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    • Paper 1
    • Paper 2 >
      • Topic 10: Authoritarian States
      • Topic 12: The Cold War >
        • 1. Causes of the Cold War >
          • 1. What role did ideology play in the Grand Alliance?
          • 2. How did wartime disagreements affect the alliance?
          • 3. Did Soviet expansionism end the alliance?
          • 4. Was US exceptionalism to blame?
          • 5. Did events in Asia exacerbate tensions?
          • 6. Were tensions over Germany the final straw?
          • 7. Summary: Who was to blame for the Cold War?
        • 2. Conflict & Confrontation >
          • 1. How did competition unfold in Asia?
          • 2. What conflicts emerged in Europe?
          • 3. How did the Cold War shape the Middle East?
          • 4. Were tensions in the Americas unexpected?
          • 5. Why did the Cold War spread to Africa?
          • 6. How did scientific change drive the conflict?
          • 7. Summary: Who won the global struggle?
        • 3. Detente and Coexistence >
          • 1. Did peaceful coexistence work?
          • 2. What did detente achieve?
          • 3. Why did detente fail?
          • 4. Summary: Was detente a failure?
        • 4. China and the Cold War >
          • 1. Why were Sino-Soviet relations so turbulent?
          • 2. How did Sino-American relations change?
          • 3. What other relations did China cultivate?
          • 4. Summary: When did China become a global power?
        • 5. End of the Cold War >
          • 1. Did the USSR decay from within?
          • 2. Did Ronald Reagan win the war?
          • 3. Was Mikhail Gorbachev to blame?
          • 4. What role did people power play?
          • 5. Why did the USSR finally collapse?
          • 6. Summary: Who, or what, ended the Cold War?
        • 6. Leaders, Crises and Nations >
          • 1. What was the impact of leaders?
          • 2. How significant were Cold War crises?
          • 3. In what ways were nations affected?
          • 4. Summary: What was the role of leaders, crises and nations?
        • Exam Questions
    • Paper 3 - Asia/Oceania >
      • Topic 9: Imperial Decline in East Asia 1860-1912
      • Topic 11: Japan 1912-1990
      • Topic 12: China and Korea 1910-1950
      • Topic 14: The People's Republic of China 1949-2005
      • Topic 15: Cold War Conflicts in Asia >
        • 1. The Malayan Emergency >
          • 1. What triggered conflict in Malaya?
          • 2. How did the Emergency evolve?
          • 3. Why was the insurgency defeated?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Emergency?
          • 5. Summary: Why was communism defeated?
        • 2. The Korean War >
          • 1. What caused the Korean War?
          • 2. How did the Korean War evolve?
          • 3. How was the Korean War resolved?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Korean War?
          • 5. Summary: Was the Korean War a turning point?
        • 3. The French Indochina War >
          • 1. What caused the French Indochina War?
          • 2. How did the French Indochina War evolve?
          • 3. How was the war in Indochina resolved?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Indochina War?
          • 5. Summary: What accounts for the French defeat?
        • 4. The Vietnam War >
          • 1. What caused the Vietnam War?
          • 2. How did the Vietnam War evolve?
          • 3. How was the Vietnam War resolved?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Vietnam War?
          • 5. Summary: Was the Vietnam War inevitable?
        • 5. The Cambodian Civil War >
          • 1. What caused the Cambodian Civil War?
          • 2. How did the Cambodian Civil War evolve?
          • 3. How was the Civil War resolved?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Cambodian Civil War?
          • 5. Summary: Who can be blamed for events in Cambodia?
        • 6. The Soviet Afghan War >
          • 1. Why did the USSR invade Afghanistan?
          • 2. How did the Soviet-Afghan war evolve?
          • 3. How was the Soviet Union defeated?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Soviet-Afghan war?
          • 5. Summary: Why did the USSR withdraw?
        • Exam Questions
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Summary: Was the Vietnam War inevitable?

Activity 1 - Which events should we revise?


  1. ​Mind-Map - Create a concept-map using Padlet, Mindmup or any other similar mind-mapping tool (or create a sketchnote by hand!). In the middle write ‘The Vietnam War 1959-75’.
  2. Summarise - Now fill in your mind-map with key historical information and facts about the main events of the unit. Review your notes and summarise using the following headings and events:
    1. Causes - Failure of the Geneva Accords, Role of Ngo Dinh Diem, Repression and Authoritarianism, Failure of Land Reform and Domestic Policies, Failure to hold elections in 1956, Buddhist Crisis, Role of DRV, Vietcong Insurgency, Eisenhower Support, MAAG, Kennedy’s Flexible Response, Assassination of Diem, Gulf of Tonkin Incident/Resolution, Pleiku Incident, Operation Rolling Thunder.
    2. Course - Phase 1 (1960-63), Kennedy’s Flexible Response, Pacification, Strategic Hamlets, Green Berets, Battle of Ap Bac; Phase 2 (1964-69), Westmoreland’s War of Attrition, Search and Destroy, Strategic Bombing, Battle of La Drang Valley, Operation Rolling Thunder, Operation Attleboro, Battle of Khe Sahn, Tet Offensive, Battle of Hamburger Hill; Phase 3 (1968-72), Adam’s One War Strategy, Search and Hold, Return to Pacification, Nixon’s Mad Bomber Strategy, Vietnamisation, Peace with Honour, Operation Menu, Operation Lam Son 719, Operation Linebacker/II
    3. Resolution - Vietcong Strengths - Tactics, Ideology, Foreign Support; US Failures - Search and Destroy, Air power counterproductive, Failures of RVN and ARVN, US Public Opposition, Role of Media, Paris Peace Accords.
    4. Impact - Vietnam - Final Stages of War, Reunification; Laos - Civil War, Pathet Laos; Cambodia - Civil War, Khmer Rouge; USA - Protests, Watergate, War Powers Act, Detente, China Rapprochement
  3. Revise - Use your mind maps to help you revise the historical content for your upcoming assessment and final exams. Make sure you store a copy with your other revision materials.

Activity 2 - What was our inquiry?


  1. Recall -  Examine the statement of inquiry for this unit again and consider how it applies to what you’ve studied:
    1. Ideology and political perspectives can distort how states view threats to their security, increasing the chances for states to be drawn into conflicts
  2. Analyse - With a partner, discuss how this statement of inquiry could be applied to the Vietnam War. Consider the following questions:
    1. Connect - How is the statement of inquiry connected to what you have studied?
    2. Extend - Does the statement of inquiry extend your thinking about the Vietnam War in any way?
    3. Challenge - What is challenging or confusing about the statement of inquiry? 
  3. Discuss - Does the statement of inquiry apply to the Vietnam War? What else might it also apply to?
  4. Evaluate - The key concept for this unit was perspective. Consider the title of this unit - “Was the Vietnam War inevitable?”. Identify the different viewpoints that might be taken on this question, then consider who might hold this viewpoint, and whether these views have changed over time.

Activity 3 - How might we be assessed?


  1. Essay Plan - Try practicing for your end of unit review by essay planning. Use this essay mark-scheme to help:
    1. “Ideology was the most important cause of the Vietnam War (1956–1975).” Discuss - May 2019
    2. “The outcome of the Vietnam War had only negative economic and political effects on Vietnam.” Discuss - Nov 2018
    3. To what extent was the Vietnam War responsible for the rise of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia? - Sp. Paper

Further Reading for Revision


OBLIGATORY READING
  1. Mamaux, A. (2015). The Cold War: Superpower Tensions and Rivalries, pp. 173-185
  2. Sanders, V. (2015). Access to History: The Cold War in Asia 1945-93, pp. 111-234
RECOMMENDED READING
SUPPLEMENTAL READING
  1. Weist, A. (2002). Osprey Essential Histories: The Vietnam War, 1956-1975, pp. 29-92

PREVIOUS LESSON - WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF THE VIETNAM WAR?
UNIT 5 MENU - THE CAMBODIAN CIVIL WAR
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  • Home
  • Shop
  • iGCSE
  • IBDP
    • Paper 1
    • Paper 2 >
      • Topic 10: Authoritarian States
      • Topic 12: The Cold War >
        • 1. Causes of the Cold War >
          • 1. What role did ideology play in the Grand Alliance?
          • 2. How did wartime disagreements affect the alliance?
          • 3. Did Soviet expansionism end the alliance?
          • 4. Was US exceptionalism to blame?
          • 5. Did events in Asia exacerbate tensions?
          • 6. Were tensions over Germany the final straw?
          • 7. Summary: Who was to blame for the Cold War?
        • 2. Conflict & Confrontation >
          • 1. How did competition unfold in Asia?
          • 2. What conflicts emerged in Europe?
          • 3. How did the Cold War shape the Middle East?
          • 4. Were tensions in the Americas unexpected?
          • 5. Why did the Cold War spread to Africa?
          • 6. How did scientific change drive the conflict?
          • 7. Summary: Who won the global struggle?
        • 3. Detente and Coexistence >
          • 1. Did peaceful coexistence work?
          • 2. What did detente achieve?
          • 3. Why did detente fail?
          • 4. Summary: Was detente a failure?
        • 4. China and the Cold War >
          • 1. Why were Sino-Soviet relations so turbulent?
          • 2. How did Sino-American relations change?
          • 3. What other relations did China cultivate?
          • 4. Summary: When did China become a global power?
        • 5. End of the Cold War >
          • 1. Did the USSR decay from within?
          • 2. Did Ronald Reagan win the war?
          • 3. Was Mikhail Gorbachev to blame?
          • 4. What role did people power play?
          • 5. Why did the USSR finally collapse?
          • 6. Summary: Who, or what, ended the Cold War?
        • 6. Leaders, Crises and Nations >
          • 1. What was the impact of leaders?
          • 2. How significant were Cold War crises?
          • 3. In what ways were nations affected?
          • 4. Summary: What was the role of leaders, crises and nations?
        • Exam Questions
    • Paper 3 - Asia/Oceania >
      • Topic 9: Imperial Decline in East Asia 1860-1912
      • Topic 11: Japan 1912-1990
      • Topic 12: China and Korea 1910-1950
      • Topic 14: The People's Republic of China 1949-2005
      • Topic 15: Cold War Conflicts in Asia >
        • 1. The Malayan Emergency >
          • 1. What triggered conflict in Malaya?
          • 2. How did the Emergency evolve?
          • 3. Why was the insurgency defeated?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Emergency?
          • 5. Summary: Why was communism defeated?
        • 2. The Korean War >
          • 1. What caused the Korean War?
          • 2. How did the Korean War evolve?
          • 3. How was the Korean War resolved?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Korean War?
          • 5. Summary: Was the Korean War a turning point?
        • 3. The French Indochina War >
          • 1. What caused the French Indochina War?
          • 2. How did the French Indochina War evolve?
          • 3. How was the war in Indochina resolved?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Indochina War?
          • 5. Summary: What accounts for the French defeat?
        • 4. The Vietnam War >
          • 1. What caused the Vietnam War?
          • 2. How did the Vietnam War evolve?
          • 3. How was the Vietnam War resolved?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Vietnam War?
          • 5. Summary: Was the Vietnam War inevitable?
        • 5. The Cambodian Civil War >
          • 1. What caused the Cambodian Civil War?
          • 2. How did the Cambodian Civil War evolve?
          • 3. How was the Civil War resolved?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Cambodian Civil War?
          • 5. Summary: Who can be blamed for events in Cambodia?
        • 6. The Soviet Afghan War >
          • 1. Why did the USSR invade Afghanistan?
          • 2. How did the Soviet-Afghan war evolve?
          • 3. How was the Soviet Union defeated?
          • 4. What was the impact of the Soviet-Afghan war?
          • 5. Summary: Why did the USSR withdraw?
        • Exam Questions
  • Links
    • is globalpolitics
    • is history
    • is humanities