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P8 | APUSH | Wiley | Proxy Wars: Korea & Vietnam, D ___Name:52990752286000Background on “Proxy Wars”: A proxy war is a war that results when opposing powers use third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly. Proxy wars were so common during the Cold War because the two nuclear-armed superpowers did not wish to fight each other directly, since that would run the risk of escalation to a nuclear war. These wars often involved one superpower fighting a third party that was being supplied/supported by the other superpower.The Korean War (1950-1953)Korea Divided, post-WWII When WWII ended, Korea was _______________________North of the 38th parallel, _______________________ troops surrendered to Soviet forces51003688728300Developed into an industrial, _______________________ nation supported by the Soviets South of the line, the Japanese surrendered to American troopsDeveloped into a rural, non-Communist nation supported by the U.S.; led by a corrupt and dictatorial regimeWar Begins, 1950 By 1949, both the U.S. and the Soviets had withdrawn most of their troopsSoviets gambled that the U.S. would not defend _______________________ and supplied the North with tanks, airplanes, and money to _______________________ the peninsulaIn 1950, North Koreans invaded the South Truman resolved to help SK resist communismFirst war in which blacks and whites fought side by side due to Truman’s _______________________ of the armed services (’48)Imagine you are President Truman and respond to the situation below. Consider Truman’s policy of containment, U.S. post-war aims, the Long Telegram, and the fact that China has been “lost” to communism under your watch. Many are calling you “soft” on communism.The year is 1950, and the U.S. is in the midst of the Korean War. UN forces, led by General MacArthur, have successfully pushed back the North Koreans, who were aided by the Soviet Union. Communism has been contained. What to do now? Since the mission was accomplished, should the U.S. pull out of Korea? Or, should they keep rollin’ back the “commies” and push into North Korea to unite the peninsula under U.S. guidance? Is there another solution? Explain below.The Fighting Continues _______________________ coalition force aided SK (90% U.S.)MacArthur quickly regained SK but pushed to _______________________ war aims and unite KoreaTruman agreed to the plan, despite fears of Chinese reprisal_______________________ joined NK (and SU indirectly), driving UN forces back to SKMacArthur kept pushing for assaults on China, which ultimately got him firedThere were some who felt MacArthur should have been fired earlier in his career. Explain below. Hint: Veterans…War Ends, 1953 By 1953, the UN forces and NK signed a cease-fire agreement_______________________ between the two Koreas was set near the 38th parallel, where the war had begun4 million soldiers and civilians had died; 40,000 Americans diedNorth Korean invasion was pushed back and communism was _______________________– without a world war or the use of nuclear weaponsAftermath and Legacy of the Korean WarKorea remains divided and the U.S. maintains its force in SKNorth Korea today:South Korea today:Communist, _______________________Poverty, shortages of food/energyAggressive towards SK and the _______________________ for its actions during the Korean War, which destroyed much of NKPossesses nuclear energyProsperous Free elections; democraticU.S. _______________________536511512382500Watch the Korean War video clip and take notes below:Korea War – Questions:Why was the Korean War considered a proxy war of the Cold War?537273527781800How successful was the U.S. in the Korean War? Was the Korean War worth the four million lives it took? The animosity it inspired? Why or why not?right2857500The Vietnam War (1950s-1975)Background on French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)French controlled the region since the 19th centuryVietnamese independence leader, _______________________, a communist, had organized a nationalist independent movement in the ’30s (before WWII)Japanese occupied the region during _______________________ once France fell to the _______________________573600330353000Japanese surrender brought _______________________ to Ho Chi Minh and his followers, who called themselves the VietminhFrench Indochina War, 1946-1954The Indochinese expected independence following the war, considering the Allies had allegedly fought against oppression and _______________________ at the hands of the Nazis, Japanese, and ItaliansBut France wanted its colony back The Vietminh, led by Ho Chi Minh, fought the French for their independence from ’46-‘54The French were backed by the U.S., who feared the “_______________________” No U.S. troops were sent, just suppliesThe French _______________________ the fightAt the Geneva Conference of 1954 to negotiate peace, Vietnam was divided into communist North and U.S. backed anti-communist SouthElections were scheduled for 1956 to unite the countryEvaluate the decision by the U.S. (Presidents Truman and Eisenhower) to aid France in getting its colony back after WWII:53492402095500Troubles in South VietnamThe Southern leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, was a harsh dictator, leading many to oppose himU.S. continued to _______________________ himThe Vietcong formed in South Vietnam to overthrow DiemThe Northern leader, Ho Chi Minh, became more _______________________The U.S. had the ’56 elections _______________________ when it was projected that 90% of the people would have voted for Ho Chi MInhDiem was ousted and murdered in ’63 in a U.S.-planned assassination America’s Vietnam War Presidential Cast:___________________________ (’61-’63): sends advisors/machinery to South Vietnam; orchestrates a coup against unpopular South Vietnamese leader, Diem534797026035Ho Chi Minh, sometimes called “Uncle Ho”0Ho Chi Minh, sometimes called “Uncle Ho”___________________________ (’63-’69): sends combat troops; half a million U.S. soldiers by ‘68; huge resistance to war effort and draft emerges___________________________ (’69-’74): trains South Vietnamese to fight while slowly pulling American troops out of Vietnam; yet expanded war into Cambodia/Laos Opposing Sides in the Vietnam WarThe “Good Guys”The “Bad Guys”Unpopular South Vietnamese governmentThe U.S.North Vietnam nationalist/communist gov. (______________________)Soviet Union and China, who _______________________ the North VietnameseVietcong (insurgents from _______________________ who wanted Vietnam unified under Ho Chi Minh’s leadership)U.S. AdvantagesU.S. DisadvantagesBest-equipped, most advanced armyFighting for an _______________________ governmentUnfamiliar jungle terrainGuerilla warfare difficult to fightHard to tell who the enemy was Heavy _______________________ campaign by U.S. led to more popularity for North VietnamWar became hugely unpopular at home498602012573000291601513398500Power of Photography and FilmFor the first time in human history, a war was seen on _______________________Role of photography and film was enormous in shaping public opinion and perspectives on warTwo iconic pictures from the war: A 9-year old child running naked on a road after being severely burned by a SV attack | SV official murders a Vietcong member in front of an NBC cameramanVietnam War ProtestMovement began among peace activists and leftist intellectuals on _________________________–but gained national prominence in 1965, after the U.S. began bombing NV in earnestBy 1967, troop strength in Vietnam was approaching 500,000 and U.S. casualties had reached 15,058 killed and 109,527 wounded; more casualties were reported every dayJoining demonstrations were members of the organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War, many in wheelchairs/on crutches; the sight of these men throwing away the medals won during the war did much to win people over to the anti-war causeIn 1969, the government implemented a draft, causing many young men to flee to _______________________to avoid conscription; as many as 40,000 young men were called into service each month445985618000Tensions ran higher than ever, spurred on by mass demonstrations and incidents of official violence such those at _______________________ in May 1970, when National Guard troops shot into a group of protesters demonstrating against the U.S. invasion of Cambodia, killing four studentsThere was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the U.S. due to a strike of four million students4640580762000MLK, Jr. on Vietnam War: Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence, April 4, 1967Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City"They must see Americans as strange “liberators.” The Vietnamese people proclaimed their own independence in 1945, after a combined French and Japanese occupation and before the communist revolution in China. They were led by Ho Chi Minh. Even though they quoted the American Declaration of Independence in their own document of freedom, we refused to recognize them. Instead, we decided to support France in its re-conquest of her former colony. Our government felt then that the Vietnamese people were not ready for independence, and we again fell victim to the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long.Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home, and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as one who loves America, to the leaders of our own nation: The great initiative in this war is ours; the initiative to stop it must be ours."Summarize MLK’s objective in writing this speech:If you were an adult during the Vietnam War, would you have joined the protests the conflict? Why or why not?512445027114500Post-U.S. Withdrawal, 1973-Present The U.S. withdrew from Vietnam in ’73; had lost about 60,000 menNV and SV kept fighting; in total, 2 million civilians on both sides died, 1.1 million NV and Vietcong fighters died, and about 250,000 SV soldiers diedBy 1975, ________________________ was victorious and united the country under communist rule1.5 million refugees fled Vietnam to avoid communism; about 70,000 settled in the U.S. or Canadaright33147000Today, Vietnam is like _______________________, in that the economy is capitalistic but politically, citizens are in chainsWatch the Vietnam War video clip and take notes below: Vietnam – Primary Sources DOCUMENT A, Source: Lewis H. Lapham, Harper's Magazine, May, 1989.“Prior to the defeat in Vietnam, most Americans had been content to think of themselves as honorable people, unerringly drawn to the side of what was true and noble and right, not the kind of people to push women and children away from the last helicopter out of town. If the war proved them wrong in this judgment, it was because the war was never honestly declared and because, at the end of it, nobody, certainly none of its official sponsors, could say why 58,000 American soldiers were dead and another 300,000 wounded. What could be said was that America had lost not only a war but also the belief in its virtue.”Discuss: What lessons would Lapham hope the nation would learn after Vietnam?DOCUMENT B, Source: Russell Long, Congressional Record, February 16, 1966.“I want to say that these advocates of retreat, defeat, surrender, and national dishonor have not been doing the country any good when they went before a television network suggesting that this Nation was not committed to fighting aggression in this area. The Senate voted for the resolution in 1965, and Senators voted that this country would help that country resist aggression, and specifically authorized the President to take whatever steps he felt necessary to resist further aggression. We are committed. We have more than 200,000 men there. We have at stake our national honor. We are committed to resisting Communist aggression. That is what this is all about.”Discuss: When, if ever, is it justifiable to sacrifice principles or values a nation is committed to? DOCUMENT C, Source: Charles Owen Rice, The Catholic Bulletin, January 13, 1982.“Our waging the war, not our losing of it, disgraced us in men’s eyes. . . Our national effort was squalid in concept and execution. We tried to bend an ancient and civilized people to our will, and we failed, but not before we used our overwhelming power and technology to the full. We cratered vast stretches of Vietnam with our bombs. We destroyed villages without number and herded their inhabitants into stockades. We poisoned the wells, the forests and the farms. . . .We bulldozed millions of acres of forest and jungle. All in all we killed over two million of them, mostly civilians. We napalmed women and children. Many of our soldiers disintegrated and did terrible things which haunt them today."Discuss: Many [usually non-Western] scholars contend that the U.S. should have been tried internationally for committing war crimes in Vietnam War. Do you agree or disagree with this argument? Why?DOCUMENT D, Source: Ronald Reagan in a 1980 speech.“It is time we recognized that ours was, in truth, a noble cause. A small country newly free from colonial rule sought our help in establishing self-rule and the means of self-defense against a totalitarian neighbor bent on conquest. We dishonor the memory of 50,000 young Americans who died in that cause when we give way to feelings of guilt as if we were doing something shameful, and we have been shabby in our treatment of those who returned. They fought as well and as bravely as any Americans have ever fought in any war. They deserve our gratitude, our respect and our continuing concern.”Discuss: Though Reagan may be right that the war was a noble cause, he makes several historical inaccuracies in his statement. What are they? And why would it be convenient for Reagan to make these inaccurate statements? What is his purpose in making this statement?DOCUMENT E, Source: Richard Nixon, No More Viet Nams, 1985.“The assertion that the Vietnam War was an immoral war was heard more and more often as the years dragged on. This said less about the war than about the construction that critics were putting on the idea of morality. Like all wars, Vietnam was brutal, ugly, dangerous, painful, and sometimes inhumane. This was driven home to those who stayed home perhaps more forcefully than ever before because the war lasted so long and because they saw so much of it on television in living, and dying, color. Many who were seeing war for the first time were so shocked at what they saw that they said this war was immoral when they really meant that all war was terrible. They were right in saying that peace was better than war. But they were wrong in failing to ask themselves whether what was happening in Vietnam was substantively different from what had happened in other wars. Their horror at the fact of war prevented them from considering whether the facts of the war in Vietnam added up to a cause that was worth fighting for. Instead, many of these naive, well meaning, instinctual opponents of the war raised their voices in protest."Discuss: Do you find Nixon’s statement compelling/convincing? Why or why not?DOCUMENT F, Source: Ernest Evans, Wars Without Splendor, 1987."The reason for the loss of public support for the Vietnam War was that the United States never had a very convincing case for intervention in the first place; and whatever moral and strategic reasons it did have for intervention were far outweighed by the costs of the war. So it is a gross over-simplification to say that American public opinion turned against the Vietnam War simply because they could watch it, unlike earlier wars, on television. Public opinion turned against the war because the costs of the war were in plain sight while the benefits to be gained by continuing the war were quite elusive."Discuss: Is Evans’s statement more compelling/convincing than Nixon’s? Why or why not?DOCUMENT G, Source: Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, Report to President Lyndon Johnson, 1966.“Nor has the Rolling Thunder program of bombing the North either significantly affected infiltration or cracked the morale of Hanoi. There is agreement in the intelligence community on these facts. . . . In essence, we find ourselves . . . . no better, and if anything, worse off. This important war must be fought and won by the Vietnamese themselves. We have known this from the beginning. But the discouraging truth is that, as was the case in 1961 and 1963 and 1965, we have not found the formula, the catalyst, for training and inspiring them into effective action."Discuss: If you were President Johnson in 1966, how would this message have impacted your policy in Vietnam? Why?DOCUMENT H, Source: Letters from Viet Nam (New York: Parallax Publishing Co., 1966), pp. 104, 118."Dear Mom: Yesterday I witnessed something that would make any American realize why we are in this war. I was on daylight patrol. We were on a hill overlooking a bridge that was out of our sector. I saw a platoon of Vietcong stopping traffic from going over the bridge. They were beating women and children over the head with rifles, clubs, and fists. They even shot one woman and her child. They were taking rice, coconuts, fish, and other assorted foods from these people. The ones that didn't give they either beat or shot. . . . Those slobs have to be stopped, even if it takes every last believer in a democracy and a free way of life to do it. I know after seeing their brave tactics I'm going to try my best. So please don't knock [President] Johnson's policy in Vietnam. There is a good reason for it. I'm not too sure what it is myself, but I'm beginning to realize, especially after yesterday. . . . How are the people taking to the war in Portland? I've read too much. . . about the way some of those cowardly students are acting on campuses. They sure don't show me much as far as being American citizens. . . . A few weeks ago, I had the chance to talk with some Marines. What they had to say would have had an impact on the people back home. . . . From what they said, the Vietcong aren't the only ruthless ones. We have to be, too. Have to. You'd be surprised to know that a guy you went to school with is right now shooting a nine-year-old girl and her mother. He did it because if they got the chance they would kill him. Or throwing a Vietcong out of a helicopter because he wouldn't talk. One guy (who had broke down and cried) said that his one desire is to get enough leave to go home and kick three of those demonstrators in a well-suited place and bring him back. I tell you, it's horrible to read a paper and see our own people aren't backing you up."Discuss: Did the messages contained in these letters affirm or challenge your views on the Vietnam War? Why? Come up with two essay prompts that could be answered with the documents above:1)2) ................
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