HIST 425 San Diego State University Vietnam War Overview Research Paper
Everything you need to know about this should all be in the pdf i have up loaded. I would really appreciate it if it is very detailed. If possible cite all sources and please please no copyright stuff i will need to turn this into turn it in. Thank you. Im going to copy and past the pdf on this but it is way easier to read on the pdf
Make selections as instructed below and provide detailed, intelligent, informed, and sensible
answers. Be as thorough as possible (i.e., write as much relevant information as you can).
Base your answers on lecture notes and assigned readings. You may use other sources, but
always engage your notes and textbooks first. As you will submit your answers via BlackBoard
(details to follow), please write all answers in a Word document. Good luck!
1.
PART 1 (20 points): PRE-MODERN VIETNAM. Answer all questions pertaining to either a. or b. below.
a. What were some of the most striking features of Vietnam in the pre-modern era? In what ways
was its development similar to and different from that of other nations you know? What was
the role of China in conditioning Vietnam’s historical evolution?or b. What elements part of Vietnam’s pre-modern past impacted and otherwise played a role in
shaping the course and outcome of the French and American wars of the 1945-75 period? What
is the “myth of Vietnamese indomitability” and how factual is it? 2. PART 2 (20 points): COLONIAL VIETNAM. Answer all questions pertaining to either a.orb. below.
a. What was the nature of French colonial rule in Vietnam? What were its distinguishing features?
How negative/positive was French rule for the Vietnamese? What were its most enduring
effects?orb. Why did Vietnamese never passively accept French rule? How did that rule condition the
evolution of Vietnamese nationalism? What types of movements emerged to resist and combat
French colonialism? Which Vietnamese anti-colonial movement or organization was most
successful, and what were the keys to its success?
3. PART 3 (20 points): FRENCH WAR. Answer all questions pertaining to either a. or b. below.
a. What were the circumstances that prompted France to attempt the recolonization/reconquest
of Vietnam and the rest of Indochina after World War 2? What was the Vietnamese response
to that attempt? Why did diplomacy fail to preclude the onset of war in December 1946?
or
b. What were key moments in the Franco-Vietnamese War of 1946-54? How and why was the
war internationalized in 1949-50? What was the impact of its internationalization? How did the
war end and why?
HIST 425 – MIDTERM “TAKE-HOME” EXAMINATION (100 POINTS)
reverse
4. PART 4 (20 points): PARTITION & ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN WAR (20 points). Answer all questions
pertaining to either a. or b. below.
a. How did South Vietnam come about? Why did the United States take an interest in it after
1954, and how did that interest manifest itself? What factors accounted for the early success
of President Ngo Dinh Diem? What factors contributed to his violent downfall in a coup
abetted by the Americans in late 1963?
or
b. Why did Ho Chi Minh opt to follow a “North-first” policy after 1954? What did that policy
entail? Why were some “militant” Party members opposed to the policy? What factors
allowed the militants to gradually assume more influence and ultimately marginalize Ho and
other “moderates”? What were the most important short- and long-term consequences of the
seizure of power by Le Duan and the militants in 1963-64?
5. PART 5 (20 points): AMERICAN WAR & ANTIWAR MOVEMENT. Answer all questions pertaining to a. or
b. or c. below.
a. What factors prompted President Johnson to deploy combat forces and initiate sustained
bombings of North Vietnam in March 1965? Why did he choose escalation thereafter, and
what did escalation entail? How did the United States prosecute the war in Vietnam? What
were key strategies and tactics for winning? Why did Johnson effectively give up on the war in
1968?
or
b. What was Hanoi’s approach to fighting the Americans and their allies after 1965? What were
the defining aspects of its overall strategy? What did it hope to accomplish through the Tet
Offensive? How did that offensive turn out for Hanoi?
or
c. How did the antiwar movement in the United States develop? What organizations and
circumstances contributed to its growth? In what ways did the Vietnam War affect the
contemporaneous global countercultural movement? What was the impact of the American
antiwar movement and the global countercultural movement on the course and outcome of
the war?