The war in Vietnam 1964 to 1975 Part one The story of the war and how it was fought

Aims of the lesson By the end of the lesson you should Understand the nature of the war in Vietnam Put the events of the war into chronological order Evaluate the effectiveness of American tactics to counter guerrilla warfare and effect of the war on public opinion back home

1964 to – The Gulf of Tonkin incident “Operation Rolling Thunder” – a series of bombing raids on North Vietnam North Vietnam increases the number of raids into the south in retaliation

1966 to 1967 The height of American involvement – troops in combat US was winning the war of attrition but had problems counting the guerrilla tactics of the Vietcong The Communists needed a success or face eventual defeat

Guerrilla warfare The Communists used guerrilla tactics to fight the Americans Punji traps – used to trap American soldiers Aimed to get the people of South Vietnam onto their side and to demoralise the American soldiers

American ways to counter this Napalm – Americans dropped this jelly onto jungle areas in order to strip the Vietcong of cover Worked but resulted in burns to civilians Tried to block Communist supply routes through Laos and Cambodia - illegal

The effects of Napalm

The Tet offensive 1968 By 1968 the Communists were desperate – they needed a success or faced defeat In the summer they launched an offensive all over South Vietnam – it was a failure but on TV it looked like a success The USA faced an uphill battle after this point

The My Lai massacre 1968 March 16 th 1968 – US troops led by Lieutenant William Calley marched into the town of My Lai They panicked and ended up massacring between 347 and 504 men, women and children Led to the American Army being seen as bullies in the eyes of the world

Pictures of My Lai

1969 and – LBJ did not stand for re-election. Richard Nixon won Announced a gradual withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam “Vietnamisation” At the same time increased the bombing of Vietnam

1971 and 1972 – the beginning of the end South Vietnam becomes a democracy – Thieu is elected president North Vietnam officially declares war on the south This results in the USA bombing Hanoi – heavy civilian casualties “Hanoi Jane”

1973 to distractions In 1973 a ceasefire was agreed but did not last and the war resumed later in the year In 1974 the USA lost interest in the was as she got distracted by the Watergate scandal Communists captured large areas of South Vietnam

1975 – The end The last US troops pulled out of Vietnam in the summer of 1975 US embassy in Saigon was evacuated Saigon fell to the Communists and the country was reunited, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City