The Vietnam War

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The Vietnam War

Causes

  • North Vietnamese government wanted to encourage a communist revolution in the South.
  • American policy of the 'domino theory', which they used as a justification of involvement in many foreign countries, to protect them from communism.
  • The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, where North Vietnam and USA clashed at sea.
  • Operation Rolling Thunder where President Johnson ordered the bombing of many North Vietnamese targets.
  • The arrival of 540 000 American troops in South Vietnam by 1968.
  • The Tet Offensive, where the Vietcong soldiers attacked the American embassy at Saigon.

Effects

  • Bombing of North Vietnamese naval bases.
  • Atrocities at My Lai, which led to the mass murder of 500 innocent villagers by the American troops led by Lieutenant William Calley.
  • Over 55 000 American soldiers had died.
  • Anti-war movement in the USA, where the American public was strongly against the war in Vietnam.
  • Vietnamisation, where the USA left South Vietnam to fight the war on their own.
  • North Vietnam takes over Saigon, and eventually the whole of Vietnam becomes communist; neighbouring states of Cambodia and Laos also become communist.
  • President Nixon develops foreign policy: 'detente'.

Overall summary

The Vietnam War was caused because of North Vietnam wanting to spread communism into South Vietnam, and America's 'domino theory'. The effects included major loss of life, the communist take over of Vietnam and neighbouring countries, and development of Nixon's foreign policy of 'detente'.

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