Cold War · 1954-1975

The Vietnam War

After defeating France in 1954, Vietnam was split in two. The United States sent more than half a million soldiers to stop communism in the South, and still lost. Students follow the war from Dien Bien Phu to the fall of Saigon and ask why it divided opinion around the world.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1938 to AD 1960
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

After defeating France in 1954, Vietnam was split in two. The United States sent more than half a million soldiers to stop communism in the South, and still lost. Students follow the war from Dien Bien Phu to the fall of Saigon and ask why it divided opinion around the world.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain how the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 led to a divided Vietnam.
  • Explain why the United States sent more than half a million soldiers to Vietnam.
  • Describe how the war ended in 1975 and how it divided opinion around the world.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1938

French Indochina

Open the map in 1938 and find French Indochina, with Cochin China, Cambodia and Laos. Which parts of it later became Vietnam?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1960

The 17th parallel

Move to 1960 and zoom in on the narrow middle of Vietnam. The Geneva Accords of 1954 drew a temporary line here, along the 17th parallel. Ask the atlas: "Why was Vietnam divided in 1954?"

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1960

The trail

Look west into Laos and Cambodia. Ask the atlas: "What was the Ho Chi Minh Trail?" Why was it so hard to cut a supply route through jungle and mountains?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Ho Chi Minh was both a communist and a nationalist. Why did that make him so popular in Vietnam?
  2. American leaders feared that if Vietnam became communist, its neighbors would fall like dominoes. Was that fear reasonable?
  3. The Tet Offensive of 1968 was a military defeat for the North but a turning point in American opinion. How can both be true?
  4. This was the first war shown on television almost every night. How did that change what people at home thought?
  5. After 1975 hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fled by boat. Why would people risk the sea to leave?
4

Game round

10 min

No ruler in Rule History fits this war. Play one round as Abraham Lincoln, the closest in time, and lead a country deeply divided by a war. Then compare: how did Presidents Johnson and Nixon handle a war many Americans opposed, and what did Ho Chi Minh want?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.