Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminar | 10 x 2 Hour Seminars |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Exam | 2 Hours can this be scheduled for the first week of examination | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Written Essay (2500 words) | 50% |
| Supplementary Exam | 2 Hours | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Written Essay (2500 words) | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate familiarity with a substantial body of historical knowledge in the field of US foreign policy and international history.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of key debates in the political, diplomatic and military history of the Vietnam War.
3. Read, analyse and reflect critically on selected secondary and primary texts and consider these texts as evidence for the historian of the Vietnam War.
4. Demonstrate the ability to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of particular historical arguments and where necessary challenge them.
Brief description
One of two linked special subject modules, this module concentrates upon the political and military aspects of the conflict in the United States, and will focus upon historiographically contested questions such as when, and on what basis, were key decisions taken to expand the US commitment to South Vietnam, the nature of the relationship between Washington and Saigon, and between the US army and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and whether alternative military strategies might have produced a different result.
Content
Eisenhower’s Vietnam: ‘Trapped by success’?
The Kennedy years
‘Lyndon Johnson’s War’
‘Peoples Quite Apart’: The South Vietnamese
The enemy: North Vietnam and its allies
US allies
The anti-war movement and the 1968 Election
Nixon’s Vietnam
Military strategy
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | n/a |
| Communication | Written communication skills will be developed through the coursework and written examination; skills in oral presentation will be developed in seminars but are not formally assessed. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Students will be advised on how to improve research and communication skills through the individual tutorial providing feedback on submitted coursework. |
| Information Technology | Students will be encouraged to locate suitable material on the web and to apply it appropriately to their own work. Students will also be expected to word-process their work and make use of Blackboard. These skills will not be formally assessed. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Students will develop a range of transferable skills, including time management and communication skills, which may help them identify their personal strengths as they consider potential career paths. |
| Problem solving | Students are expected to note and respond to historical problems which arise as part of the study of this subject area and to undertake suitable research for seminars and essays. |
| Research skills | Students will develop their research skills by reading a range of texts and evaluating their usefulness in preparation for the coursework and the written examination. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Students will develop their understanding of a key topic in US foreign policy history and 20th century international history. Students will develop their understanding of different types of primary source and how they can serve as evidence for historians for the study of this topic. |
| Team work | Students will be expected to play an active part in group activities (e.g. short group presentations in seminars) and to learn to evaluate their own contribution to such activities. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6