• What were the Key Events in the Vietnam Conflict?

• What was the Impact of these events?

What were the Key Events in the Vietnam Conflict?

Date Event Importance1. 1961 JFK sends 16,000 US “Advisors to Vietnam” to help contain

Communism

2. 1964 Johnson: Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. First Combat troops arrive in S.Vietnam

3. 1965 Operation “Rolling Thunder” begins. The US will drop more bombs on Vietnam than they dropped in the whole of WW2.

4. 1966-8 Intensive combat between the US Army and North Vietnamese and Vietcong “Guerilla” fighters. US cannot defeat the Guerillas, so bombing continues.

5. January to December 1968

The Tet offensive is launched by North Vietnam troops, who invade over 100 towns in the South. North Vietnamese lose and retreat at the end of the year, but US victory is not complete and US public opinion turns against the War.

6. March 1968 My Lai Massacre. US soldiers – “Charlie Company” kill 300-400 Vietnamese civillians at the village of My Lai. After an initial cover up Lieutenant Calley is charged and convicted for murder.

7. October 1968

Operation “Rolling Thunder” ends. It failed to defeat the North as Guerilla tactics could not be stopped by bombs and the bombing angered Vietnamese people.

8. 1969 Nixon starts a policy of “Vietnamisation”. This means buillding up army of S.Vietnam in order to withdraw US troops. US continues to bomb North. Battle for “Hamburger Hill” in May.

9. 1973-5 Ceasfire. Exit of US troops. North Vietnam Army takes Saigon. US withdraw all officials from Vietnam, having been effectively defeated

1. JFK Sends Advisers to VietnamIn total JFK sent 16,000 advisers. There role was to train and support the ARVN (South Vietnamese Army) against the Vietcong (NLA), but they also helped to develop the unpopular “strategic hamlets” policy. They failed to win over the “hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese as they were often cruel and oppressive in their actions.

In the end, JFK’s support for Diem undermined US efforts and with Diem’s assassination the US moved into an escalation of its involvement in Vietnam

2. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution 1964

In a television address to the American public that same evening, Johnson stated that U.S. naval forces had been attacked. Johnson requested approval of a resolution "expressing the unity and determination of the United States in supporting freedom and in protecting peace in southeast Asia", stating that the resolution should express support "for all necessary action to protect our Armed Forces"

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed by Congress on August 10th 1964, resulted in:1. Heavy bombing of

North Vietnam2. The arrival of US

combat troops in Vietnam

The US was now fully committed to the war

3. Operation Rolling Thunder March 1965 to November 1968

• Heavy bombing of the North Vietnam

• Napalm and Cluster bombs

• Chemical spraying – Agent Orange and Agent Blue

• Attacks on villages along the Ho Chi Minh Trail

Non of these actions won the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people.

LOSING

HEARTS AND MINDS

TROUGH THE

BOMBING OF

CIVILLIANS IN VIETNAM

4. The US cannot defeat the Guerrilla fighters in Vietnam

Conventional Methods like bombing did not defeat the NLA (National Liberation Army) and NVA (North Vietnam Army) Guerrilla tactics

5. The US defeats the NVA in the Tet Offensive 1968, but at huge cost.

After the US actions and high casualties in the Tet Offensive, many Americans began to turn against the war

6. My Lai Massacre: March 1968The Mỹ Lai Massacre was the Vietnam War mass killing of between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam on March 16, 1968. It was committed by U.S. Army soldiers from the Company C 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. Victims included men, women, children, and infants. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated.Twenty-six soldiers were charged with criminal offenses, but only Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader in C Company, was convicted. Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, he was originally given a life sentence, but served only three and a half years under house arrest.

Kent State University Massacre: 1970

Kent State University: May 1970: Anti War protest ends in four deaths

Perhaps more than any other event, the shootings at Kent State, which affected white, middle class Americans, tipped the scale of public opinion against the war.

America was tired of the war and wanted her troops out of Vietnam. Within three years, they would be home.

The US had lost the war of “hearts and minds” at home and abroad. They had also lost the Vietnam War.

‘America is Dead’ by Mark VallenI was blinded by tears of rage and sorrow listening to that broadcast, the war had indeed “come home” for U.S. citizens - only now the blood of peace activists and students flowed in the streets. Though I was far away from the mayhem and bloodshed at Kent, those shootings affected me deeply, and that week I created a number of pen and ink drawings in the sketch book I always carried with me. My fury over the war poured out onto those pages - and I guess I’ve never stopped drawing my outrage and opposition to war. Mark Vallen

8. Vietnamisation of the war Vietnamisation meant an end to US direct involvement in the war. The troops returned home.

America had lost, but did not admit this.

A ceasefire was signed between US and North Vietnam in 1973. South Vietnam surrendered in 1975

9. Evacuation of US personnel at Saigon