Was containment in Vietnam Successful
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Causes
-Fear of communist domino effect across the whole of south east Asia -Radical communist revolutions might start and other countries in south east Asia could become communist -Opinion already hardened in US against Vietnam during war of independece -Supported French -Mocking by USSR Impact -Communist victory:
-Cambodia and Laos became communist -Disproved many US theories -Fall of south Vietnam -Heightened fear of domino theory in US -Dismissal of MacArthur Events -Operation rolling thunder -1968 - 520,000 US troops -24th November 1963 - Johnson sends tanks to war -1968 - Tet offensive Communist attack on the US -Huge Vietcong casualties |
Was containment in Japan Successful
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Causes
-Defeat of 1945 in WWII -USA objective to create a weak and pacifist Japan -Changed when US felt that Japan was a strategic area -In Asia - to contain communism -Growing concern over communism power in east Asia -Led to USA to halt refines in Japan -They could focus on economic recovery and political rehabilitation in Japan Impact -USA achieved to make Japan an anti-communist country -Japan's economy was in rapid growth -Containment was succesful -Treaty of San Francisco -USA became the only country allowed to have a military base in Japan -US helped Japan to rebuild its economy -US presence in Japan differed USSR attack Events -1951 treaty of San Francisco - concluded American occupation in Japan -US, Japanese security treaty -US could station American troops in Japan -Japan joined the UN security council -Economic growth:
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Was containment in Taiwan Successful |
Causes
-Keep peace between the nationalist and communist Chinese -Prevent the influence of Mao after his success -Korean war in 1950 - USA released containment policies in Taiwan -USA recognized Taiwan as the official Chinese state -US provided economic and military aid to Taiwan Impact -US policy towards Taiwan changed due to outbreak of Korean war -PRC and the US started negotiating -US gave substantial economic and militaristic aid to Taiwan -Eased tensions between USA and PRC temporarily -Fundamental issues of conflict still unresolved -Provoked US into making Nuclear threats -Both sides continued to bombard each other on alternative days until the ease of tensions in 1979 between the PRC and US Events -Military aid from US -Truman deployed the seventh fleet in 1953 to prevent Mao from launching military strikes -Eisenhower lifts naval blockade, China then bombarded Quemoy and Matsu in 1945 and 1958 -Congress passes Formosa resolution in response in 1955 -US states that it would use nuclear weapons against China if China takes over Taiwan |
Activities 1-10
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Activity 1:
1. -Increased the number of US military advisers in the South, by the time of Kennedy's death, there had been 17000 advisers -Started counter-insurgency operations against Communist guerrillas. Such as 'Search and destroy' missions, the use of defoliants to destroy the jungle -US supported the Strategic Hamlets Program, which consisted of relocating villagers into fortified villages where they could be 'safe' from communists -Introduced the 'Green Berets'. A new US military task force trained in guerrilla warfare -Supported Diem to introduce social and political reforms 2. To some extent, the US could have withdrawn from Vietnam in 1963 because the war was beginning to really look out of the US hands. Everything they tried to do, from political and military policies only worsened their condition in the war and didn't win them any favors amongst the public. Also, the US had already shown minimal support for Diem by the end of his reign and this would've been a perfect opportunity for them to back out of the war. Activity 2: 1. a) The characteristics of the US strategy was very brutal. They came up with the so called "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution". This allowed the US to use horrific ways in order to win the war, these included launching a sustained camping of bombing in North Vietnam, sending 100,000 troops in 1965, and by 1968 there were 520000 troops. b) The US soldiers had not been used to fighting against enemies via guerrilla warfare. The Vietcong were able to outsmart the US soldiers as they had better knowledge of their surroundings in the jungle, this allowed the Vietcong to easily make ambushes or surprise attacks and therefore beat out the US soldiers, who although had the better equipment, couldn't outsmart the Vietcong. c) The impact of the US bombings such as rockets and napalm had no positive outlook at all for the US. Although they did manage to clear some of the jungle out for the warfare to be more clear and they also eliminated some members of the Vietcong, the bombings made the US very unpopular in Vietnam. This was because a large majority of the bombings were accidentally dropped on local villagers and had devastating long term effects physically and emotionally. The US were seen as the big bad villains in Vietnam as all they would do were bomb whatever they saw and this gave North Vietnam the edge as more and more people were willing to fight against the US. d) The characteristics of the guerrilla warfare used by the Vietcong included hiding out in the jungle to wait for a small US scouting group to arrive and ambush them into a surprise attack. The US troops wouldn't know where they were coming from and the hiding and ambushes also meant that the Vietcong were losing very little lives over guerrilla warfare. e) The Vietcong were successful because of their intensive knowledge of their surroundings. Unlike the US troops, the Vietcong were fighting in their home turf, they knew all the secret hideouts and locations, this allowed them to easily set up traps and ambushes in order to outsmart the US. f) The South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) was not very effective because the ARVN and US military failed to see eye to eye and therefore couldn't maximize both of their strengths in order to win the war. Also, the political motivations of the ARVN were not as emotionally strong as the Vietcong, and a lot of the ARVN had a hatred towards the Americans for their bombings of civilians. In the end, a lot of ARVN ended up supporting the Vietcong and eventually formed a rebellion against Diem and his regime, rendering their effectiveness to almost zero. Activity 3: 1. a) The main underlying theme for justifying US involvement in Vietnam by Johnson is the idea to contain communism. Johnson explicitly links the past history of US defending other countries from communism, and uses that as a basis for his decision. The containment of communism is a calling for Johnson to maintain the US promise on containing communism. b) "The result would be increased unrest and instability, and even wider war" - The wider war Johnson subtly states is the war with the USSR, the actual Cold War of 2 opposing ideologies. 2. Activity 4: 1. The train engine represents the US government spending all of their revenue and taxpayers money into funding the Vietnam War. The individual train wagons suggest the US society who are being ripped off by the government because their money should be on benefiting society but is instead being wasted on the Vietnam War 2. The man with the axe is portrayed as Lyndon B. Johnson. He is cutting out the remains of a "Great Society", supposedly American society as he is spending taxpayers money on the war and cutting out all of the public opinion into stopping the war. 3. The smoke from the train represents the war in Vietnam, it shows how the US just keeps funding and funding money, time and resources into to keep it going and uses the juxtaposition to refer to how if Johnson stops cutting up the train wagons (society, money) and supplying the engine (Vietnam War) the war would end as there would be no more smoke left. 4. The overall message of the cartoon is how the US government is robbing the US society of their taxpayers money as all they're doing is funding the completely pointless Vietnam War. Activity 8: 1. Nixon needed to end the war because the US were looking like the villains in the war. Their involvement had been very controversial, from the atrocious bombings to horrific massacres such as the My Lai massacres. The images of war were captured and were seen by people all over the world. The world saw how brutal the US were and although the premise of the war was to contain communism, the US themselves had instead committed terrible acts of human violence, which contradicts their school of thought. Also, because of the protest against the draft system and the publicity of the Vietnam War, people in the US were hosting major rallies in protest of the war and that forced Nixon to end the war in order to prevent internal chaos within the US. 2. "Peace with honor" by Nixon essentially means that although the US lost the war, they wanted to save face by agreeing to peace in honor and sneakily still try to win the war ever so marginally. 3. The US used airstrikes and airpower to put pressure on the Communists, they even went as far as to bombing several targets in North Vietnam thought to be too sensitive. They also tried to pursue 'detente', which meant trying to develop better relations with the USSR and Chinese by getting them to convince Vietnam to agree to the settlement, and if Vietnam doesn't, it would've risked war between US and USSR or China. 4. To some extent, Nixon didn't achieve 'peace with honor' at all because after the US troops left in March of 1973, by the end of 1975 North Vietnam took initiative and had taken control of Saigon, after that communism eventually had taken over the countries of Indochina (Laos, Cambodia) |