War in the 20Th Century

INTA 4803TP

War in the 20th Century

Review Questions – Lessons 22-30

• What were the underlying causes of the Cold War?

• What was the strategy of containment? Where was this strategy applied?

• What is the nuclear triad? How and why did it evolve? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each leg of the triad?

• Describe counter-value and counter-force as nuclear war fighting strategies.

• What caused the Cuban Missile Crisis? What was the world situation at the time?

• What options were available to the U.S. in the Cuban Crisis? Which was chosen? Why?

• What lessons did the superpowers take from the Cuban Crisis?

• Describe the Vietnam War as part of the Cold War.

• What were U.S. interests and objectives in Vietnam? Why did we get involved?

• What were the North Vietnamese objectives in Vietnam?

• Describe the phases of Revolutionary War as employed by the Communists in Asia. Name three wars where it was employed.

• What were the arguments for not escalating the war in the summer of 1965? What were the arguments favoring escalation?

• Describe the major events in the Vietnam War from the Tonkin Gulf Incident to the Tet Offensive of 1968.

• What was Operation Rolling Thunder? What was it tactical objective? strategic objective?

• What was the significance of the Battle of Khe Sanh from the North Vietnamese perspective? From the U.S. perspective?

• Describe the Tet 1968 Offensive in Vietnam. What were the results on the battlefield? What was its impact on the war?

• What are the issues from the Vietnam War that still impact US domestic politics and foreign policy?

• How does each of the six points of the Weinberger Doctrine relate to a lesson of the Vietnam War?

• Why did the U.S. lose the Vietnam War? What have been the implications of this defeat?