Vietnam Test 1 Study Guide.pdf

Vietnam Test 1 Study Guide

Geography and History

Hue – Ancient capital of Annam on border of Cochin (So. Vietnam) and Tonkin (No.

Vietnam “pivot city”)

Vietnam is an attenuated coast of differing cultures separated geographically, united by

wars unlike Korea

Allies – Hmong/Montagnards work with US (10x casualty rate)

Hai Van Pass (natural division)

Direction of movement NW to SE

95% of population live on coasts

3 natural divisions – Champa, Annam, Viet

39 AD – Trung Sisters went to war against China (honored and celebrated for Chinese

resistance)

938 AD – Song Dynasty (guerrilla warfare)

1426 – Viets fight

1600s – Rise of Confucian in North, Buddhists in South

1612 Catholics arrive – teach Vietnam their own language (bring polyphonic alphabet)

(Romanized language)

1777-1802 – Tay Son rebellion (mountain types with French help build city in Hue)

(French intervened in natural process)

oNguyens emerge with French help

oHue – Loyal to Rome or loyal to own leadership?

1862 – Cochin China

oSaigon, French take Khmers

1883 – French Indochina created

oSiam

WWII – Embargo

oJapanese – Vietnam/ Pearl Harbor

oFDR

Ho Chi Minh – Lenin v. Marx/ Nationalist

oViet Minh – most experienced troops

oOSS – precursor to CIA, Ho saved by US

Bao Doi

oHo and Mandate of Heaven

Greek Civil War was the beginning of the policy of containment (Van Fleet).

Soviets the main target of containment

China’s involvement in Vietnam:

Two islands (Matsu & Kamoi)

Excess of weapons

Excess of men

Nature of the Vietnam War consisted of four broad types of war:

Conventional

Unconventional

Guerrilla

Revolution (Propaganda)

“No land wars in Asia” was the motto of the Army by the time of Vietnam (Ridgway)

Ridgway said it would take 1 million men, 10 years, and nukes to win the war (50%

chance of working)

Lemnitizer (nukes) and Decker tell Kennedy the Vietnam War is unwinnable

oDecker denied 2nd term for telling Kennedy Vietnam wouldn’t be successful

Generals after Ridgway learn to “Don’t tell the truth”

oTruth becomes sacrifice to ambition

LeMay – “Go big or go home”

o1965 – “Year of the Plunge”

oTourniquet strategy

oBeing ignored

War

Ap Bac

Diem dies

Utter defeat of the south

oJohn Paul Vann blocked from informing JCS of the disaster by Harkins at MACV

oBy 1965 JCS ignored (Tuesday Lunch Brunch)

Strategic Hamlets – took Buddhists from burial grounds (POW camps for South Viets)

First attempt at counterinsurgency (pacification) failed

Romer heads up CORDS (Civil Office of the Revolutionary Development Support)

Operation Phoenix

oUse of torture

Ruff Puffs – RDP to combat Viet Cong

CAP/CAV vs CORDS

MACV (Military Assistance Command Vietnam)

Paul Harkins heads MACV running Saigon

Eventually Earl Wheeler

Finally, Westmoreland

OPLAN 34A

military commandos are blowing up coast at night on rubber boats

USS Maddox blows Viet boats out of water

oFirst incident

oSecond incident

Resolution – freedom, elites, collectivization

Barrel Roll

First bombing mission on Ho Chi Minh trail

oEventually goes to North

“Steel Tiger” to Laos to lower end of trail

Rolling Thunder

B-52s

Fighter bombers

Pleiku (Feb ’65)

Army airforce lost more than marines in WWII

US forces get attacked

oFlaming Dart I – limited air operation to hit 40 miles in Vietnam (“tit for tat”)

NVA response – Flaming Dart II (gradual escalation, civilian run operations)

1967

Iron Triangle – end of HCM trail

Cedar falls – 14k US troops, bulldozing forests, underground tunnels

Junction city – (War Zone C above iron triangle) enemy disappears

oFire base Gold – canons were flat point-blank range

oDirect fire

Dak To – (Spring-Summer II Corps) 4:1 killed (Giap ok with that)

Westmoreland orders USMC (lured into mainland North)

Khe Sanh – take hills, Viet are firing above DMZ, air force saves USMC, marines hold

Con Thien

oMcNamara line abandoned

“Golden Bee-Bees”

82% of kills knocked down airplanes

4:1 kill ratio

4:1 MIGs v. US aircraft

Strategies

Westmoreland strategy – asked for 165k troops (war out of Johnson’s hands)

Honolulu conference

Enclave Strategy (does not work)

1. Secure bases, ink blots in cities

2. Search and destroy (started on 2nd phase)

3. Turn war over to ARVN (Vietnamization)

First major fights

Marines (I Corps) North – Operation Starlite (US kicks butt)

Chu Lai – strategic initiative (HCM trail developed, “Smash and Grab”)

Ia Drang Valley – attack helicopters and M16, carpet bombing (wreaked havoc)

oOverestimated opponent

o200 v. 2k casualties

NV Strategy

1. Infiltrate

2. Propaganda – cities

3. Rise up and overthrow oppressors

Thanh – “smash and grab”

Giap – protracted war

o“Whack a mole”

oStarlite, Prairie Fire, Chu Lai

Develops HCM trail during this time

Peripheral strategy (whack a mole)

Viet seizes initiative

Lure US to coast to build HCM trail

Viet go back to cities to spread propaganda

oRise up and overthrow oppressors

Revolution

Protests begin

oNo one took protesters seriously

Students for a Democratic Society – radical left

Vietnam Veterans Against War – effective

80% of funding for France in Vietnam by Truman/Ike

oTruman – Support for France in Vietnam

oIke gives enormous amounts of money without controls

oJFK Americanized the war

oLBJ inherited and broadened

Bao Dai unable to claim MoH due to Japanese and French collusion

oDiem chosen as PM to get US funding, aid, and support

JFK and “missile gap”

oNew look – not tough enough on communism

oBay of Pigs – overthrow Castro (air power does not show up)

oBlames military – seen as “brown shoe” old school generation

oGradual escalation – Cuban Missile Crisis

“Yes Men” move up

oRobert McNamara comes out of Scientific Management Movement (“Whiz

Kids”)

oCivilians in control

Civil-military relations get altered

oMcNamara becomes discouraged – orders bombing halt

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