1. Vietnam War
ch25

2. Vietnam

3. Rule of ‘Nam
1800’2  WWII France
WWII Japan
WWII  France

4. Ho Chi Minh Communist Revolutionary
Fought to free Vietnam before WWII against France
Fought Japanese in WWII
Wanted to make Vietnam an Independent Communist country

5. Guerilla Warfare
North Vietnamese & Vietcong used against France and later US
Vietnam was largely jungle territory
War fighters used traps, the terrain, & blended in to the civilian population
Made it difficult to know who you were fighting against

6. French Fall 1954 French pulled out of Vietnam
Vietnam was temporarily split in half at the 17th parallel
North was Communist, South was Anti-Communist
US stepped in and backed the South
Vietnam War was fought to stop the spread of Communism

7. Escalation
In the early 1960’s the US was sending thousands of “military advisors” to aid the South Vietnamese
US backed South
JFK was killed in 1963, leaving LBJ to deal with ‘Nam
In 1964 Vietnamese torpedoed US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin
(those US ships were aiding the South’s military actions)
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave LBJ war powers
LBJ expanded US in Vietnam with Operation Rolling Thunder
(hence the movie called “Tropic Thunder”)

8. War US fought limited war  stop spread of Communism
Had to identify enemy before they could fight
Guerilla Warfare
Vietcong & North Vietnamese
fought on their own soil
Had more to fight for
US casualties grew from 65  68
and peaked in 1968

9. War War peaked in 1968 with the Tet Offensive
Tet Offensive: Vietcong attacked basically every US base in Vietnam, US was driven back, recovered weeks later and drove out Vietcong
After Tet US found that Vietcong had executed thousands of civilians
North Vietnamese were noted for having terrorized and slaughtered their own people in the North

10. Tet Offensive

11. Draft US implemented a draft during ‘Nam
Later into the war the draft became a Lottery
Lottery is when people were given a number and had to go fight when their number was called
Many people fled to Canada to avoid going to war, or just refused to serve and went to jail
Others were not passed medically, but most went
Draft caused a lot of uproar in society

12. Protest
Vietnam war took place during the 60’s & 70’s which was a time of great cultural unrest
Hippie movement, Women’s liberation, Civil Rights movement– everybody had a “cause”
Vietnam was also the first “televised war” –for the first time people actually saw the atrocities of war
1963- Buddhist monk set himself on fire to protest S. Vietnam Government
1967-young men burned Draft Cards
1970- Kent State Massacre
Tons of smaller protests

13. Kent State

14. Burning Monk

15. Draft Cards

16. Nixon & ‘Nam Nixon was elected in 1968 after LBJ Re-elected in 1972
Promised to end the Vietnam War
Re-elected in 1972
Ended war in 1973
Resigned after Watergate in 1974

17. End of the War
December 1972 US bombed North Vietnam for 12 days straight
Only pause in bombing was Christmas  became known as the “Christmas Bombing”
January 1973 (1 month later) Agreement was signed to end the war
1975 North invaded South  South fell under Communist rule

18. POW/MIA Many troops either went missing or were taken prisoner
Captured POW’s often lived through terrible treatment
After war the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was built
Long wall of names

19. POW/MIA