Cold War Proxy Conflicts and Vietnam

📋 Course Outline

1. Cold War rivalry and containment strategy
2. Domino theory and US escalation in Vietnam
3. Vietnam War actors North and South Vietnam
4. Viet Cong guerrilla warfare and Ho Chi Minh Trail
5. US presidents and shifting involvement Kennedy to Nixon
6. Draft, conscription resistance and lottery selection
7. Military operations, technology and chemical warfare
8. Gulf of Tonkin resolution and turning points
9. Tet offensive impact and Vietnamization policy
10. Paris Peace Accords and US withdrawal
11. Fall of Saigon and communist unification 1976
12. Media coverage and US public opinion shifts

📖 1. Cold War rivalry and containment strategy

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Cold War : A restricted rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies that lasted from 1947 until the USSR’s dissolution in 1991.
• Western bloc : A group of allies aligned with the United States during the Cold War, forming the Western side of the bipolar system.
• Eastern bloc : A group of allies aligned with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, forming the Eastern side of the bipolar system.
• Peripheral conflicts : Regional wars where superpowers backed opposing sides instead of fighting each other directly during the Cold War.
• Containment strategy : A U.S. foreign policy designed to stop the spread of communism associated with the USSR.

📝 Essential Points