100+ Free DSST Vietnam War Practice Questions

Vietnam Before 1940

Religious and cultural traditions, Chinese political and cultural domination, a tradition of resistance to invaders, French conquest and colonialism, development of nationalism and communism, and Ho Chi Minh.

World War II, the Cold War, and the First Indochina War (1940-1955)

Vietnam during World War II, the Vietnamese declaration of independence, restoration of French rule, global containment, Viet Minh versus French military strategies, Eisenhower's Vietnam policy, Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Conference, and the American response.

Diem and Nation-State Building (1955-1963)

U.S. support for Diem, Diem's inadequacies, U.S. military and economic assistance, the growing southern insurgency, Kennedy's counterinsurgency commitment, internal opposition including the Buddhist crisis, and the coup against Diem.

L.B. Johnson Americanizes the War (1964-1965)

Political instability in Vietnam, introduction of the North Vietnamese Army, the Tonkin Gulf Incident and Resolution, Vietnam in the 1964 presidential campaign, Flaming Dart, Rolling Thunder, introduction of U.S. combat troops, and the July 1965 combat commitment.

America Takes Charge (1965-1967)

Westmoreland's strategy of attrition, measures of success, the continuing air war, impact on Vietnamese society, stabilization of the Saigon regime, America's army in Vietnam, war without fronts, search and destroy, and Ia Drang Valley.

Home Front USA (1963-1967)

The Great Society and guns versus butter, the credibility gap, congressional dissent, television and the press, the civil rights movement, the genesis of the New Left, the draft, and draft resistance.

Tet (1968)

Vietnamese planning for Tet, communist objectives, the Tet Offensive, U.S. and Saigon reactions, Johnson's decision not to run, the bombing halt, beginning of peace talks, and the 1968 election.

Vietnamizing the War (1969-1973)

Nixon, Kissinger, Vietnamization, justifications for troop withdrawal, pacification and the Phoenix Program, My Lai and military deterioration, secret negotiations, the 1972 Spring Offensive, the October agreement, Christmas bombing, triangular diplomacy, and the Paris Peace Accords.

The War at Home (1968-1972)

Campus unrest, peace activists and moratoria, the Miami and Chicago conventions, the counterculture, the antiwar movement, the silent majority, and the Pentagon Papers.

Cambodia and Laos

The Geneva Accords, Kennedy and Laotian neutrality, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the secret war in Laos, Sihanouk and Cambodian neutrality, Lon Nol and the U.S. incursion, secret bombing in Laos and Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge and fall of Phnom Penh, and communist victory in Laos.

A Decent Interval

Cease-fire violations, Watergate and Nixon's resignation, congressional passage of the War Powers Act, the Great Spring Offensive, and the fall of Saigon.

U.S. Legacies and Lessons

The impact of the war on Vietnam, the Vietnam Syndrome in American foreign policy, returning veterans, economic consequences, the impact on the U.S. military and media, POWs and MIAs, and collective national memory.