Crossroads: High School Curriculum
Unit XI: Leader of the Free World: 1945-1975
Group Two Worksheet: Vietnam Conflict
Lesson 5
Group Two Worksheet: Vietnam Conflict
GENERAL QUESTION: Why were the Vietnamese Communists motivated to fight so
fiercely for their cause, and why did the U.S. underestimate their
determination?
- Define "nationalism." Why would the events below contribute to an
especially strong sense of national identity and commitment to defend that
identity?
- Repeated Chinese invasions, colonization, and attempts to wipe out Vietnamese
culture.
- Vietnamese defeats of huge, powerful Chinese invading forces through
surprise, guerrilla warfare, and superior strategy.
- French invasion and colonization.
- Vietnamese defeats of huge, powerful Chinese invading forces through
surprise, guerrilla warfare, and superior strategy.
- Consider the factors below in explaining why U.S. policymakers might have
underestimated the staying power of the Vietnamese in a prolonged conflict.
- comparison of US GNP to Vietnamese GNP.
- comparison of US population to Vietnamese population.
- comparison of US armed forces to Vietnamese armed forces -- on both
qualitative and quantitative basis.
- US possession of nuclear weapons.
- comparison of US technological level to Vietnamese technological level.
- US perception of rightness of anti-Communist cause and morale benefits for US
forces.
Additional notes from other presentations, etc.:
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