Module Information
Course Delivery
Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
---|---|
Lecture | 16 Hours. (16 x 1 hour) |
Seminars / Tutorials | 8 Hours. (5 x 90 mins) |
Assessment
Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
---|---|---|
Semester Assessment | Essay: 1 x 2,500 words | 40% |
Semester Exam | 2 Hours | 60% |
Supplementary Exam | Resit opportunities for this module will be available in the Supplementary examination period. F resit: The student will re-sit the module by examination only for a capped pass mark (40). H resit: The student will submit missing coursework elements and/or re-sit by examination in the upplementary exam period in lieu of a missed/failed exam for full marks. Students re-sitting elements of failed coursework are required to select a different essay/assignment title and must not submit re-written versions of the original essay/assignment. |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
- Discuss the origins of US intervention in Vietnam
- Describe the multifaceted and multi-national dimensions of the Vietnam War
- Identify military and pacification strategies of the USA/South Vietnam on one side, and North Vietnam/the Viet Cong on the other
- Discuss critically the Vietnam War's main military operations and tactics
- Analyse the nature of US anti-war protest and assess its impact on US conduct of the war
- Evaluate critically the legacies of defeat in Vietnam for post-1975 US foreign and military policy
Brief description
This module will give students the opportunity to examine international and US domestic political-cum-ideological reasons for involvement in war in Vietnam from c. 1954 to 1975.
Aims
The aim of this module is to provide students with the opportunity for an in-depth study of military and historiographical issues related to the Vietnam War.
Content
Attention will be paid to the French defeat in Indochina in 1954 and origins of the US involvement in Vietnam, students then moving on to focus closely on the major military strategies, operations and tactics of the Vietnam War, as well as debates in the historiography concerning the most persuasive explanation(s) for the eventual defeat of the USA and its ally, the Republic of Vietnam, by 1975. The nature and political impact of the USA press and television coverage of the conflict will be examined and students will be asked to consider the effect of anti-war protests on American public opinion and US policymakers. The module will conclude with an assessment of the legacies of America's defeat in Vietnam for post-1975 US foreign policy and strategic posture.
Transferable skills
- ability to marshall arguments, supported by historical evidence, orally and on paper in both succinct summary format (single-page bullet-point presentations) and in extended form (an essay)
- IT capacity required to word-process, and disseminate as e-mail attachments, bullet-point presentation summaries
- practice of skills at answering questions deploying evidence in support of argument under strict time pressure (in the examination)
10 ECTS credits
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6