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VIETNAM - Coggle Diagram
VIETNAM
events
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(1) gulf of tonkin
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4th August 1964 - maddox reported a second engagment with North Vietnamese boats - could have been wind
Johnson ignored the fact that it could have just been weather and contiued attack - bombing north vietnam - operation 34A : to send south vietnamese mercinaries into the north and us destroyer ships into gulf of tonkin
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(4) my lai massacre
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1 year later a young soldier (Ron Ridenhous) wrote letters to 30 leading US politicians about the event
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search and destroy
'Search and destroy', in which the US troops would enter Vietcong territory, search out the enemy, and destroy them.
(3) tet offensive
temporary true - in honour of Tet (vietnamese celebration of lunar new year) - 30th January 1968 - cease fire
VC mounted a number of smaller attacks away from major cities to divert us troops - over 50,000 us troops defending other area
84,000 VC soldiers simultaneously attackedover 100 towns and cities and us bases including us emmbassy - tried to get south vietnamese peopke to revolt
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apporx 6 hours later the US regained control - 60,000 VC and north vietnamese soldiers were killed - 10,000 ARVN were also killed
demands for peace
1969 - 500,000 people protected against the war in washington
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by 1967, sosted about £30 billion per year - 15,000 had been killed - 110,000 injured
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first major war recorded by TV cameras - every night horrific pictures shown -> meant people saw young soldiers dying
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Vietnam Veterans Against the War - composed of ex-soldiers who had been injured during the war - would throw away medals they had earned - showed real side of war for soldiers which those at home didnt know about
nixons war
vietnamisation
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idea to withdraw troops while training ARVN to be a vle to deal with further attcks once the US troops had left
by end of 1969 - 85,000/540,000 soldiers withdrawn
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however in may 1970, he announced that more troops (150,000) would be needed
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failed - poor havest / corruption and theft / not enough funding / ARVN soldiers not adequately trained / south vietnamese gov wereunpopular /
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chemical warfare
napalm - would burn when in contactwith oxygen - burned many people as it waas dropped over jungle to reveal VC - killed or badly burned
agent orange - a very strong weed killer -cleared foliage but also destoryed innocent peioples farms and crops as well as animals killed - ruined economy
bombing
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between 1965 - 75, the US dropped over 7.5 billion tonnes of bombs on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia
relations with china
in feb 1972, nixon was the first US president to be invited to China - asked them to pressure north vietnam to end war
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us involvment
domino theory
the idea that if vietnam became communist it would lead to other surrounding countries like laos and combodia
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end of the war
paris peace talks
27th jan 1973, Paris Peace Accords were signed
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oct 1972 - north vietnam proposes ceasefire as long as they can keep troops in areas already occupied in south - nixon agrees + promises $1 billion to south vietnam
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henry kissinger
national security advisor meets leDuc ( north vietnamese representitive) in secret talks - august 1969
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fall of saigon
after the war had ended the military aid and money promised by nixio fell through as the watergate scandle forced him to resign meaning he could no longer give the aid and the usa gov was hugly reducing its involvemnet in the war so cut back aid
north vietnam attcked in decmber 1974 (less than 1 year after us troops left vietnam) -this broke the paris peace accords
over the next year the nprth continued to attack until april 1975 where saigon (south vietnam's capital) was captured -
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opposition to the war
kent state massacre
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ACTIONS: the university tried to ban the protest but it still went ahead - the mayor feared violent protests so appealed for 1000 ohio national guards
DEMONSTRATION: at 12pm 3000 people gathered (1500 actually protesting while the other 1500 were just watching ) - a little after noon, a few students threw rocks or sticks at national guard who were throwing tear gas - at 12.24 the national guard fired 61-67 bullets into the crowd
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media
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TV coverage
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five o'clock follies - us army press briefings at 5pm everyday - hournalist felt lied to/truth hidden to cover how bad the war was
slowly more negative coverage started (especially after tet offensive and cronkite) - showed more us defeats and casulties - my lai massacre
LIFE magazine shocked us publc when they publish names+faces of the 242 us soldiers killed in the 1st week of fighting in june 1969 - reduced public support for war
tet offensive
turning point of media coverage - tv reported horrors of attack and faous pics of dying young us soldiers - us starting to doubt what they were being tolf by government
walter cronkite
best known newsreader in usa at the time 0 was reader of the evening news for cbs for 19years - often reffered to as the most trusted man in the usa
in feb 1968, he said he doubted the war and that it should end
johnson reportedly responded by saying "if i've lost cronkite, i've lostr the country"
watergate
nixon linked to a burglary in his rival party's offices - cuaght trying to bug telephones and steal secret docs
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they found out he knew about this burglary and even tried to cover it up - angered public who felt they should be able to trust their president - forced him to resign or be impeached
after the war
impacts/costs
social
58,000 US soldiers killed
300,000 US soldiers wounded
220,000 south vietnamese soldiers died
1,100,000 north vietnamese soldiers died
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100,000 babies born from vietnamese women and us soldiers
1975, 3000 babies flone out and adpoted aroudn the world - operation babylift
economic
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- cost of benefits and pensions paid to widows or injured soldiers - estimated to double the cost of the war
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LBJ had promised a greater society and war on poverty when he came to power but he quickly diverted money towards the war in asia
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