The ho chi minh trail is an elaborate system of mountain and jungle paths used by north vietnam to get troops and supplies into south vietnam, cambodia, and laos. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been working on the project for more than a decade. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
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What is the primary significance of Ho Chi Minh Trail?
The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a network of roads that were built from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. Logistical support to the North Vietnamese army and the Vietcong guerrillas was provided by the roads. They were also used to transport troops and supplies to and from the front lines. In the early 1970s, the Vietnamese government began to build a new road network that would link the north and south of the country.
This new highway network was known as the Hanoi-Vietnam Highway (HVT). The HVT was completed in 1975 and was the longest road in the world at that time. It was also the most expensive road project in history, costing over US$1 billion. However, it was not until the 1990s that the road was finally completed and opened to traffic.
Why was the Ho Chi Minh Trail important to the war effort quizlet?
The trail bypassed the border between north vietnam and south vietnam. Weapons and other support from the Soviet Union were given to North Vietnam. In the early 1970s, the U.S. military began to build up its presence in Laos and Cambodia.
What were the advantages of the Ho Chi Minh Trail?
The advantage of the ho chi minh trail was that it was well protected from u.s. forces, as the jungle provided natural concealment from bomber and infantry scouts who sought to find the trail’s exact location to stage a massive counter- attack. The trail was also used by the Viet Cong, who used it to move supplies and weapons to the front lines.
The trail also served as a means of communication between North and South Vietnam, and was a vital link in the supply chain between the two countries. In addition, the trail provided a route for the movement of troops and supplies to and from the South Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, which was under constant attack from North Vietnamese forces. It also provided an escape route to North Vietnam for defectors and refugees who were fleeing the fighting in Vietnam.
How effective was the Ho Chi Minh Trail?
The United States had more aircraft shot down in the Laotian Panhandle in those years than any other country. By the mid-1970s the balance of power between the two countries had shifted decisively in favor of China.
As a result of this change in power balance, American aircraft were increasingly targeted by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong aircraft, and American pilots were forced to rely more heavily on air-to-air refuelling than on ground-based refueling.
This resulted in a dramatic increase in American casualties in Vietnam, as well as the loss of a significant number of aircraft to enemy action.
How did Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnam response?
In the late 1950s, Ho Chi Minh organized a communist guerrilla movement in the South, called the Viet Cong. North Vietnam and the Viet Cong successfully opposed a series of ineffectual U.S.-backed South Vietnam regimes and beginning in 1964 withstood a decade-long military campaign by the United States and its allies.
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the North Vietnamese government was overthrown by a military coup led by Ho’s son, Nguyen Van Thieu, who was elected president in 1979. He was succeeded by his brother, Ngo Dinh Diem, a former general who became president of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) in 1981.
The United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on the RVN in response to the coup, but the regime was able to maintain its grip on power through a combination of repression, bribery, and threats of military force. In the early 1990s the government began to crack down on civil society and human rights organizations, including the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), which had been active in defending the rights of political prisoners.
Did Ho Chi Minh want freedom for Vietnam?
Ho Chi Minh spent his lifetime fighting for Vietnam’s stable independence. National independence must lead to people’s freedom and happiness in order for it to be sacred to him. National rights were defined as independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. He believed that the Vietnamese people had the right to self-determination, and that they should be free to choose their own destiny.
He believed in the principle of “one country, two systems,” which meant that Vietnam should have two separate systems of government, one for the people of Vietnam and the other for foreigners. This was the basis of the “One Country, Two Systems” policy, which was adopted by the United States and other countries in Southeast Asia after the end of World War II.
The policy was based on the belief that if Vietnam was independent, it would be able to develop its own economic and political system and would not have to depend on foreign aid. It was also based upon the idea that a country should not be ruled by a single person or group of people.
In other words, Vietnam would have a government that was representative of all of its people, not just a handful of elites. As a result, the country was free of corruption and corruption was a major problem in Vietnam.
Why was the Ho Chi Minh Trail so hard for the US to destroy?
Mu Gia and other strategic spots along the Ho Chi Minh trail became a struggle between American attempts to shut down the supply route and the Vietnamese ones to keep them going. Defending the route was a core of committed laborers, who protected it with their lives.
By the end of the war, more than 100,000 Americans had died in the Vietnam War, and the U.S. had lost control of much of Southeast Asia. The war was over, but the legacy of it was far from over.
