Tag Archives: Vietnam
The self-immolation of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức
Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burned himself to death at a busy crossroads in Saigon.
American involvement in Vietnam
This revision podcast addresses the Vietnam War in the context of the Cold War, and is broadly split into three sections: reasons for the war and America’s involvement, the way the war was fought, and reasons for American withdrawal.
The first section looks at why the war began, and why the USA got involved. This is done by presenting an overview of 5 key causes: containment, the Domino Theory, the division of Vietnam after the Treaty of Geneva, US support for the South Vietnamese government against the Viet Cong, and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. I then provide an example of how to structure an essay essay to explain why the USA got involved.
The second part of the podcast addresses the way the war was fought. It assesses how the guerrilla tactics of the Viet Cong were developed as a response to the vastly superior American firepower, and ways in which the USA similarly responded to this new style of warfare. American tactics described in the podcast include the Strategic Hamlets Programme, Operation Rolling Thunder, the use of Agent Orange, and Search and Destroy missions.
The episode concludes with an overview of the various factors that led to the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam, concluding with a short comment on the lasting effect of the Vietnam War on American attitudes to the Cold War.
Causes and effects of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
On the 7th August 1964, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed by the United States Congress.
‘Kent State Massacre’ – why did Ohio National Guardsmen shoot university students?
Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four Kent State University students.
Story behind the photo of Kim Phuc running from napalm attack
On the 8th June 1972 one of the most iconic photographs of the Vietnam War was taken of Phan Thị Kim Phúc, a nine-year-old girl from the South Vietnamese village of Trang Bang.
