The Vietnam War

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Eisenhower 1953 - 61

  • 1954 geneva conference 

where Vietnam was split in two to resolve previous issues, Ho Chi Minh rulled over north and was communist and Diem rulled over south (was basically an American puppet put in place to prevent Ho Chi Minh taking over the country and turning it communist). This then quickly led to the begining of the Vietnam war with the North invading the South. 

  • 1954 new look policy

wanted to adopt 'roll back' which would be a more aggressive attempt at containing communism by pushing it back 

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Kennedy 1961 - 63

  • 1961 military advisors 

sent in 685 military advisors by january 1961 

  • 1963 buddhist crisis 

buddhists did not agree with Diem's harsh catholic rule in the south so one Buddhist publically burnt himself alive to protest the regiemes. shows the mass hatred for Diem throughout Vietnam. 

  • 1963 coup against Diem 

the south planned a coup against Diem as he was so widely hated, although America were meant to be supporting him they backed this coup as they could see he was bad for the country. 

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Johnson 1963 - 68

  • 1963 advisors 

he sent in further advisors and by 1963 there were 16,000 

  • johnson's policy 

wanted covert action in Vietnam, still wanted to intervene so Vietnam would not be overthrown byt he communist north but did not have intensions of Americanising Vietnam. 

  • 1964 Gulf of Tonkin 

3 North Vietnamese boats attacked the USS maddox on the Gulf of Tonkin, however the attack failed as the US retaliated and the ships were either destroyed or badly damaged. the resolution was granted by congress and gave the US the power to take whatever means necessary to prevent further attacks. this then led to the bgeining of real US involvement in the war. 

  • 1965 pleiku 

attack led by the leader of the VC on a US military base in Holloway. led to opperation rolling thunder and gaining US public support in the Vietnam war. 

  • 1965 operation Rolling thunder 

US plan to try and bring an end to the war, was continuos bombing on the North in the attempt to shatter their economy, lasted for 3 years. However it didn;t really work as the majority of the North was rural areas and any army bases were well hidden. Also any Bases that were actually hit, funding for them was replaced by the USSR and China. 

  • 1968 Tet Offensive 

was a series attack by the VC on the south and all of their main cities. 

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Nixon 1968 - 74

  • 1968 Vietnamisation 

was the policy to achieve peace within the Vietnam war and ensure that the south remained an independant non-communist state. He wanted the north to come to a comprimise so they could stop fighting a pointless war 

  • 1971 cambodia and laos 

US invasion of cambodia and laos to try and cut off the north Vietnam supply trails and weaken the North. This caused the Gulf of Tonkin resolution to be retracted. 

  • 1973 Paris Peace agreement 

were agreements to bring the war to an end. The agreements were: ceasefire, Us withdrawal of troops, dismanteling of US bases and both were to remove foriegn troops from Laos and Cambodia. 

  • 1973 Nixon withdraws 
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