantage, using camouflage against the lush landscape. This gave them the element of surprise.
Describe the tactics that the Vietcong used No uniform, dummies, decoy bombs/weapons, booby traps, camouflages, underground tunnels
Explain how the Vietcong used underground tunnels People evacuated underground for safety and saved from many bomb attacks, the USA didn't know about them, provided long-term safety
Why were the booby traps so effective in lowering American morale? They wounded a lot of soldiers, increasing paranoia
What were American search and destroy missions? The US army attempted to destroy suspected VC soldiers by burning down villages that they thought were supporting/supplying the VC
What were the effects of the search and destroy missions? Increased number of VC sympathisers as people turned against America destroying their homes
What effects did Napalm have on humans? Napalm was jellied petrol that caused severe burns and burned down villages.
What was Agent Orange? A chemical used by the USA to expose VC soldiers in fields by killing all the plants.
What were the effects of Agent Orange on humans? It caused deformities in the next generation as pregnant women were affected
What were strategic hamlets used by the USA and the ARVN? Set up to provide greater security in the countryside, peasants forced from their homes into strategic hamlets.
What was the Ho Chi Minh trail? A supply line from the North of Vietnam to the Vietcong in the south
In what year was the Gulf of Tonkin incident? 1964
Describe the Gulf of Tonkin incident A US destroyer was allegedly fired at by North Vietnamese patrol boats. This gave the USA the excuse they needed to send in troops.
What was Operation Rolling Thunder? A US bombing offensive that lasted several years from 1965. It included raids on military and industrial targets in North Vietnam and cities in the north and south
What were the successes of Operation Rolling Thunder? It damaged North Vietnam's war effort, disrupted supply routes, caused considerable damage to cities and towns in North Vietnam.
What were the failures of Operation Rolling Thunder? North Vietnam had few factories to bomb, encouraged greater VC support, didn't stop supplies to south, extortionate cost
What was the Tet Offensive? A VC offensive where they took major towns and cities, attacked military targets and occupied the US embassy for five hours.
How did America benefit from the Tet Offensive? The VC lost many of their finest fighters, most of the attackers were killed, very few people in the south joined the offensive, few US casualties
How did the NVA benefit from the Tet Offensive? Ancient city of Hue destroyed, ARVN casualties, demotivated American public back home, US public shocked by embassy attack, US used a lot of artillery
Describe why there was opposition to the war for political reasons. The public discovered how insecure the government was about the situation when documents were leaked to a newspaper
Explain how the media created opposition to the war Colour television meant that the American public were shocked by the violent methods of warfare used by the Americans
How was Martin Luther King significant during the Vietnam war? He backed anti-war movements
What was Vietnamisation? South Vietnamese soldiers trained to replace US soldiers. Over time, the US troops would gradually return home
Why was America reluctant to withdraw troops from Vietnam? The USA went to war to prevent the spread of communism so didn't want to appear as having failed
What happened in 1969 that made the USSR and China more open to better relations with the USA? The USSR and China fell out
Describe how Nixon attempted to use the USSR and China to end the war 1970-Nixon began talks with the USSR to limit nuclear weapons 1972- Nixon encourages China to put pressure on the north to end the war
In what year was the ceasefire? 1973
In what year were the North and South united as a communist country? 1976
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