Introducing the Vietnam War

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Introducing the Vietnam War
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Learning Targets

• Explain how the U.S. got involved in the Vietnam
  War.
• Compare and contrast the U.S. and NVA/Vietcong
  strategies.
• Predict the effectiveness of each plan.

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Priming A Soldiers Experience
A Soldiers Experience
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THE VIETNAM WAR
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1954 Geneva Accords--1954

• Vietnam divided when French left
• North Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh communist
• South Vietnam - Ngo Dinh Diem anti-communist

Ho Chi Minh
Ngo Dinh Diem
Divided at 17th parallel
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Growing Problems

• 1. Diems leadership of South Vietnam
• Refused election
• Persecuted Buddhists
• Overthrown and followed by unstable govts

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Growing Problems

• 2. Growth of the Vietcong
• Vietcong (VC) communist guerillas in S.Vietnam
  fighting the S. Vietnamese govt
• tried to fight with strategic hamlet plan(move
  villagers for protection)

• Add walls and moat
• backfired
• 80 of countryside supported
• Vietcong

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U.S. Aids South

• Eisenhower sent aid due to domino theory
• 1961 JFK follows with military advisors

By 1963, 16,000 American troops are Training in
South Vietnam
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Tonkin Gulf Resolution

• August 2, 1964
• U.S. destroyer
• Maddox attacked
• in Tonkin Gulf

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Tonkin Gulf Resolution

• Congress gave President Johnson (LBJ) war powers

Senate Vote 88 to 2 to take all
necessary steps, including the use of armed
force
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Think, Pair, Share

• Explain why the United States got involved in
  Vietnam.
• Explain how the United States got involved with
  Vietnam.
• Should the U.S. have involved themselves in the
  conflict in your opinion?

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American Escalation

• General William Westmoreland, U.S. Commander

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American Escalation

• U.S. strategy bomb North, ground troops in South
• 1968 538, 000 U.S. troops

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Operation Rolling Thunder

• Bombing Raids of North Vietnam

643,000 tons of bombs 5 times Hiroshima 3
years Air Force Chief of Staff Lemey about
bombing them back to the stone Age.
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Operation Rolling Thunder

• Focused on Ho Chi Minh Trail (supply line
• for Vietcong and N.Vietnam)
• failed

Dealt with 2,700 roads And tunnels NVA actually
increased supply NVA Tung, The
bombs heightened rather than dampened our
spirits.
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Ground War

• Search and Destroy Missions seek VC and
  destroyed villages
• Jungle warfare, so defoliants used (Agent
  Orange/Napalm)

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NVA and Vietcong

• Commander of NVA Vo Nguyen Giap
• 1965 Strategy shift to guerilla tactics, Giap
  against

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NVA and Vietcong

• Tactics- tunneled base camps, booby traps, and
  punji spikes.

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Journal Reflection

• Compare and contrast the U.S. strategies with the
  NVA and Vietcong strategies in a double bubble.

NVA Vietcong strategies
U.S. strategies
similarities
differences
differences
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Think, Pair, Share

• Predict which sides strategies will work best -
  the U.S. Strategies or the NVA Vietcong
  strategies. Why?

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Khe Sanh

• Important for intelligence on Ho Chi Minh Trail
• 40,000 NVA vs. 5,600 U.S. for over 2 mths.
• U.S. win,
• shows NVA
• resolve

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Tet Offensive

• Massive attack by North on Vietnamese New Year
• Military victory for South/U.S.
• Morale victory for North

100 towns and cities Attacked 12 air bases
attacked
42,000Vietcong casualties