pathofwar


 * =**VIETNAM - THE PATH TO WAR **=

You all know that the United States was involved in a major military conflict during the Cold War ... but why? What was America's "path to war"? Using the resources below and Creating America, your task this evening is to write a description in YOUR OWN WORDS of the causes of American involvement in Southeast Asia. Pretend you are writing it as a summary for on online encyclopedia or textbook. Your description should ...


 * be between two and four paragraphs
 * contain the following terms - France, Ho Chi Minh, communism, Ngo Dinh Diem, military advisors, Gulf of Tonkin
 * be IN YOUR OWN WORDS (remember, it's easy to check this online)
 * contain two images THAT RELATE TO YOUR WRITING
 * Should end with the first Marines landing in Vietnam in 1965

Need some help? How about ... //Creating America// [|Into Vietnam (Overview)] from ABC-CLIO [|**Vietnam War** - the **Causes**] [|Timeline of the Vietnam War] [|Vietnam Online Timeline]

 The rebel, Viet Minh, had just defeated France in a war over the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence. The last war when France admitted defeat was the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. A peace conference was held in Geneva, Switzerland where a line was made at the 17th parallel seperating the north and south halves of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the rebels in the north. Ngo Dinh Diem was the prime minister of the south. Ho Chi Minh declared war on the south half of Vietnam trying to reunite it and Ngo Dinh Diem asked for U.S. military assistance and advisers. Since the U.S. sided with the non-communist side, south, they gave Ngo the assistance. Diem was assassinated on November 1, 1963 and the government remained corrupt. During this time, the Viet Cong continued to grow in size and the ARVN ( Army of the Republic of Vietnam) could no longer contain them. The insident in Vietnam created a lot of criticizing while some said they we shouldn't be there, while others said that we must make sure that communism does not spread. In the August of 1964, the U.S. ship, USS Maddox, had been attacked unprovoked by northern Vietnamese soldiers in the Gulf of Tonkin. After this event, president Johnson was allowed to do whatever was necessary to defend the armed forces of the U.S. and the people of south Vietnam. Even though the U.S. was never in the Vietnam war, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution allowed them to participate. In the early 1965's, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson had the US begin bombing missions over North Vietnam, it became known as //Operation Rolling Thunder//. In March of 1965, U.S. marines were sent to Vietnam.

[] The USS Maddox off the coast of the Gulf of Tonkin before it was apparently attacked

[] Operation Rolling Thunder bomber that dropped bombs over North Korea ||