My name is Mr. Merrit and I'll be guiding you through today's lesson.

Let's get started.

So today's lesson is looking at the expansion of the war, and by the end of today's lesson we're gonna be able to explain how bombing campaigns changed the war.

In order to do that, we need to use some key terms. And our key terms of the today are doctrine, negotiation, and trail.

A doctrine is a stated position of government policy, usually in foreign or military affairs.

A negotiation is a discussion aimed at reaching and agreements.

And a trail is a track made by repeated passage usually far removed from an urban setting.

Today's lesson is gonna split into three different learning cycles and our first learning cycle is the Nixon Doctrine.

So let's get started.

So six months into his presidency, Nixon announced the Nixon Doctrine.

This stated that the US would honour any treaty commitments they had previously made, meaning the US would not break its promises.

It promised to defend its allies against the nuclear threats, which therefore would make the USSR think twice about using its nuclear weapons against weaker countries.

The Nixon Doctrine also stated that it provide aid and training to any countries facing non-nuclear threats, but it wouldn't provide ground troops.

These would have to be provided by the defending country.

And this therefore meant that South Vietnam would need to use its own troops against the communist because Americans soldiers were going home.

Effectively, a lot of this is incorporated by the Vietnamization Policy.

What Nixon is now doing is expanding the idea and saying that these principles go beyond the war on Vietnam.

This is what America will do wherever it is needed to defend against the rise of communism.

Just five days into his term, as President Nixon organised peace negotiations in Paris with North and South Vietnam, Nixon wanted a quick end to the war, but despairing of the lack of progress being made in these negotiations, Nixon began secret talks with North Vietnam eight months later in August.

And Nixon employed became to be known as the madman strategy in these talks.

And what that basically means is that he wanted to make the North Vietnamese believe that he'd been driven to temporary insanity by the Vietnam War and would do anything to stop it, even drop nuclear bombs.

And Nixon hoped that this bluff would encourage the North Vietnamese to end the war quickly.

Just to kind of put that into context a little bit, Nixon himself wasn't present at these secret negotiations, kinda acting all crazy in the corner.

Instead it was of representatives who were reporting to the North Vietnamese representatives that their boss, Nixon has gone completely crazy and he is going to bomb nuclear.

He is gonna use nuclear bombs on North Vietnam unless a peace deal is struck soon.

So please don't have it a kind of mental image of just Nixon acting weird and wonderful in the corner.

That's not the case at all.

It's his representative reporting that Nixon has gone crazy about the war in Vietnam.

So just to kind of make that a little bit clearer there for you, in any case, let's look at a quick check for understanding.

So which two of the following were features of the Nixon Doctrine? Was it that the US would honour any treaty commitments it had previously made? Was it that the US would defend its allies against the nuclear threats? Or was it that the US' allies would need to provide their own nuclear weapons in the event of a nuclear threats? So choose two of those now.

All right, if you chose A and B, then congratulations.

Those are indeed aspects of the Nixon Doctrine.

So our first task for today, I want to think about these stated aims of the Nixon Doctrine.

We got four of the stated aims of the Nixon Doctrine on the screen in Friends of You, I want to think about how they would individually affect the Vietnam War.

So each of the stated aims are there.

All you need to do is write down what the impact on the Vietnam War for each of those stated aims would be.

Pause the video now while you have a go at that task and I'll see you once you're finished.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on fine with that task.

So hopefully your answers look somewhat similar to the ones I'm gonna put onto the screen now.

So one of the stated aims of the Nixon Doctrine was to honour previous treaties, the impact of the Vietnam War will be that the US will defend against communism.

So the US have promised to defend any country that is being attacked by communist aggressors.

The US will continue to do that as is stated by the Nixon Doctrine.

In terms of defending against a nuclear threats, the USSR would therefore be unlikely to stage a nuclear attack.

And the the fear is, of course, is that the USSR dropped the nuclear bomb, then the USA would feel that they could do the same.

And that also worked, excuse me, that also worked the other way around as well.

The US was very reluctant to drop bombs, nuclear bombs on North Korea 'cause they believed that the USSR were therefore be tempted to respond in kind.

Then the stated aim of the the Nixon Doctrine was to provide aid and training.

The impact of the Vietnam War is that the ARVN would continue to be supported.

And once again, this is another aspect which is also covered by Vietnamization.

But as I said, the Nixon Doctrine is just an expansion essentially.

A good way to think about it is that the Nixon Doctrine was an expansion of vietnamization beyond the borders of Vietnam.

And there's an example of it right there in front of you.

And the final stated aim we have on the screen here is that there were no ground trees provided.

And again, the impact of the Vietnam War will be the US soldiers will be replaced by ARVN soldiers.

And again, exactly what has already happened as part of Vietnamization.

So hopefully you got on fine with that task.

And let's move on now to our next learning cycle, which is secret expansion.

So in an effort to end the war, Nixon ordered his troops to focus their attention on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

And this was a maze of 12,000 miles of jungle paths, which we used to transport men, women, sorry, well men and women, weapons and supplies from North Vietnam to South Vietnam.

Frustratingly much of the Ho Chi Minh Trail was in neighbouring Lao and Cambodia, meaning that effective action against the trail could only happen if fighting took place in countries that were not at war with the US.

You cannot attack the Ho Chi Minh Trail in a different country without effectively declaring war on that country.

Although the US was very keen to stress that they are not attacking Lao and Cambodia, they're attacking the people who are using parts of those countries, which supposedly was against the beliefs and wishes of the ruling governments in those two countries.

So very, very quick check for understanding now, how long was the Ho Chi Minh Trail? Was it 12 miles, 120 miles or 12,000 miles? So choose now.

All right, if you chose C, well sorry, 12,000 miles then congratulations.

That is indeed correct.

It was massive.

It's probably important to understand that it wasn't one single road, it was, it was a web of a variety of different roads.

So it's not one 12,000 mile long road, it's a whole host of road that crisscross each other.

They go in different directions and they all together they make up the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

So in March, 1969, the US expanded the war into Cambodia.

Nixon sent 30,000 US troops across the border and that was in support of 50,000 ARVN troops that were also fighting the communists.

Though this was a joint operation that both ARVN ground troops and US ground troops entered Cambodia.

However, Nixon stated that US ground troops were limited to travelling no more than 19 miles across the border.

And again, Nixon is very keen to stress the fact that they are not at war with Cambodia per se.

They're at war with the people who are using the jungles of Cambodia.

So that's why they're only going 19 miles in hopefully the vast majority of the Ho Chi Minh Trail is within that 19 mile border, which is why they use that to cut off point.

They've got no desire, no need to go any further than that.

Significant damage to the Ho Chi Minh Trail was subsequently secretly carried out.

And between March, 1969 and May, 1970, nearly 4,000 bombing raids occurred unbeknownst to the American public or Congress.

So the American public and Congress knew that Nixon was expanding the war into Cambodia.

They knew they were sending ground troops in.

What they didn't know was that alongside that they were also conducting this massive bombing campaign as well.

So these raids, they were successful, they did damage the trail, but the damage it wasn't particularly significant.

Repairs were very quickly carried out in the vast majority of places.

If repairs couldn't be carried out, then either new roads would just be built to circumnavigate the damage or just a different road would just be used within the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which could get them in from the same point A to the same point B, you just go past, you just avoid that damaged part of the trail.

Not only that, destroyed supply bases were also rebuilt fairly quickly as well.

So damage was fairly limited.

If we're honest here it is recorded that 11,000 communists were killed.

Obviously that's a significant more of a problem from the North Vietnamese perspective.

However, the majority of the communists just simply retreated beyond the 90 mile limit of the US troops.

And you can go beyond that 90 mile limit knowing full well that the ARVN could follow beyond that.

But they're almost certainly not going to because they really want the support that the US provides them as well.

So beyond that 19 mile limit, the North Vietnamese, the Vietcong that are left, they are fairly safe from any American or ARVN incursions into their territories.

So the impact of the Cambodian invasion led to increased protests in the US, so the America public were very unhappy about the the Cambodian incursion.

But not only that, Congress itself was absolutely furious as well that Nixon is in their perspective abusing the power of the presidency.

So within American law, American presidents are not allowed to declare war themselves.

They have to ask for permission from Congress.

Now that didn't necessarily happen with the war against North Vietnam because war was never officially declared against North Vietnam.

And once again it's not happening here either, Congress is willing to let the first one go.

The vast majority of Congress supported the war against North Vietnam.

They are much more unhappy about this particular abuse of presidential power.

This time the response was that they cancelled the Tonkin Gulf resolution and that significantly limited the president's ability to send troops and resources to South Vietnam.

So there was pushback by Congress 'cause of this incursion here.

Okay, a quick check for understanding now then.

So true or false, US troops were only permitted to cross 19 miles inside the Cambodian border.

Is that true or is that false? Decide now.

Okay, if you chose true, then congratulations.

That is indeed correct.

But let's justify the answer.

Now why is this answer true? Is it because Nixon needed to show that the invasion was strictly limited or is it because North Vietnamese troops never went further into Cambodia than this? So choose A or B now.

All right, if you chose A then very well done.

That is indeed correct.

So in March, 1969 the US expanded the, oh for fuck sake, Let's get this up again.

So Nixon expanded the war further by assisting South Vietnam in an invasion of Lao in 1971.

As a significant portion of the Ho Chi Minh trail was located in the country, Nixon limited US intervention to air support.

So there was no US ground troops in the invasion of Lao.

All 21,000 ground troops were supplied by the ARVN.

And the invasion initially went well for Nixon.

The ARVN took the city of Tchephone cutting off an important base on the trail.

Let's go for another check for understanding now.

So which Laotian city on the Ho Minh trail was taken by the ARVN and then very quickly retaken by the NVA? Was it Luang Prabrang? Was it Tchephone or was it Vientiane? So choose one of those three now.

All right, if you chose B Tchephone then congratulations.

That is indeed correct.

Let's go for this task now then.

So what I have in front of you on the screen here is a transcript of part of Nixon's television address of April 30th, 1970 in which he announces to the American public the invasion of Cambodia.

I'll just read this out for you just before we go on and explain what the task is.

So Nixon started with good evening, my fellow Americans.

We take this action not for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia, but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam and winning the just piece we all desire.

We have made, and we will continue to make every possible effort to end this war through negotiation at the conference table rather than through more fighting on the battlefield.

The action that I have announced tonight puts the leaders of North Vietnam on notice that we will be patient in working for peace.

We all will be conciliatory at the conference table, but we will not be humiliated, we will not be defeated, we will not allow American men by the thousands to be killed by an enemy from privileged sanctuaries.

So here we can see Nixon's explanation for why the war is being expanded into Cambodia.

What I would like you to do is answer this question this on the screen in front of you now.

So how useful is the source for an inquiry into Nixon's reasons for expanding the war into Cambodia? I'd like you to write an extended answer to this question.

So pause the video now and I'll see you once you finish that.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got along fine with that task.

So I'll give you an idea about what you could have written.

So here's part of my answer on the screen now and I'll read this out for you.

So this source is useful in providing some of the reasons why Nixon chose to expand the war into Cambodia.

Nixon says that he does not want to fight in Cambodia, which was true.

Nixon did not want to fight the Cambodians just attacked the Ho Chi Minh Trail that was in Cambodia.

He does not mention the Ho Chi Minh trail by name though.

Instead he mentions privileged sanctuaries, which were parts of the trail.

This is surprising 'cause explaining that he was attacking the trail, might have generated more support from the American people, many of whom were not happy with the expansion of the war.

This is useful in highlighting how Nixon thought about the trail then, sanctuaries are safe places and these needed to be removed, I then go on to say, Nixon also says that he expanded the war into Cambodia to show the North Vietnamese leaders that America will be patient in working for peace.

Nixon was engaged in official negotiations to end the war, but was frustrated by how slowly negotiations were progressing.

He seems to be suggesting in this part of the speech that he's willing to put the negotiations on hold to end the war in a different way.

The American people were desperate for the war to end and Nixon had started secret negotiations to end the war quickly.

So this part of the speech does not seem entirely believable.

However, it is useful in highlighting the reasons that Nixon wanted the American people to believe about why he expanded the war.

So hopefully your answer follows a similar sort of track as to mine just there.

Let's move on now though to our final learning cycle for today, which is the bombing of North Vietnam.

So encouraged by their victory against the ARVN in Lao, the North Vietnamese launched a massive invasion of South Vietnam in Easter 1972.

The Easter offensive saw 120,000 communists launch attacks in three locations.

And on the screen there that map, you can see where those three main attacks are taking place.

So in the north, centre and the south of South Vietnam.

So the attacks really are taking place all over the country at this point in time.

This style of warfare was something that the US intelligence thought North Vietnamese did not have the capability to do, so, the size and manner of the invasion was a shock to the US.

Early communist advances were halted and then pushed back by the combination of ARVN troops and US air supports.

However, by the end of the invasion in October, 1972, North Vietnam was in possession of 10% of South Vietnam.

So the Easter offensive once again was something completely new in regards to North Vietnamese tactics.

So 120,000 men launching attacks in three different locations.

This had not been done before by the North Vietnamese and it was something that that took the US and the ARVN completely by surprise.

And although they were relatively successful in fighting back against this massive invasion, the reality is by the end of the invasion North Vietnam now has a foothold inside South Vietnam.

And it's not a case of whatever troops they've sent there, they're to hold out until they're gone.

Those areas which are now taken by North Vietnam are being constantly resupplied with men and supplies.

So they have a strong foothold inside South Vietnam now.

Let's go for a very quick check for understanding.

So how many North Vietnamese troops took part in the Easter offensive? Was it 12,000, 120,000 or 1.

2 million? So choose now.

Okay, if you chose B, 120,000 then congratulations.

That is indeed correct.

Now in response to the assault, Nixon authorised Operation Linebacker, which is a huge aerial bombardment of North Vietnam.

Previous air raids had avoided the capital city of North Vietnam, which is Hanoi and the important port city of Hai Fong.

And that's where the vast majority of trade coming into North Vietnam ended up.

So most of it went through the city Hai Fong, and now the reason for that is to show goodwill toward the peace talks.

But this now changed 150,000 tonnes of explosives were dropped on North Vietnam.

And the high of Hai Fong was block aided and mine to prevent trade from China and the USSR reaching North Vietnam.

So sea mines were placed within the harbour of Hai Fong.

Operation Linebacker had a significant impact, industries and trade route assisted in the war suffered major damage.

And as well as that, the attitude of North Vietnam's allies, China and USSR that shifted now to encouraging North Vietnam to work towards a peaceful resolution.

So not only now is North Vietnam suffering major attacks on its capital city, on its main port, but also its main allies, China and the USSR, they've also changed their tune.

They now also want North Vietnam to look for a peace treaty.

All right, let's go for a quick check for understanding again.

So is it true or false? Operation linebacker encouraged North Vietnam's allies China and the USSR to join the war.

So make a choice now between true or false.

All right, if you chose false, then congratulations, that is correct.

But let's justify this answer, now why is that false? Is it false because China and the USSR encouraged North Vietnam to work for peace? Or is it because China and the USSR abandoned North Vietnam to fight the war alone? So choose your justification now.

All right, if you chose A, then congratulations, that is indeed correct.

Let's look at our first task C activity then.

So what were the positive and negative consequences of expanding the war into Cambodia, Lao and North Vietnam from a US perspective? So from the perspective of the US what was good, what was bad about expanding the war into these three countries? So I'll give you an example here.

So a positive consequence of expanding the war was that the Ho Chi Minh Trail was damaged.

A negative consequence was that it angered Congress and cancelled the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which severely limited the power of the President to conduct the war.

So what I would like you to do now to finish this table, ideally at least two more points for each side, but if you can do more than that, then that's absolutely fantastic.

So do as many as you can in that respect.

So pause the video now and I'll see you once you've done that.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got on fine with that task.

Let's go through some possible answers now.

So in regards to positive consequences, you could have said that most of the ground troops were the ARVN.

So therefore that limits the number of US casualties or US ground casualties at least.

You could also say that China and the USSR pushed North Vietnam for peace.

So now it's not just the US saying we want peace, you've now got people from the communist world saying the exact same thing as well.

And that potentially might encourage the North Vietnamese to take the peace negotiations a bit more seriously.

In regards to negative consequences though, ARVN troops, they didn't perform well and that of course is a worry.

One of the ideas of Vietnamization was that you'd had this honourable exit and for it to be honourable, you need to leave your ally South Vietnam in a position where it can fight back.

And so far Nixon's not necessarily seeing great evidence of that.

Another negative consequence is that it really, really upset the US public as well.

So all the good work that Nixon had done in regards to removing US troops from Vietnam and bringing them home and the the positive support he gained from that, this has all been undone at a stroke by invading Cambodia and Lao and of course not necessarily the bombing of North Vietnam.

I think the US public understand that that is part and parcel of the the war against them, but certainly the invasion of Cambodia and Lao, who they were independent, they were not at war with US at the time.

This really upsets the US public.

Okay, let's go for our final task for today then.

So I have a statement on the screen here.

The most significant impact of Nixon expanding the war into Lao and Cambodia was the weakening of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

To what extent do you agree with this statement? So I would like you to use evidence from this lesson to support a balanced argument.

So what evidence is there to say that this statement is correct? What evidence is there to say that this statement is incorrect? And then finally, what is your overall opinion? So pause the video now, have a little go at this and I'll see you once you're finished.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully you got along fine with that task.

Let give you an idea about what you could have written.

I've got an example on the screen here, which I'll read out and hopefully yours follows a similar sort of vein to mine.

So I said this statement is fairly convincing 'cause 4,000 bombing raids were carried out between March, 1969 and May, 1970, Cambodia, which did damage the trail and killed 11,000 communists.

However, the damage was not significant.

Repairs were quickly made.

The majority of communists retreated beyond the 19 mile limit of the US troops.

So you can see here in this particular answer I've got some specific details, I've got some specific dates here as well, which is really strengthening my argument.

I then go on to say, furthermore, another significant impact of the expansion was Congress cancelling the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which limited the president's ability to send troops and resources to South Vietnam.

Overall, as the Ho Chi Minh trial continued to be used by the communists for the remainder of the war, its weakening was not the most significant impacts.

So hopefully that gives you an idea about a good balanced answer to this particular question.

So to summarise the lesson then the Nixon Doctrine stated that the US would continue to support South Vietnam against communism, but would remove its ground troops from the war.

Nixon engaged in official and secret negotiations to end the war.

Nixon expanded the war by attacking the Ho Chi Minh Trail in neighbouring Cambodia and Lao and the US public and Congress were furious when they discovered that Nixon had expanded the war into other countries, after a large invasion for the North Vietnamese, Nixon ordered heavy bombing of North Vietnam.

So thank you very much for joining me today.

Hopefully you enjoyed yourself.

Hopefully you've learned a lot and hopefully I'll see you again next time.

Bye-Bye.