Vietnam WarUnit 10

10.1 Learning Targets• I can trace the history of the US involvement in the war• Identify the terms & people relevant to the Vietnam War• Differentiate between the First and Second Vietnam wars

• I can geographically locate and identify the countries of South Asia

I. The United States Focuses on Vietnam

• Early American Involvement• Vietnam occupied by French by 1893, by Japan during WWII• French Indochina: Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos• US helped Vietnam drive out Japanese• Ho Chi Minh proclaimed independence • 1946 China falls to communism

• Vietminh Drive out the French• US fears communism – domino theory • Offers to send $ and war materials (Truman)• Vietnam gets help from USSR & China• Eisenhower- continues to help (80% of cost)

Vietnam War• Guerrilla warfare• Dien Bien Phu• Geneva Accords- 17th parallel, 1956 elections• Ho Chi Minh- communist control the North• Ngo Dinh Diem- pro Western governments in South• 1965 Election

10.2 Learning Targets• I can trace the history of the US involvement in the war• I can explain the unique problems that US soldiers faced in

fighting the war• I can explain the unique aspects of the war itself• I can identify the objectives of the United States and the

objectives of the North Vietnamese

II. Going to War in Vietnam• Weak S. Vietnam Govt. deepens American involvement • Johnson & Vietnam

• Could not afford another “China”• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution• Operation Rolling Thunder

• A Bloody Stalemate Emerges• By 1965 – 180,000 U.S. Troops (Double by 1966)• Vietcong willing to accept huge losses (220,000 – 6,700)• U.S. could not use its full strength

10.3 Learning Targets• I can explain the unique aspects of the war itself• I can identify reasons for the United States withdrawal from

Vietnam• I can explain the legacy of the Vietnam War on the United

States

III. Vietnam Divides the Nation• A Growing Credibility Gap• An Antiwar Movement Emerges• 1968: The Pivotal Year :• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ73p75oJek&safety_mode=

true&persist_safety_mode=1

IV. The War Winds Down• Nixon Moves to end the war - Vietnamization• Turmoil At Home – My Lai, Kent State• US Pulls out of Vietnam – April 30, 1975 South Vietnam Falls• Legacy of Vietnam - $170 Billion, 58,000 Americans Dead,

300,000 injured, PTSD, Distrust, War Powers Act