The Vietnam War

By Barbara Diggs and Samuel Carbaugh

More than 58,000 American troops and military personnel died in the humid jungles and muddy rivers of Vietnam during the 20-year conflict called the Vietnam War. Why? What were they fighting for? And how could the world’s most powerful and technologically advanced military be defeated by a small, poverty-stricken country? These questions have haunted the U.S. government, the military, and the American public for nearly a half century.

In The Vietnam War, kids ages 12 to 15 explore the global conditions and history that gave rise to the Vietnam War, the reasons why the United States became increasingly embroiled in the conflict, and the varied causes of its shocking defeat. As readers learn about how the fear of the spread of communism spurred the United States to enter a war that was erupting on the other side of the world, they find themselves immersed in the mood and mindset of the Vietnam Era.

Through links to online primary sources, including speeches, letters, photos, and songs, readers become familiar with the reality of combat life for young American soldiers, the frustration of military advisors as they failed to subdue the Viet Cong, and the empty promises made by U.S. presidents to soothe an uneasy public. The Vietnam War also pays close attention to the development of a massive antiwar movement and counterculture that divided the country into “hawks” and “doves.” In-depth essential questions help middle schoolers analyze primary sources and develop their own evidence-supported views on a range of issues.

The Vietnam War also fosters critical thinking skills through projects such as creating antiwar and pro-war demonstration slogans, writing letters from the perspective of a U.S. soldier and a south Vietnamese citizen, and building arguments for and against the media’s coverage of the war. Additional learning materials include engaging illustrations, maps, a glossary, a bibliography, and resources for further independent learning.

The Vietnam War is one book in a set of four that explore great events of the twentieth century. Inquire and Investigate titles in this set include The Vietnam War; World War II: From the Rise of the Nazi Party to the Dropping of the Atomic Bomb; Globalization: Why We Care About Faraway Events; and The Space Race: How the Cold War Put Humans on the Moon.

Nomad Press books in the Inquire & Investigate series integrate content with participation, encouraging older readers to engage in student-directed learning as opposed to teacher-guided instruction. This student-centered approach provides readers with the tools they need to become inquiry-based learners. Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, and STEM Education all place project-based learning as key building blocks in education. Combining content with inquiry-based projects stimulates learning and makes it active and alive. Consistent with our other series, all of the activities in the books in the Inquire & Investigate series are hands-on, challenging readers to develop and test their own hypotheses, ask their own questions, and formulate their own solutions. In the process, readers learn how to analyze, evaluate, and present the data they collect. As informational texts our books provide key ideas and details from which readers can work out their own inferences. Nomad’s unique approach simultaneously grounds kids in factual knowledge while allowing them the space to be curious, creative, and critical thinkers. Soon they’ll be thinking like scientists by questioning things around them and considering new approaches.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nomad Press
• Release date: May 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781619306592

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ISBN Softcover: 978-1-61930-660-8

ISBN Hardcover: 978-1-61930-658-5

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Timeline

Introduction

What Was the Vietnam War?

Chapter 1

Vietnam’s Revolution Sparks War

Chapter 2

The Cold War Heats Up the Conflict

Chapter 3

Sinking Deeper into Hostilities

Chapter 4

Resistance and Division

Chapter 5

Spiraling to the End

Chapter 6

War’s Aftermath

Index

TIMELINE

What Was the Vietnam War?

Why did the United States get involved with a war between North and South Vietnam?

There were many reasons for the United States to enter a war so far from home, but mainly it was to contain the spread of communism and indirectly engage the Soviet Union.

The Vietnam War was a long and brutal conflict in which communist North Vietnam sought to bring South Vietnam under unified rule. The United States, fearing the spread of communism, stepped in to help South Vietnam resist. Beginning slowly in 1955, the war mushroomed into a conflict of startling proportions. More than 58,000 American troops died, along with an estimated 3 million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians.

Ultimately, after years of fruitless combat and escalating public opposition, the United States withdrew its troops from the conflict in 1973. South Vietnam fell to communism two years later. The war is considered to be a major defeat of the United States.

The Vietnam War stands out in American history for many reasons, but particularly because public opinion about the war was so sharply divided. It remains a controversial and emotional topic for many people even today.

The war left a shocked nation searching for answers to complicated and painful questions. Was the United States right to intervene in the war? Should it have stayed in Vietnam longer? Should it have gotten out sooner? How did the war go so wrong? Whose fault was it? Politicians? The military? The media? The American public?

People still hotly debate many of these questions today—there are no simple answers. The one thing most people agree on is that the Vietnam War was very different from almost any other conflict that the United States had experienced. In fact, for many Americans, the war was more than a military conflict. It was a symbol of an era in which America lost its innocence, and changed how Americans saw themselves and their place in the world.

AN UNCONVENTIONAL WAR

What, exactly, made the Vietnam War so unusual? A mind-bending number of things. It was the United States’ longest war at that time. It was the U.S. military’s first significant experience with the ruthlessness of guerrilla warfare.

This was the first time Americans watched war unfold on their television sets. It was the first time the military had racially mixed battalions right from the outset. And it was the subject of a massive anti-war protest movement that defined a generation, created a deep rift in the nation, and profoundly impacted both the course of the war and American culture.

Primary Sources

Primary sources come from people who were eyewitnesses to events. They might write about the event, take pictures, post short messages to social media or blogs, or record the event for radio or video. The photographs in this book are primary sources, taken at the time of the event. Paintings of events are usually not primary sources, since they are often painted long after the event took place. What other primary sources can you find? Why are primary sources important? Do you learn differently from primary sources than from secondary sources, which come from people who did not directly experience the event?

Vocab Lab

There is a lot of new vocabulary in this book! Turn to the glossary in the back when you come to a word you don’t understand. Practice your new vocabulary in the VOCAB LAB activities in each chapter.

An infantryman is lowered into a tunnel in Vietnam, 1967