The U.S. struggles against the Communist in Vietnam

a) Were the armies finely balanced or was the balance strongly weighted to one side or the other?

In regards to the strengths of the armies, the US/South Vietnamise army had the advantage. They had better weapons and better trained troops. If the war had been foughttraditionally they would have won the war easily.

b) Which quality was most important in determining who won the war? Was one feature so important that being ahead in that area meant that other advantages or disadvantages did not matter?

The effective use of gurella tatics on behalf of the Viet Cong was the reason why US forces could not defeat them. This outweighed any advantages the US had, because they simply could not find a way to defend the unpradictible tatics used by the Viet Cong.

a. The U.S. weaknesses were:

1) Their inability to adapt to the gurella tatics used by Viet Cong
2) Their lack of support from the Vietnamese civilians
3) Their low moral due to the constant fear of attack from Viet Cong forces.

b. At the same time, the Communist strengths were:

1) Their effective use of gurella tatics
2) The support of the Vietnamese civilians
3) Their high morale due to their genuine belief in their cause and the fact that they were winning the war

c. The U.S. forces did have some successes. For example:

Their bomb raids were effective in slowing the transportation of arms to the South and slowd military movements.

d. However, there were some major failures as well. Examples of these were:

They were simply not able to figure out a successful way to combat the gurella tatics used by the Viet Cong forces. They continued to take heavy casualities in the day and night attacks by the gurella warriors. These continued blows not only hurt the US militarly but moraly as well. The continued loss of life killed the moral of the soldiers stationed in Vietnam and caused them to live in constant fear.

e. The Viet Cong had some major successes, such as:

They played every advantage they had to their fullest. They used their knowledge of the land to effectively use gurella tatics and basically win the war. They Took advantage of favor from the citizens and used them for help in whatever ways they could. They caused the US soldiers to fear them.

f. However, they also suffered defeats, for example:

The bombing raids by the Americans were successful in killing over 1 million Vite Cong soldiers. This was not considered unacceptable by the Communist leaders, however, because of the high numbers of Viet Cong soldiers.

g. If I had to identify one major American weakness, it would be [Insert weakness here] because:
Weakness : inability to adapt to gurella warfare

because.. This was the reason they lost. They could not adapt and it destroied them in every aspect of the war. They lost casualitys and morale because of the constant attacks they could not defend against.


h. The key Viet Cong strength was [Insert strength here] because:

Strenght: gurella warfare

because... It played off all of their advantages and won them the war (above mentioned reasons).

The U.S. Enters the Vietnam War

1. Many neutral observers in Vietnam were critical of US policy. Explain why.

This is because the Us suppoered the anti-communist governments established in the south, even though they were extreamily currupt.

2. Explain how US politicians would have defended their policies.

They would have argued that if Vietnam fell to communism, many other countries in the region would follow suit. It was necessary to stop a communist takeover of an entire contenent.

3. The following events are not listed in correct date order. Place them in the correct chronological order. (Write the year inside the parenthesis, i.e. (1965). Then note the reason for each U.S. action, and how it brought the U.S. into deeper involvement in Vietnam.
The reasons you can choose from are: No direct involvement; financial support; political involvement; military involvement. Also, note what events triggered the increased involvement.


( 8 ) Assassination of JFK - Johnson becomes president
( 2 ) Formation of South Vietnam
( 9 ) Gulf of Tonkin Incident
( 7 ) Number of 'advisers' reaches over 11,500- military involvement. This brought the US more into the conflict because this highly increased the US presence in South Vietnam.
( 6 ) JFK sends military advisers- military invlovement. This brought the US more into the conflict because it created a US military presence in the conflict that was going on between North and South Vietnamise forces.
( 10 ) U.S. Marines land at Da Nang- military involvement. This brought the US more into the conflict because this officially started war between North Vietnam and the US
( 1 ) U.S. stops elections in Vietnam- political involvement. This brought the US more into the conflict because It angered many who supported an Communist Vietnam and was looked upon as a lack of principlas on behalf of the US, which condemned Stalin for takeing similar actions in the USSR.
( 3 ) U.S. supports South Vietnam government after army overthrow Diem- political involvement- This brought the US more into the conflict because this was their way of keeping communism from spreading throughout the entire region. They believed that if it can be stopped in Vietnam, it won't spread further.
( 5 ) Viet Cong attacks on U.S. and South Vietnam bases
( 4 ) Viet Cong formed

4. Choose two events that you think were critical in getting the U.S. involved in a war in Vietnam. Explain
your choice.

I think the forming of Viet Cong and the attack at the Gulf of Tonkin were the most curtial events. This is because they really forced the US's hand in Vietnam. Vite Cong symbolized the communist sprit which many rallied around. It grew at a rate that the US could not ignore because it had alot of power to spread communism which would be dangerous to the US. The attack at the Gulf of Tonkin forced the US to retaliate. It showed that the communist threat was not only strong but viloent and letting it continue without interfearing would be dangerous.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

1. Kennedy described Wednesday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 27 as the darkest days of the crisis. Use the information on page 350 to explain why.

These two days, being the days when there was a faceoff at the American blocade of Cuba and when there was an incident whihc involved an American plane beiong shot down, were the days when conflicts caused war to be as realistic of a possability as it ever was.

2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?

I think it was a very valid possability. Both countrys had the ability to devistate eachother, and tentions between the two were just about as high as possible without full scale war breaking out.

3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.

I would think that the cartoon was an American one, because the Soviet leader is depicted as sweating heavily, whale JFK looks calm and collected.

4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.

Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba?
To bargain with the USA
This is a likely reason, because it happened.

To test the USA
This is likely because at the time the US was not in very good standing with the world stage.

To trap the USA
This suggests that the USSR was trying to start a nuclear war, but because this never actually happened, it is unlikely this is a valid reason.

To get the upper hand in the arms race
This is a very likely reason because with the missles so close to the US it would be very easy for the USSR to launch an attack.

To defend Cuba
It is unlikely this was the reason because the USSR was makeing such a public deal about the missles being there. They were makeing a statement of somemkind.


5. Choose the explanation(s) that you think best fit what you have found out about the crisis. Explain your choice.

I feel it was a mixture of trying to gain the upper hand in the arms race and to bargin with the US. They did even the score of the arms race by haveing ready to launch missles in such close geographical proximity to the US. Also, they could use this as a way to bargin the US into removeing some of their missles, which would also be helpful in the arms race between the two superpowers.

The U.S. Attempts to Contain Cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?

Cuba was important to America because of its closeness to the US both economically and geographically. Its importance grograpahically was important because of a military base the US had on the island.

2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?

It was too dangerous to directly invade the USSR friendly Cuban nation because this could have been taken as an act of war by the Soviet Union, which could have caused a nuclear war.

3. Why did the invasion fail?

The invasion failed because the US did not provide the necessary air support to the Cuban rebels. Tey were outnumbered and faceing a much stronger, better equipped, and better trained adversary without the help they depended on.

4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power.

The USSR's ability to have missles in Cuba took away the US advantage of stratigic missle location. Before this point, the US had missles that could strike the Soviet Union in a very short amount of time, but after this the USSR had missles that could be equally quick and devistateing if ever used.