Vietnam War Course

Lesson 1 • Division of Vietnam and Early Tensions

Covers the 17th parallel partition, Diem's government in the South, and growing insurgency. Sets the political and geographic stage for direct U.S. military involvement.

Lesson 2 • The First Indochina War

Analyzes the Franco-Viet Minh War from 1946 to 1954, including guerrilla strategy and the decisive Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Establishes military and political lessons carried into the American phase.

Lesson 3 • French Colonial Rule in Indochina

Examines French imperial administration, economic exploitation, and Vietnamese resistance movements. Provides the colonial baseline from which nationalist and communist forces emerged.

Lesson 4 • Cold War Ideology and Containment Policy

Explains the Truman Doctrine, domino theory, and U.S. strategic logic for involvement in Southeast Asia. Connects global superpower rivalry to specific American policy choices in Vietnam.

Lesson 1 • External Powers: China and the Soviet Union

Assesses Chinese and Soviet material support, strategic interests, and limits on North Vietnamese autonomy. Situates the war within broader Sino-Soviet competition.

Lesson 2 • U.S. Presidential Decision-Making

Traces escalation decisions from Eisenhower through Nixon, focusing on domestic political pressures and strategic miscalculations. Links each administration's choices to battlefield outcomes.

Lesson 3 • The National Liberation Front

Analyzes NLF organization, political program, and relationship with Hanoi. Clarifies the distinction between southern insurgency and northern direction.

Lesson 4 • South Vietnamese Government and Military

Covers the Republic of Vietnam's political instability, ARVN capabilities, and civilian governance challenges. Explains why state-building failures undermined the war effort.

Lesson 1 • North Vietnamese and Viet Cong Tactics

Analyzes people's war doctrine, tunnel systems, and protracted conflict strategy. Explains how asymmetric tactics neutralized U.S. technological superiority.

Lesson 2 • Naval Operations and Coastal Warfare

Covers Yankee Station carrier operations, riverine warfare, and the naval blockade effort. Links maritime strategy to interdiction goals and amphibious support.

Lesson 3 • Major Ground Campaigns and Turning Points

Examines Ia Drang, Khe Sanh, and the Tet Offensive as pivotal engagements. Connects battlefield results to shifts in American public and political support.

Lesson 4 • U.S. Military Doctrine and Escalation

Covers search-and-destroy operations, attrition strategy, and the logic of body counts. Connects conventional military doctrine to its mismatch with insurgent warfare.

Lesson 1 • Military Assessment of Tet

Evaluates PAVN and Viet Cong losses, the destruction of the NLF infrastructure, and ARVN performance. Distinguishes tactical defeat from strategic and psychological victory.

Lesson 2 • Media Coverage and Public Perception

Examines television journalism, the credibility gap, and Walter Cronkite's editorial impact. Connects media framing to the collapse of public confidence in official war narratives.

Lesson 3 • Political Fallout in Washington

Covers Johnson's decision not to seek reelection, the Wise Men's reversal, and the 1968 election. Links Tet's political shock to fundamental changes in U.S. war policy.

Lesson 1 • Nixon Doctrine and Vietnamization Policy

Explains the Nixon Doctrine's logic of shifting burdens to regional allies and its application in Vietnam. Connects policy design to ARVN training, equipment, and morale challenges.

Lesson 2 • Paris Peace Negotiations

Analyzes the Paris talks from 1968 to 1973, Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy, and the January 1973 accords. Evaluates the gap between negotiated terms and battlefield realities.

Lesson 3 • Expansion into Cambodia and Laos

Covers the secret bombing of Cambodia, the 1970 incursion, and Lam Son 719 in Laos. Assesses how geographic expansion contradicted the withdrawal narrative.

Lesson 4 • Fall of Saigon and Final Collapse

Examines the 1975 North Vietnamese offensive, congressional aid cutoffs, and the April 30 evacuation. Connects the collapse to structural failures in South Vietnamese state capacity.

Lesson 1 • Veterans' Experiences and Reintegration

Examines PTSD recognition, hostile homecomings, and the long struggle for veterans' benefits. Links societal treatment of veterans to lasting political and cultural divisions.

Lesson 2 • Media, Propaganda, and the Credibility Gap

Examines government information management, Pentagon Papers release, and investigative journalism. Assesses how information control failures eroded institutional trust.

Lesson 3 • The Antiwar Movement

Covers student protests, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and major demonstrations. Connects grassroots activism to shifts in congressional and executive war policy.

Lesson 4 • Cultural Responses to the War

Covers antiwar music, literature, film, and visual art as forms of political expression. Connects cultural production to the broader transformation of American identity.

Lesson 1 • Environmental Destruction and Chemical Warfare

Analyzes Agent Orange defoliation, napalm use, and long-term ecological damage. Connects environmental warfare to generational health consequences for Vietnamese populations.

Lesson 2 • North Vietnamese and NLF Civilian Experience

Covers life under U.S. bombing in the North, wartime mobilization, and propaganda. Balances the narrative by examining how Hanoi sustained popular support.

Lesson 3 • Casualties, Refugees, and Postwar Trauma

Quantifies military and civilian deaths, the refugee crisis, and postwar reeducation camps. Establishes the full human cost as essential context for policy evaluation.

Lesson 4 • Atrocities and War Crimes

Examines My Lai massacre, Operation Phoenix abuses, and North Vietnamese atrocities at Hue. Applies laws-of-war principles to documented violations by all parties.

Lesson 1 • Memorialization and Contested Memory

Analyzes the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, revisionist narratives, and ongoing historiographical debates. Examines how societies construct and contest memory of traumatic conflicts.

Lesson 2 • Ethical and Moral Dimensions of the War

Evaluates just war theory applied to Vietnam, moral injury among veterans, and policy-maker accountability. Develops ethical frameworks for analyzing future military interventions.

Lesson 3 • Military Reform and the All-Volunteer Force

Covers the end of conscription, the Weinberger-Powell Doctrine, and AirLand Battle doctrine. Connects Vietnam's failures to structural reforms in U.S. military organization.

Lesson 4 • Comparative Lessons for Counterinsurgency

Applies Vietnam's strategic failures to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other counterinsurgency campaigns. Identifies recurring patterns in state-building, legitimacy, and exit strategy.