A
Along which parallel was Vietnam divided?
17th
Who led North Vietnam and supported communism?
Ho Chi Minh
What was the name of the North Vietnamese guerilla fighters.
The Viet Cong
Name one herbicide used in Operation Ranch Hand.
Agent Orange or Agent Blue
What is napalm?
A chemical that can easily start fires.
What does WHAM stand for?
Winning Hearts and Minds
What is the domino effect?
If one country falls to communism, other countries will also fall to communism.
Who was the president at the start of Vietnam?
John F. Kennedy
What was the Strategic Hamlet Programme?
To place all South Vietnamese peasants in fortified hamlets to keep out the Viet Cong.
What was Operation Ranch Hand?
Using chemical defoliants to clear the Vietnamese jungle.
Where was the USS Maddox based when it was supposedly attacked by North Vietnam?
In the Gulf of Tonkin
What holiday was being celebrated during the TET Offensive?
The Vietnamese New Year.
Which president started Vietnamisation?
Richard Nixon
What was the My Lai massacre?
When US soldiers massacred young children and women in the village of My Lai during a search-and-destroy mission.
Explain the purpose of Operation Rolling Thunder.
To attack North Vietnamese infrastructure.
How did the Viet Cong stop the success of the Startegig Hamlet Programme?
They infilitrated the hamlets.
Why did Operation Ranch Hand fail?
It led to the loss of livestock and crops of the South Vietnamese peasants, turning them against the US.
Why did Operation Rolling Thunder fail?
Strong NV alliances - as quickly as infrastructure was destroyed, Chinese and Russian engineers fixed it.
Explain the importance of the Ho Chi Minh trail.
It allowed the Viet Cong to access the south and gave them a route back to north Vietnam.
Explain what guerilla tactics are.
The use of non-conventional war tactics such as ambushes, hit-and-run attacks, and the use of booby traps and tunnels.
Explain why the Vietnam was seen as a proxy war.
This conflict was an indirect war between the USSR and the USA. The USSR supported North Vietnam, and the US supported South Vietnam.
Explain why US soldiers struggled to maintain the conflict in comparison to the Viet Cong soldiers.
US soldiers were young and had not experience war before, but the Viet Cong had been hardened by years of war - they also knew climatic conditions of Vietnam.
Explain the role of the media in ending the Vietnam War.
Vietnam was the first televised war and this led to public protest and outcry, especially after My Lai.
Explain why the TET offensive was a turning point in the war.
It was a complete surprise and led to a Viet Cong victory. The Viet cong continued to gain ground after this event.
What was Vietnamisation?
The process of pulling US troops out of Vietnam over a couple of years.