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The USA, 1954–75: Conflict at Home and Abroad

Changes under Nixon, 1969–73

  • 2 things to know
  • Paper 3

Overview

Vietnamisation, why Nixon adopted it and why it failed, his promise to Asian allies, the pace of withdrawal, the attack on Cambodia, Laos in 1971, and the bombing of the North in 1972.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

How quickly did American troops leave Vietnam after 1969?

Key term

What happened in Laos in 1971?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What was Vietnamisation?

    Model answer

    Handing the fighting over to the South Vietnamese army, kept supplied with American money, weapons and training, while US troops were gradually brought home.

  2. 2

    Why did Nixon adopt this policy?

    Model answer

    He had been elected promising peace with honour: the war was costing lives and money and splitting the country, but he refused to look as though he was abandoning an ally.

  3. 3

    Why did Vietnamisation fail?

    Model answer

    The South’s army remained badly led, corrupt and short of morale, and could not hold the country once American troops and air support were gone.

  4. 4

    What did Nixon promise America’s allies in Asia in 1969?

    Model answer

    That the USA would go on supplying money and equipment to any ally resisting communism, but expected that ally to provide the soldiers itself.

  5. 5

    How quickly did American troops leave Vietnam after 1969?

    Model answer

    Withdrawal was steady from the summer of 1969 onwards, and the last US combat troops had gone by March 1973.

  6. 6

    Why did Nixon order an attack on Cambodia in 1970?

    Model answer

    To destroy the communist bases and supply dumps sheltering across the border, since the Ho Chi Minh Trail ran through Cambodian territory.

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