Intro+to+Vietnam+Readings

For this assignment, you will need to read the articles found on the links below and be able to answer the three guiding questions AND explain the quotes listed below. In the event that a quiz were to be given on this material, I would expect you to be able to answer these questions and explain the quotes. (That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call a "hint.")

Vietnam War in a Nutshell Vietnam War - Summary
 * Guiding Questions - Vietnam in a Nutshell
 * Why is Vietnam referred to as America's "longest war?"
 * Why was Vietnam such a "monumental catastrophe?"
 * What makes this war so "uniquely awful" for the United States?
 * Guiding Quotes - Summary
 * "Believe it or not, it all began in 1919."
 * "By 1941, Ho Chi Minh was preparing for the independence movement in Vietnam; but it appeared that the struggle would not be against French rule after all."
 * "But another opportunity for decolonization (of Vietnam) had been only an illusion."
 * "With the Soviet threat growing, concerns over a Communist takeover in Vietnam far outweighed anti-imperialist ideals (for the US)."
 * "Though northern and southern regions remained divided, the Accords stated that in two years unification would be possible through the implementation of nationwide free elections"
 * "In an effort to strengthen a democratic, anti-Communist state in South Vietnam in opposition to Minh's Communist regime in the North, the United States inadvertently produced a tyrannical, autocratic government."
 * "By the end of 1964, the American War in Vietnam was in full swing. But against whom, exactly, were the Americans fighting?"
 * "American leaders made grave errors in escalating the war in Vietnam."
 * "During the ten most brutal years of the Vietnam War, the United States clung to two fatal illusions"
 * "The reality was that the war in Vietnam was not about two separate countries."
 * "By the time the United States realized that the war was utterly unwinnable, it was already too late."
 * "In 1975, South Vietnamese government forces surrendered to the NLF and the North Vietnamese Army

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