History Homework

The Cold war was the battle between former allies Russia and the US. The americans feared the idea of a communist attack and were cautious when dealing with the USSR. After WW2 the affects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki made the USSR afraid of working with the US because of their nuclear presence, along with this the US wouldnt share their nuclear secrets to the USSR.

The Cold War was an important cause in the Korean War. Relations between the two powers were bad and when China became Communist in October 1949 the President of the USA Truman was very worried that other countries around China may also become Communist such as Japan. This was called Containment this was were the US tried to keep other countries from becoming Communist.

The korean war ended in a stalemate because General MacArthur called for the use of atomic weapons to defend Korea but this was denied by President Truman and MacArthur was sacked. More UN troops were deployed to Korea and the communists were eventually driven back to the 38th parallel. 

{ 38th parallel is the border between north and south Korea}

The effects of the Korean war has divided Korea into North Korea and South Korea. Many Korean families were split with relatives on either sides of the border due to different kind of thoughts either communism or non communism. Nowadays the South side has become very technological and economic where as the North has become very strict and militarized.

The Vietnam war started because In 1959 North Vietnam dramatically increased its military assistance to the VietCong, they then began attacking South Vietnamese military units. In the Domino theory the US feared that if communism took hold in Vietnam it would spread to other countries nearby like Laos or Cambodia.

The US got involved in the war because they saw that there was opportunities to gain valuable resources the main one being rubber this was very helpful for any military company. The US saw oppurtunity after the French had fought in Indochina and they seized the opportunity. Also the US thought that a domino theory might occur.

{Domino theory,the idea that a country that has become communist will make other countries follow in that way.}

The US started getting involved once the Geneva Agreement had been signed. This agreement meant that the French who had recently fought in Vietnam would withdraw their troops. Also Vietnam would be split into North and South with the 17th parallel being the border. The US saw the oppurtunity to get involved and did. The US parted with the north Vietnamese and fought off the NLF (Vietcong).

The US got involved after 1964 because of the Gulf Of Tonkin incident. This was when the North Vietnamese ships fired upon the US Maddox and Turner Joy ships. This was controversial because the Maddox was on patrol. The North Vietnamese fired upon the US because earlier the South Vietnamese fired upon the North, and the North vietnamese thought the US where southerners.

The Vietcong had a very guerrila based fighting style, things such as Punji traps and the fact that they hid under ground. The US could be walking right on top of them and they wouldnt have a clue. This was effective because the US barely knew where to go. With traps scattered around the unknown jungle the US were in trouble. They then resorted to using Agent Orange to destroy all of the jungle.

The US tactics under Johnson were heavily based on bombings, zippo raids and air artillery. The US had an extreme amount of helicopters, bombs and used them to their potential. The US went overboard with the amount of support they had compared to the Vietcong. However Johnson didn't care and then proceded to wipe out the jungle which was unnecesary as future Vietnamese generations were harmed for the US's actions.

The US struggled to win the Vietnam war because the US soldiers heads had dropped. Their morales were very low because they were being ambushed in a very humid climate which was alien to them. They were getting exhausted from walking around the jungle, with people then falling into traps, the US couldn't think straight and without a stable leadership group the US were bound to fail their expectations.

The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. The attack was an attempt to speak out among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. News coverage of the huge attack shocked the American public and made them question what was really going on in Vietnam.

The My Lai massacre was a brutal act upon unarmed civillians, the Charlie company was sent to the village because of a suspected Vietcong presence. Army commanders told the company that anyone there was of Vietcong presence or had been. The Charlie company had been patrolling around the jungle for a long time and were losing members due to traps and infections. The shooting of innocent children,women and seniors this was reported a year later after being covered up by the 11th brigade. 

Vietnamisiation was a policy of Nixons to try and end the US involvement of the war. This was where the South Vietnamese troops where trained up to a combat role while the US slowly lowered the number of US troops in Vietnam. Nixon also ordered secret bombing raids in Cambodia, this was to try and bomb the Ho Chi Minh trail that they suspected went through Cambodia and Laos.

As the war escalated and increasing numbers of Americans were wounded and killed in combat the opposition grew.

Within a span of just a few years opposition to the Vietnam war became a colossal movement with protests drawing hundreds of thousands of Americans into the streets. One of the most eye opening protests was the Monk (Thích Quảng Đức )who set him self on fire in the middle of the street. This protest was about the persecution of monks in Vietnam.

Vietnam became a subject of large scale news coverage in the US only after substantial numbers of US combat troops had been committed to the war in the spring of 1965. Prior to that time the number of American newsmen in Indochina had been fewer than of late as of 1964.

The Kent State university shooting was widely reported. The photo that was on the front cover was of one of the victims who was lying on the floor with a person crying and watching, this cover was that photo to try and attract people to see this and to get publicity to the newspaper company.

The Watergate scandal began early in the morning of June 17 1972 when several burglars were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee.

The prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon’s re election campaign, they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. Nixon took aggressive steps to cover up the crime afterwards, and in August 1974 after his role in the conspiracy was revealed Nixon resigned.

The affects of the Vietnam war affected everything from the jungle to the future generations and Vietnamese infrastructure. The US had used over 20 million gallons of herbicide between 1962 to 1971. In 1969 over 1 million hectares of forest had been destroyed by agent orange.

With North and South Vietnam being split up alot of "boat People" had to try and escape the new government. Over 200,000 "boat people" died on the sea, trying to escape the harsh Government policies.