Back to the full dot-point answer
NSWModern HistoryQuick questions
Section III (Peace and Conflict): Conflict in Indochina 1954-1979
Quick questions on Conduct of the war and US strategy 1965-1968: HSC Modern History Indochina
5short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is operation Rolling Thunder?Show answer
Rolling Thunder ran from 2 March 1965 to 1 November 1968. The campaign delivered around 864,000 tonnes of bombs on the north (more than US bomb tonnage on Germany in the Second World War). Targets were graduated, controlled from Washington Tuesday lunch meetings; major targets in Hanoi and Haiphong, the dyke system, and the Sino-Vietnamese border buffer were off-limits for much of the war.
What is the civilian experience?Show answer
Around two million Vietnamese civilians died across the war. The My Lai massacre, 16 March 1968, saw Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 20th Infantry, kill around 504 unarmed villagers in Son My village in Quang Ngai. The cover-up unravelled in 1969 (Seymour Hersh's reporting). Only Lt William Calley was convicted (29 March 1971, life imprisonment, paroled 1974).
What is q1?Show answer
Source A is an extract from Seymour Hersh's 13 November 1969 dispatch on My Lai. Using Source A and your own knowledge, explain the impact of American conduct on the war effort. [5 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Evaluate the extent to which American military strategy in Vietnam 1965 to 1968 was fundamentally misconceived. [25 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Compare the views of Mark Clodfelter and George Herring on the failure of American strategy. [10 marks]
Have a question we have not covered?
This dot-point answer is short enough that we have not extracted many short questions yet. Read the full dot-point answer or ask Mo, our study assistant, in the chat for follow ups.