Vietnam+Discovery

Topic 3
>> Vietnam

media type="custom" key="20444118" align="center"What was Vietnam like? =**__The Decision to Join__**= //Between 1945 and 1954, the Vietnamese waged an anti-colonial war against France and received $2.6 billion in financial support from the United States. The French defeat at the Dien Bien Phu was followed by a peace conference in Geneva, in which Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam received their independence and Vietnam was temporarily divided between an anti-Communist South and Communist// //North. In 1956, South Vietnam, with American backing, refused to hold the unification elections. By 1958, Communist-led guerrillas known as the Viet Cong had begun to battle the South Vietnamese government.// //To support the SouthΓÇÖs government, the United States sent in 2,000 military advisors, a number that grew to 16,300 in 1963. The military condition deteriorated, and by 1963 South Vietnam had lost the fertile Mekong Delta to the Vietcong.┬á In 1965, Johnson escalated the war, commencing air strikes on North Vietnam and committing ground forces, which numbered 536,000 in 1968. The 1968 Tet Offensive by the North Vietnamese turned many Americans against the war. The next president, Richard Nixon, advocated Vietnamization, withdrawing American troops and giving South Vietnam greater responsibility for fighting the war. His attempt to slow the flow of North Vietnamese soldiers and supplies into South Vietnam by sending American forces to destroy Communist supply bases in Cambodia in 1970 in violation of Cambodian neutrality provoked antiwar protests on the nationΓÇÖs college campuses.// //From 1968 to 1973 efforts were made to end the conflict through diplomacy. In January 1973, an agreement reached and U.S. forces were withdrawn from Vietnam and U.S. prisoners of war were released.┬á In April 1975, South Vietnam surrendered to the North and Vietnam was reunited. ( http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/vietnam/index.cfm) // // The Causes of the Vietnam War // >> // []  // // America's Part in the War // >> // []  // // Gulf of Tonkin (The final reason for getting involved) // // Conspiracy? // >>> // []  // // Is there a truth? // >>> // []  //

=**__The Draft__**= //Many Americans faced a tough decision when the United States began battling the North Vietnamese. The decision they had to make was about thier personal involvement in the war. When war broke ou during WWI thousands of men were drafted into battle, the same in WWII. It was not until this war that men began to second guess the wisdom of their leaders and choose not to join in the fight.// //Use your textbook on page 829 and read under the War at Home heading.// media type="custom" key="20444122" align="center"What happened at the Gulf of Tonkin? The method behind being drafted >> [] Draft Dodgers >> [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_dodger#Vietnam_War] Reasons for not being able to be drafted >> [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_dodger#Avoidance.2C_evasion.2C_resistance_and_desertion_compared] Forgiveness of Draft Dodgers >> [] =**__Chemical Warfare__**= //Vietnam War cost the United States 58,000 lives and 350,000 casualties// //Chemical Warfare details// >> [] Results of using Chemical Warfare >> [] Images of the dramatic effects of using Chemical Warfare >> []
 * What caused Americans to be against the war?
 * What were the choices that they had if they did not want to join the war?

media type="custom" key="20444116" align="center"What happened to the people who had Napalm dropped on them?

After reading the information about Vietnam students participated in an online discussion about the war in Vietnam. They answered the following questions. The discussion threads for these questions amounted to over 400 posts many of which were made after class was over.
 * If you were drafted in the Vietnam War what would you do? Explain why you would choose that and the consequences you will face with your decision.
 * Should the United States have joined the war in Vietnam? Were they on the right side?
 * Is is right to use Chemical in Warfare that cause such damage? Are they needed? What are the long term consequences?