The+Vietnam+War+(1954-1979)

= CONFLICT IN INDOCHINA: 1954-1979 =



=Key features and issues=

In this topic, we will focus on the following key features and issues of the Indochina War: = = =Topics=
 * the nature and role of nationalism.
 * the nature and role of communism.
 * the nature and consequences of US involvement in Vietnam and Cambodia.
 * the stragegies and tactics of both sides in the war.
 * the impact of the war on civilians in Indochina.
 * attempts at peacemaking.
 * reasons for communist victory.
 * Indochina under French rule
 * Indochina after the French
 * The USA and Indochina
 * The Second Indochina War
 * Pol Pot's regime

=Syllabus and past exam questions=

1. Conflict in Indochina: 1954-79 - syllabus document: [|Syllabus - Conflict in Indochina.doc] 2. Conflict in Indochina: 1954-79 - past HSC questions by topic: 3. Conflict in Indochina: 1954-79 - past HSC questions by year:

=Reading materials=

Introductory reading material
1. Some textbook-type material on the Vietnam War:
 * [|Vietnam War reading materials - part 1.pdf]
 * [|Vietnam War reading materials - part 2.pdf]
 * [|Vietnam War reading materials - part 3.pdf]

2. Internet sites:
 * An excellent site covering this topic is NSW HSC Online, developed by Charles Sturt University. It deals with all aspects of the syllabus, and relates these to the HSC exam. You can get to the Indochina section by clicking on [|Indochina, 1954-79]
 * [|The Wars for Vietnam:1945-1975]
 * [|The History Place: The Vietnam War]
 * [|Battlefield Vietnam]
 * [|The Vietnam War]
 * [|The Vietnam War]
 * [|Maps of the Vietnam War]

Detailed readings on the US involvement in the Vietnam War
The following readings will be very useful for you in your research assignment on how the US became involved in the Vietnam War:

1. Readings from Neil Sheehan's book //A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam//. This is probably the best book ever written about the Vietnam War. In it, Sheehan argues the so-called 'slippery slope' theory - that America became involved in the war through a series of minor escalations, none of which seemed particular significant to those making them but which, in combination, locked America into a war it did not wish to fight. The extracts below cover the early period of American involvement.
 * [|Sheehan - part 1.pdf]
 * [|Sheehan - part 2.pdf]
 * [|Sheehan - part 3.pdf]
 * [|Sheehan - part 4.pdf]
 * [|Sheehan - part 5.pdf]
 * [|Sheehan - part 6.pdf]
 * [|Sheehan - part 7.pdf]

2. Readings from Stanley Karnow's book //Vietnam: A History//. This provides a good account of President Johnson's thinking in 1965, when he committed US ground troops to Vietnam.
 * [|Karnow - part 1.pdf]
 * [|Karnow - part 2.pdf]

3. Readings from Michael Maclear's book //Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War//.
 * [|Maclear - part 1.pdf]
 * [|Maclear - part 2.pdf]
 * [|Maclear - part 3.pdf]
 * [|Maclear - part 4.pdf]

4. Readings from Daniel Ellsberg's book //Papers on the War//. Ellsberg was a US government offical who went to Vietnam in 1965 at the behest of the US Defense Department to try to work out why the US military was not winning the war. Initially a strong supporter of the war, he later became one of its harshest critics, particularly after he left Vietnam in 1967 and was appointed as one of the authors of the Defense Department's secret study of American decision-making in Vietnam. This document became known as the //Pentagon Papers//, after Ellsberg released it to the press. (He was hoping that by exposing the lies and mistakes successive US presidents had made, it would turn the public against the war and end the bloodshed.) In consequence of his actions, he was put on trial for breaching the official secrecy act, and would have spent the rest of his life in jail, had he been convicted. Fortunately for him, he got off on a technicality, then spent the next few years writing about the war. He was described by one US official as the smartest man ever to turn his mind to the question of Indochina. In his book, Ellsberg argues that domestic factors were paramount in America's decision to go to war in Vietnam.
 * [|Ellsberg - part 1.pdf]
 * [|Ellsberg - part 2.pdf]