Vietnam Blog

The Tet Offensive: The Turning Point of the Vietnam War

The Vietnamese call it "Chien Tranh Chong My Curu Nuoc" or "The War against the Americans to save the nation." In the course of this war, some 58,000 US soldiers were killed in action, as well as 304,000 wounded. But these figures pale in insignificance beside the horrific casualties suffered by the Vietnamese. Almost 1,400,000 North and South Vietnamese were killed in action.

To this we must add 2,100,000 wounded. It was one of the bloodiest wars in history, and one that took a particularly high toll of civilian lives. The total number of Vietnamese people killed in this conflict will never be known but was probably not fewer than three million, and the total number of casualties not fewer than 8 million.

The number of American soldiers in Vietnam rose from 23,300 in 1963 to 184,000 in 1966. In January 1969 the total number of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam reached its peak - 542,000. Despite this the U.S. Army was unable to subdue Vietnam. This was the first time in history that the USA has been defeated in a war.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail

The Ho Chi Minh Trail was not just one trail but a series of trails. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was used by the North Vietnamese as a route for its troops to get into the South. They also used the trail as a supply route – for weapons, food and equipment. The Ho Chin Minh Trail ran along the Laos/Cambodia and Vietnam borders and was dominated by jungles. In total the ‘trail’ was about 1,000 kilometres in length and consisted of many parts.

The ‘trail’ consisted of dummy routes that served the only purpose of confusing the Americans but was, in places, 80 kilometres (50 miles) wide. It is thought that up to 40,000 people were used to keep the route open. The natural environment gave the trail excellent cover as the jungle could provide as much as three canopies of tree cover, which disguised what was going on at ground level. The American response to this was to use defoliants – the most famous being Agent Orange – to kill off the greenery that gave cover to those using the trail. However, while large areas of jungle were effectively killed off, the task was too great and the Ho Chi Minh Trail was used for the duration of the war against the Americans in South Vietnam.

One way for the Americans to counter the Ho Chi Minh Trail was to build large bases near to it – Khe Sanh was one of these. From these large bases patrols were sent out in an effort to intercept anyone using the route. Regardless of this, it does seem that the task was simply too great for the Americans. Whereas the trail was based on deception and fluidity, the military bases built by the US were static. Therefore, once patrols left these bases they were by themselves. While they could be supported by air, there would always be a time delay between combat on the ground and the arrival of air support. By the very nature of guerrilla warfare, this gave the North Vietnamese the advantage as they had the ability to disappear into the jungle.

APUSH Review: Jeffersonian America

FRQ Question: Early United States foreign policy was primarily a defensive reaction to perceived or actual threats from Europe. Assess the validity of this generalization with reference to United States foreign policy on TWO major issues during the period from 1789-1825.

Between the time period of 1789 -1825, the early United States prolonged foreign policy as a means of defense and protecting themselves from perceived or actual ultimatums from Europe. During the early 18th century Thomas Jefferson believed that keeping the U.S. from getting involved with other countries would be best, thus enforcing the Embargo Act of 1807. This idea of isolationism continued during the 19th century as the Monroe Doctrine avoided meddling with European countries and their conflicts in order to prevent America from becoming a battleground for European countries. These ideals were enforced with the idea of avoiding conflicts and war.

During Jefferson's time in office, France declared war on Europe while Britain declared war on France. Having all of this war, the amount of trade was lowering which caused oppression on the United States. Napoleon created a blockade of Great Britain, and then Great Britain created a blockade of Europe. These blockades were not very sufficient, but during the process 1500 American ships were abducted and the sailors were forced into the British navy. From this happening, Jefferson ordered the Embargo Act, which ended the trading with foreign countries from U.S. merchants. This act was used in order to keep the U.S. out of war by keeping American ships away from the blockades. This act was not obeyed entirely because many Americans would smuggle goods to different ports. From 1804-1809, the Embargo and Non-Intercourse Acts were passed.

These acts were passed to prevent America from entering the war with France and the British. The Embargo Act didn't allow any trade between America and any foreign countries in order to prevent American ships from being abducted in the blockades being formed. Many being disobeyed this act, which then lead to the Non-Intercourse Act in 1809. This act allowed American merchants to trade with ports other than British. In 1809, the act was discarded but was then replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act, which stated that Americans could trade with foreign nations other than the nations in Europe. This act still failed to keep American ships out of the European ports

When Jefferson learned that Spain had secretly ceded Louisiana to France in 1800, he instructed his ministers to negotiate the purchase of the port of New Orleans and possibly West Florida. Jefferson strategically made this move in order to insure that American farmers in the Ohio River Valley had access to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River—the river was a key to the farmers' economic well-being, as they needed a vent for their surplus grain and meat. Even before the French took over Louisiana, the Spaniards had closed the Mississippi River in 1802. While Jefferson was known to be partial to the French, having the Emperor Napoleon's driving interests for world domination next door was not an attractive prospect; thus, Jefferson acted swiftly.

To his surprise, Napoleon, needing funds to finance a new European war with England, offered to sell Jefferson most of the land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. His price of $15 million amounted to approximately four cents per acre for 828,000 square miles, doubling the size of the nation. Although Jefferson understood that the U.S. Constitution said nothing about the purchase of foreign territory, he set aside his strict constructionist ideas to make the deal—Congress approved the purchase five months after the fact. Jefferson then outfitted a twenty-five man expedition to explore the new lands. Led by his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and Army Captain William Clark, these adventurers took two and one-half years to cover 8,000 miles. They traveled up the Missouri River, across the Continental Divide, and down the Columbia River to the Pacific before retracing their steps to St. Louis. The expedition is considered one of the great exploratory quests in human history.

Cold War President: Ronald Reagan

Twenty years ago, Ronald Reagan ordered American troops to invade Grenada and liberate the island from its ruling Marxist dictator. By itself this would have been an insignificant military action: Grenada is a tiny island of little geopolitical significance. But in reality the liberation of Grenada was a historic event, because it signaled the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine and inaugurated a sequence of events that brought down the Soviet empire itself.

The Brezhnev Doctrine stated simply that once a country went Communist, it would stay Communist. In other words, the Soviet empire would continue to advance and gain territory, but it would never lose any to the capitalist West. In 1980, when Reagan was elected president, the Brezhnev Doctrine was a frightening reality. Between 1974 and 1980, while the United States wallowed in post-Vietnam angst, 10 countries had fallen into the Soviet orbit: South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, South Yemen, Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Grenada and Afghanistan. Never had the Soviets lost an inch of real estate to the West.

The liberation of Grenada changed that. For the first time, a Communist country had ceased to be Communist. Surely the Politburo in Moscow took notice of that. The Soviet leadership, we now know from later accounts, also noted that in Ronald Reagan the Americans had elected a new kind of president, one who had resolved not merely to ‘contain’ but actually to ‘roll back’ the Soviet empire.

Dorothea Lange Gallery

Problem: It seems like this family is waiting around for work or something to do. It looks like they are a family of migrant workers. They don't seem to have much. Their clothes aren't in the best shape and neither is their vehicle. Their facial expressions are not too happy either.The land, which may be farmland, doesn't look to healthy or appealing. The setting just looks sad.

Possible Cause: The possible cause of this issue may be the Dust Bowl. They could have been on the road, escaping it, and looking for work to survive.

Possible Solutions: Possible solutions could be to have the government or those who have more to help improve the living conditions of these farm workers. They can provide more help for them since they are trying to escape the Dust Bowl, which might have left them with little to nothing. They can also help themselves by continuing to work and on the road until they find a suitable place to stay or settle down. 

WWI: Britain

Britain was engaged in the greatest war of modern times, one in which it military deaths were more than twice those it would suffer in World War Two. World War One may not have initiated democratic change, but it set its timing. Britain was the key country in the Great War. Germany was without doubt the most powerful continental power. Germany industry combined with the professionalism of the Germany Army meant that it could defeat either France and Russia and even the two countries combined. But defeating an alliance including Britain proved to be too much for Germany.
Had Germany prevailed in their initial offensive and defeated France, the War would have probably ended quickly. A protracted war of attrition, however, swung the advantage to the Allies because the powerful Royal Navy gave the Allies access to the resources of the Empire as well as neutrals like America. And it enabled the Allies the ability to blockade Germany, cutting it off from raw materials and food. The key conflict in World War I was the conflict between France and Germany which had historic roots but in modern terms began with Franco-Prussian War and the unification of Germany. Britain at times had sided with the German states when France was the dominant European power.
Many historians believe that the British alliance with France was a foregone conclusion given the rise of Germany and the threat of German domination of the continent. . British policy at the turn of the 20th century, however, seems curiously crafted to oppose German hegemony. Certain the British were firmly committed to maintaining naval superiority which was demonstrated by the construction of HMS Dreadnought and the even more powerful battleships that followed. When G invaded Belgium and France, the BEF  was such a small force that the Germans almost reached Paris and won the War.

Progressive Characters

Theodore Roosevelt

1. As a child, Theodore Roosevelt was always sick and often stayed in bed. Once he was older and was stronger, he would spend his time outdoors. Later he graduated from Harvard. After his wife died, he became interested in politics and thought about the idea of Manifest Destiny.

2. The Big Stick Policy means that countries should not be afraid to use military force. He also added the Roosevelt Corollary to ensure that if European countries invaded Central and South America, then they would be able to get involved. He also helped create the Progressive Party.
3. Roosevelt made the country believe the imperialistic ideas of taking over the world. He advanced the nation by making them more involved in foreign affairs.

Woodrow Wilson

1. Wilson was interested in the academics and in politics. He attended Princeton University and became a professor, then became the University's President. Moral Internationalism, meaning that the United States had the right to be involved in all world affairs, was his idea.

2. Wilson was involved in the Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I. He also created the fourteen points, all leaders of every countries would gather to discuss global issues.

3. He advanced the nation by making sure the U.S. would be involved in foreign affairs. Through the United Nations the U.S. had the power to be involved in all global issues. 

Ida Tarbell

1. Tarbell was raised in a farming background and a very humble family. Her family established a small oil company themselves. She lbecame muckracker and was known for exposing the Rockefeller corporation.

2. Tarbell exposed Rockefeller in her series "The History of the Standard Oil Company". This led to an investigation of the his companies and then they separated into 6 companies. 

3. Tarbell was a muckraker, meaning she wrote facts which in turn exposed the truth. That is how she had exposed the corruption of the oil company. Her writing led to an investigation of the Standard Oil Company and its disbandment into six different companies, effectively ending Rockefeller's reign

Robert La Follette

1. La Follete was raised in a humble family. He created the Wisconsin Idea in which he tried to get the democracy to be fully for the people.

2. He was involved in the Sedition Act. He since he fought against it. He believed that it was unconstitutional and fought to get Eugene Debs out of prison for speaking negatively about the government.

3. He advanced the nation by trying to even out the equality in the country.  He tried to find a way where people would have a lot of power in the government. He fought for the constitutional rights of the people.

John D. Rockefeller

1. Rockefeller was born in a farm. His family owned a farm and then sold it to buy more land. He went to University and was one of the top people in his class. He created the Standard Oil Company and out of that, he became rich.

2. John Rockefeller was involved in the monopoly business. He knew how to make his country advance through 

3. John Rockefeller advanced the nation through the economical scale. He took over the economic side of the United States through the oil companies and the railroad companies. This in turn, made the United States one of the most influential and most wealthy countries.

Eugene Debs

1. Eugene V. Debs was born in a German family in Terre Haute, Indiana He was an immigrant, his life was difficult, yet their knowledge was as vast as the family library. His family opened a general store and later became trusted members of the community; after finishing high school, Debs went to work at the Union Pacific Railway, but left the dangerous job to do union work and became a union activist.

2. Debs engendered the American Railway Union to help the rights of the workers and he opened a publishing company that to get the voices of the workers that were unheard. The ARU and himself stood behind the Pullman Strike even if he was jailed. The Great Railway Strike was one of his greatest accomplishments which showed what he was giving up for the workers rights.

3. He fought for the progression and way of betterment of life for the Railroad Workers and also the socialist ideas to promote the communal growth of Americans. He wanted to progress the American way life through the government and wanted to end Laissez Fair.

Africans w/ Estela

African Americans first arrived in America during the 17th century. Unlike other immigrants, African Americans were brought to America against their own will. They were caught up in a brutal system of human exploitation. When they first stepped foot onto North America they found themselves in the midst of a thriving slave society. African Americans endured a treatment of harshness seldom. 

African American slaves could be found all over the country to put their hands on all kinds of labor. They tended the wheat fields and fruit orchards of New York and New Jersey; they traveled underground to mine iron and lead in the Ohio Valley; they piloted fishing boats and worked the docks in New England; they operated printing presses in New York City, dairies in Delaware, and managed households from Florida to Maine. After, when African American Americans were given their freedom with the ratification of the 13th Amendment, many tens of thousands began traveling throughout the South in search of long-lost family members, searches that often took years. Then returned to their homelands.

During most of the 17th and 18th centuries, slavery was the law in all of the 13 colonies, North and South. It was employed by its most prominent citizens, including many of the founders of the new United States. The importation of slaves was provided for in the U.S. Constitution, and continued to take place on a large scale even after it was made illegal in 1808. Due to these laws every African American that was brought into America was auctioned off, made a slave, and did lots of labor. 

African American immigrants were received by the current citizens of the United States as slaves. They were put up for auction and declared each to be private property. They used them for their own benefit. In the eyes of the law and of most non-African Americans, they had no authority to make decisions about their own lives. They could be bought, sold, tortured, rewarded, educated, or killed at a slaveholder's will.

Assimilation was not a part of the African Americans' lives in America. They did not see themselves as part of a larger national family at all. They were mistreated in America in a variety of ways. African Americans were seen as property and nothing more; only accepted as slaves.



While in America, African Americans were slaves. Based on their owner they either didn't get payed at all or got payed very little. Some African Americans were able to save up and buy their own freedom and try to start a better life with what they had. Other slaves were had no choice and had to do labor for free and when freed or escaped were left with nothing. The slaves never had lots of many, barely any to support themselves or their families.

The African Americans traditions were not respected. They had to change when they were in the United States. African Americans had a completely way of doing things than they did in the U.S. They had to learn American ways because they were not in their homelands.

Henry Demarest Lloyd

Henry Demarest Lloyd was born in New York City on 1st May, 1847. His father was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church but in 1860 he left and opened a small bookshop. After graduating from Columbia College in 1867 Lloyd attended Columbia Law School. He then worked as an assistant secretary for the American Free Trade Association. He also joined the Young Men's Municipal Reform Association, which helped to overthrow William Tweed, the mayor of New York.

In 1872 Lloyd joined the Chicago Tribune. He worked as literary editor from 1872-1874. In 1874 he became financial editor of the newspaper. Then, Lloyd became the newspaper's chief editorial writer in 1880. While working for the Chicago Tribune Lloyd published a series of articles exposing corruption in business and politics. These articles caused a scene and Lloyd has been described as America's first investigative journalist. 

Over the next few years Lloyd was a part of the campaign to bring an end to child labor and to achieve clemency for the men accused of the Haymarket Bombing. He was also a strong supporter of women's suffrage and the trade union movement. Lloyd became a leading figure in the reform movement and influenced a generation of political activists including John Peter Altgeld, Clarence Darrow, William Dean Howells and John Dewey. 

The Battle of Little Bighorn

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, was fought on June 25, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory. Federal troops led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer were against a band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. Tensions between the two groups had been rising since the discovery of gold on Native American lands. When numerous tribes missed a federal deadline to move to reservations, the U.S. Army, including Custer and his 7th Calvary, were dispatched to confront them.

The U.S. Cavalry was attempting to force the Indians back to their reservations and divided into three columns to attack. One of the columns was led by Lt. General George Custer. He spotted a Sioux camp and decided to attack it. Indian forces outnumbered his troops 3 - 1. Custer and his troops were forced to rearrange. While waiting for help from the other Cavalry forces, another group of Indian forces trapped Custer and his troops. In a desperate attempt to hold off the Indian warriors, Custer ordered his men to short their horses and stack their bodies to form a barricade to protect them from the Indians.

It took less than an hour for the arrows and bullets of the Indians to wipe out General Custer and his men. Despite having won this battle, the Indians were not victorious. Outrage over the death of the popular Custer led the U.S. government to redraw the boundaries of the Black Hills so that the land would not be part of reservation property, which left it open for white men to settle.

Chinese Immigration and Exclusion

After the American Civil War, Chinese workers migrated to the United States. First, to work in the gold mines, but also to take agricultural jobs, and factory work, especially in the garment industry. Chinese immigrants were active in building railroads in the American west, and as Chinese laborers grew successful in the United States, a number of them became entrepreneurs in their own ways. As the numbers of Chinese laborers increased, so did the numbers of anti-Chinese sentiment among other workers in American. This finally resulted in legislation that aimed to limit future immigration of Chinese workers to the United States, and threatened to divide diplomatic relations between the United States and China.



According to Document A, an Anti-Chinese Play from 1879 called, " The Chinese Must Go," Americans passed the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act because the Chinese complained and expected too much. Their ideas were that they were smarter and should only work and get payed - not the Americans. "Chinaman plenty work, plenty money, plenty to eat. White man no work, no money, die-sabee?"According to Document B, a Political Cartoon from 1871 by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly, Americans passed the 1822 Chinese Exclusion Act because the Chinese are not only taking the Americans' jobs but the other immigrants' jobs as well. The cartoon displays immigrants vs immigrants and in the wall on the back many negative things are being said about the Chinese. "The lowest and vilest of the human race."

According to Document C, a speech to the workingmen of San Francisco from August 1888, Americans passed the 1822 Chinese Exclusion Act because, again, Chinese are taking away the Americans' jobs. "The boot, shoe and cigar industries are almost entirely in their hands." 
According to Document D, an excerpt from Lee Chew's autobiography from 1903 called "The Biography of a Chinaman," Americans passed the 1822 Chinese Exclusion Act because the other immigrants envied the Chinese for their good qualities of work. The Chinese were simply better. "The Chinese were persecuted, not for their vices [sins], but for their virtues [good qualities]."