The Vietnam War

Vietnam is a small country in East Asia, south of China. During the

1800s Vietnam was a colony of France, called Indo-China. During WWII,
Indo-China was taken over by Japan. After WWII ended, France tried to take
back their colony, but the Vietnamese resisted by fighting a Guerilla War
against the French in the jungles of Vietnam. Guerilla warfare is when
troops do not directly attack their enemies. Instead, small groups of
soldiers ambush their opponents. Guerilla troops are few in numbers, but
are able to move more quickly than larger military units like traditional
armies.
The Vietnamese were led by Ho Chi Minh, who wanted communism for
Vietnam. In 1954 France withdrew, but US soldiers took over because the
US did not want Ho Chi Minh to turn Vietnam into a communist country.
Vietnam was partitioned into North and South Vietnam to prevent Ho Chi
Minh from controlling all of the country. In 1956, both Vietnams planned to
have elections to reunify the country. After elections, Vietnam was split
into: Communist North Vietnam & Democratic South Vietnam. Soldiers
from North Vietnam, however, continued their Guerilla war in an attempt to
unite the country.
In 1964 the US declared war on North Vietnam. From 1964 to 1975, US
soldiers fought to defend South Vietnam from becoming a communist
country. During that time, the number of US troops increased steadily along
with bombing missions into North Vietnam. But, the Guerillas were very
experienced & had the support of the people of Vietnam.
The war went very badly for the US. Despite far superior weapons, the
US couldn't wipe out the guerilla soldiers of North Vietnam. Many
Americans felt the war was not justified. There was also a draft that forced
many American soldiers to fight which made the war unpopular. After 10
years of fierce fighting, and more than 50,000 deaths, America pulled out of
the war in 1975. Since 1975, Vietnam has been a communist country. The
former capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

Documents
Document 1

After WWII, France wanted to regain control of its colonies in Southeast Asia. In Vietnam,
the French were opposed by a nationalist group led by Ho Chi Minh, a Communist. His
group, the Vietcong, wanted to free his country from imperialist control. The Soviet
Union supported the Vietcong and the United States backed the French. After eight
years of fighting, the French lost and agreed to leave Vietnam.

Document 2
Vietnam was split into two sections, Communist North Vietnam and an anti-Communist
dictatorship in South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh encouraged his soldiers, as well as South
Vietnamese people who agreed with him, to use guerrilla warfare to destroy the
government of South Vietnam. Under attack, the United States responded with military
troops to help out South Vietnam. The US feared that communism would spread to other
countries in Asia, if they didn't intervene.

Document 3
America sent over 500,000 soldiers to fight in Vietnam. Fifty six thousand of them lost
their lives. By 1972, US President Nixon realized that the North Vietnamese would never
be defeated. An agreement was reached and all US troops left by 1973. South Vietnam,
without military help from America, was overrun by the Vietcong. In 1975, North and
South Vietnam were united into one Communist nation.

Document 4
The My Lai Massacre
On the morning of March 16, 1968, soldiers of Charlie Company, a unit of the
American Divisions 11th Infantry Brigade arrived in the hamlet of My Lai in the
northern part of South Vietnam. They were on a search and destroy mission to
root out 48th Viet Cong Battalion thought to be in the area.
The unit met no resistance in My Lai, which had about 700 inhabitants.
Indeed, they saw no males of fighting age. They only found villagers eating
breakfast.
Nevertheless, over the next three hours they killed as many as 504
Vietnamese civilians. Some were lined up in a drainage ditch before being shot.
The dead civilians included fifty age 3 or younger, 69 between 4 and 7, and 27 in
their 70s or 80s.
In addition, Vietnamese women were raped; other civilians were clubbed
and stabbed. Some victims were mutilated with the signature C Company carved
into the chest.
One soldier would testify later, I cut their throats, cut off their hands, cut
out their tongues, scalped them. I did it. A lot of people were doing it and I just
followed. I lost all sense of direction. Only one American was injured a GI who
had shot himself in the foot while clearing his pistol.
In one incident, a soldier, Robert Maples, refused an order to fire his
machine gun on people in a ditch, even when his commanding officer trained his
own weapon him. Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot had threatened to fire on the
American troops in order to rescue Vietnamese women and children from the

slaughter. After seeing U.S. troops advancing on a Vietnamese family, he landed

his helicopter, called in gunships to rescue the civilians, and ordered his gunner to
fire on any American who interfered.
The My Lai massacre took place shortly after the Tet Offensive. Late in
January 1968, Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese soldiers had launched
attacks on urban areas across South Vietnam. Charlie Company had arrived in
Vietnam three months before the My Lai massacre. Charlie Company had suffered
28 casualties, including five dead. Just two days before the massacre, on March
14, a C Company squadron encountered a booby trap, killing a popular sergeant,
blinding one GI and wounding several others.

Name

April 30th, 2015 Period

Unit 10 The Cold War Research Log

Essential Question #7: How did Cold War tensions lead to war in
Vietnam?
Sub-Questions: (1) Which country controlled Vietnam before World War
II? What did they call it? (2)What did Ho Chi Minh want to do to once he
reunited Vietnam? (3) Why did the US want to stop Ho Chi Minh from
reuniting Vietnam? (4) Why were American forces unable to defeat the
North Vietnamese? (5) Why did American popular opinion turn against the
Vietnam War? (6) How did the Vietnam War end? (7) How did Cold War fears
lead to the Vietnam War? (8) Do you think the US was justified in
intervening in Vietnam? Why/why not?

Define Terms
Partition Vietnam War
Answer the essential Questions: How did Cold War tensions lead to
war in Vietnam?

Document

Questions

Document 1
What did Ho Chi Minh try to do in Vietnam?
Who supported the French? Why?
Who supported the Vietcong? Why?

Document 2
Based on this document, why did the US intervene in South Vietnam?

What type of government did the US support?

Document 3
Based on this document, why did the US end the war in Vietnam?

What happened to Vietnam after the US left?

Document 4

What happened on the morning of March 16, 1968?

Identify the most disturbing aspects of the My Lai massacre.
Who was Robert Maples and what did he refuse to do?
Who was Hugh Thompson and what did he do?
What seemed to increase the frustration of the American soldiers who committed
these atrocities?