HIST 2370 - Vietnam Wars-An International History, 1945 to Present

Credit Hours: 4.00

Objectives:

1. Identify the origins of the Cold War, the rationale behind the implementation of the US containment doctrine and the impact of both on Vietnam from 1945 to 1975.
2. Examine United States policy toward the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to 1975 and state the impact of that policy on post World War II developments in Vietnam.
3. Identify the events and decisions during the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations that led to deepening United States involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1963 and evaluate the role of the CIA as an instrument of United States policy in Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s.

Outcome 2: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to critically analyze why those major geopolitical, social, economic, military, cultural, technological and intellectual developments were significant to the evolution of American political and military involvement in Vietnam after World War II.

Objectives:

1. Explain the impact of the World War II on the world community of nations and on the world balance of power in Southeast Asia and to evaluate the reasons for the activist, expansionist, and globalist diplomacy undertaken by the United States after World War II.
2. Critically analyze the similarities and differences between American, Soviet, and Chinese perceptions concerning such international problems such as colonialism, imperialism, decolonization, self-determination, nationalism and economic development in Southeast Asia after World War II.
3. Explain how the rise of Third World nations after World War II posed a challenge to the United States foreign policy and to understand the various ways in which the United States policymakers attempted to counter indigenous nationalist movements for self-determination in such nations from 1945 to 1975.
4. Critically analyze the domestic and international factors that contributed to the post World War II wave of anti-Communism in the United States and examine the various ways in which such a political atmosphere affected American decision-making with respect to Vietnam.
5. Examine and evaluate the events and decisions by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and his administration that led to deepening United States involvement in Vietnam from 1961 to 1968 and to understand the technologies and tactics used by the American military in Vietnam War
6. Critically analyze the factors that contributed to the emergence of anti-Vietnam War sentiment and protests within the United States and around the world and the impact of such a political movement on the course of the Vietnam War.
7. Explain how historians analyze history and historical processes.
8. Evaluate ideas and arguments critically and communicate ideas and arguments concisely, accurately, and informatively.

Outcome 3: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the political, social, economic, cultural, military and strategic impact of the Vietnam War on the United States since 1975 and the “lessons” that have be drawn by policymakers, politicians, journalists, commentators, academics, political interest groups, filmmakers, veterans and citizens about the Vietnam War.

Objectives:

1. Examine the course of the Vietnam War from 1969 to 1975 and discuss the causes, consequences, and outcomes of the foreign policy views, goals, and actions of President Nixon and his administration with respect to Vietnam
2. Identify the impact of the Vietnam War on other nations such as Cambodia, Laos, China and the Soviet Union.
3. Examine the impact of the Vietnam War on American society, culture and Vietnam veterans and analyze the debate in the United States over the meaning of the American experience in Vietnam.

1. Introduction: The People and Their Land
   1. Geography
   2. Language and Culture
   3. Early History
   4. Vietnam Under Chinese Rule
   5. Early Nationalist Revolts
2. A Millennial Quest for Independence
   1. Mongol Invasion of Vietnam and Champa
   2. Chinese Occupation and the Birth of the Le Dynasty
   3. Partition of Vietnam
   4. The Tayson Rebellion
   5. Unification and Consolidation
3. Imperialism and the French Colonial Conquest of Vietnam
   1. New Imperialism and Asia
   2. Vietnam and the French Missionaries
   3. French Conquest of Cochin China
   4. French Control of Cambodia
   5. Expansion into Tonkin
   6. Completing the Conquest
4. The Rise of Modern Vietnamese Nationalism
   1. Early Resistance to French Colonial Rule
   2. Beginning of the Modern Nationalist Movement
   3. Japanese Occupation and Viet Minh Resistance
   4. Ho Chi Minh and the Establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
5. The First Indochina War, 1945-1954
   1. World War II and the Roots of American Involvement
   2. The Viet Minh and the August Revolution
   3. The French Return to Vietnam
   4. The Cold War in Asia
   5. The First Indochina War and the French-American Partnership
   6. Dien Bien Phu
   7. The Geneva Settlement of 1954
6. The Experiment in Nation-Building
   1. The Containment Doctrine in Asia
   2. South Vietnam after the Geneva Conference
   3. Ngo Dinh Diem Takes Charge
   4. The Social Revolution in North Vietnam
   5. Building a Non-Communist South Vietnam
   6. The War For South Vietnam, 1954-1962
   7. A Failed Experiment: The Fall of Diem and President Kennedy
7. The Deepening of American Involvement, 1964-1968
   1. President Johnson and Secretary McNamara Take Charge of the War
   2. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident
   3. Operation Rolling Thunder and the Bombing of North Vietnam, 1963-1964
   4. American Invasion of Vietnam, 1965-1966
   5. The United States at War: Technology, Limited War and Search and Destroy Operations
   6. Pacification and the Impact of the War on South Vietnam
   7. The War at Home: Public Opinion and the Draft
   8. The Tet Offensive, 1968 and After
8. “Peace With Honor”: Nixon, Kissinger and Vietnam, 1969-1973
   1. The 1968 Election and the War
   2. Vietnamization
   3. War Weariness: The American Military in Decline
   4. Widening the War: Cambodia and Laos
   5. The War at Home: Television and the Anti-War Movement
   6. Light at the End of the Tunnel: The Paris Peace Accords of 1973
9. The Postwar World and the Legacies of Vietnam
   1. Impact of the War on Vietnam and Cambodia
   2. Genocide in Cambodia
   3. Sino-Vietnamese Relations After Cambodia and the Sino-Vietnamese Conflict of 1979
   4. Vietnam and the Soviet Union
   5. Vietnam and Sino-Soviet Rivalry
   6. Vietnam and Association of Southeast Asia Nations(ASEAN)
   7. The Lessons of Vietnam and American Foreign Policy
10. Post War US-Vietnam Relations, 1975-2000
    1. Impact of the Vietnam War on American Society and Culture
    2. The Wound Within: Veterans and the MIA Issue
    3. Vietnamese Refugees in America
    4. President Clinton and the Normalization of US-Vietnam Relations
11. The New Vietnam and Globalization
    1. Postwar Economic Developments
    2. Government and Politics in the New Vietnam
    3. Relationship of Vietnamese-Americans with the New Vietnam