History CIE IGCSE Module 2 – How effectively did the USA contain the spread of Communism - exemplary 4 Markers by eunho chang.

What were the events of the Korean war?

- 25 June 1950: North Korea invaded South Korea attempting to reunite country by force

- Truman asked UN Security Council to back use of force to defeat invasion - approved

- Sep 1950: US troops successful counter attack - reached 38th parallel by 1 Oct

- When US invaded North Korea, Chinese intervened - US pushed back to Seoul

- Stalemate for rest of war & ceasefire 27 July 1953 with Korea still divided

Describe how the United Nations became involved in the Korean War

- USA viewed the invasion as a threat to their containment policy

- Led to a coalition army of 16 nations

- General Douglas MacArthur led this army, the UN's first military intervention

- An American resolution was passed at the UN demanding the withdrawal of North Koreans

What was the attitude of the USA to the invasion of South Korea?

- Under the policy of containment, USA were determined to halt any more communist expansion

- US feared that if Korea fell, Formosa would fall to China, and Japan next

- Half of the ground forces were American and 90% of the air troops were American

- USA thought that North Korea's action was directed by Stalin as part of a larger communist plan

Describe the US reaction to the Cuban Revolution up to the end of April 1961

- stopped economic aid

- banned trade with Cuba in 1960

- Broke off diplomatic relations in 1961

Describe the key features of the Bay of Pigs incident

- President Kennedy supplied arms, equipment and transport to support an invasion of Cuba. The US military was not directly involved.

- this invasion was by 1,400 Cuban exiles

- These Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs to find themselves faced with 20,000 Cuban troops armed with weapons supplied by the USSR

- The invasion failed disastrously as it was badly planned and the exiles were heavily outnumbered

What options were available to Kennedy to force the removal of missile sites on Cuba?

- No action - the failed Bay of Pigs invasion showed how any military action towards Cuba would be difficult

- Use diplomatic measures to make the Soviet Union and Cuba remove the missile - negotiation rather than aggression

- threaten Castro, warning him what would happen if the missiles weren't removed

- naval Blockade - use American ships to prevent any more missiles from arriving on Cuba and also prevent supplies from reaching Cuba

- Air strikes - attempting to destroy missiles from the air* Full-ground invasion - could destroy missiles as well as Castro

Describe the involvement of the USA in Vietnam before Johnson became President in 1963

- Diem's regime received $1.6 billion in financial support in the 1950s

- USA sent "military advisers" to support and train the South Vietnamese Army

- Increased the number of military advisers from 11,500 in 1962 to 23,000 in 1964

- 1964, the US began the Strategic Hamlets Program: villages were fortified against attack

Describe the tactics used by the USA in Vietnam

- Search and Destroy - innocent villages were mistaken for the Viet Cong positions. Civilian casualties were very high.

- Napalm - weaponized chemicals that caused a lot of damage

- Agent orange and blue - weaponized chemicals that caused a lot of damage

- Operation Rolling thunder - Series of bombing attacks made by the USA military

Describe the tactics used by the Vietcong

Booby traps - 11% of all casualties were from this

Guerillas wear no uniforms - Soldiers did not know who were civilians and who were VC

Knowing the environment - American soldiers contracted various diseases and morale was low

Hit run and hide - USA couldn't figure out where the VC were

What was the Tet offensive?

- a massive surprise attack by the Vietcong on South Vietnamese towns and cities in early 1968.

- Militarily it was a disaster for the Communists.

- US forces fell back at first, but soon won back all that they had lost.

- Turning point in the war. President Johnson's approval rating fell by 12%.