The Vietnam War is one of the most hotly contested political events in modern history. As a college student you may already know a lot about the Vietnam War. Maybe you studied it independently, or learned a lot by auditing a course along the way. Why not use this knowledge to your advantage, by taking the DSST A History of the Vietnam War exam?
DSST is a prior learning assessment program that grants college credit for what you already know. You may want to make an appointment with your academic advisor to see whether this DSST exam will be accepted for credit at your college or university, and whether this particular exam is right for your academic career.
The DSST A History of the Vietnam War exam covers 12 topics about the Vietnam War:
- Vietnam Before 1940
- World War II, the Cold War, and the First Indochina War (1940-1955)
- Diem and Nation-State Building
- Internal opposition, including LBJ Americanizes the War
- America Takes Charge (1965-1967)
- Homefront USA
- Tet (1968)
- Vietnamizing the War (1969-1973)
- The War at Home
- Cambodia and Laos
- Decent Interval
- U.S. Legacies and Lessons.
When you are studying for the exam, you should review a DSST A History of the Vietnam War study guide, which provides a detailed outline of what will appear on the exam, in addition to other helpful information.
1. The Vietnamese “general” who came to be known as Ho Chi Minh was originally motivated by:
A. a desire to unite with neighboring Cambodia and Laos to form a communist confederation
B. a desire for Vietnamese independence
C. hatred for Western civilization
D. the desire to expand the cultural and economic influence of Vietnam
2. The country currently and historically called Vietnam was once termed “French Indochina” because:
A. a. the French had legitimate historical claims on the region and were assisted by the Chinese in governing it
B. b. one of the provisions of the Paris Peace Accords held that the French and the Chinese were the dominant colonial powers
C. c. Ho Chi Minh felt that the term best described the country’s diverse mix of people
D. d. Prior to the time that Ho Chi Minh assumed power, the country had been colonized by the French for one hundred years and by the Chinese before that
3. When World War II came to what was then known as Indochina, Ho Chi Minh:
A. saw an opportunity to enlist the Japanese in repelling French colonial powers.
B. requested a meeting with the Americans to get support for his cause.
C. exhorted his growing guerrilla army to follow him to China to fight the Japanese.
D. traveled to Britain on a French merchant ship to establish a headquarters for his Vietnamese Nationalist Movement.
4. The Vietnamese declaration of independence, announced on September 2, 1945, was modeled on:
A. a revised form of the French Constitution
B. the U.S. Declaration of Independence
C. the Magna Carta
D. the law, truth, teaching, and doctrine of the Buddhist religion known as “Dharma”
5. The events of Dien Bien Phu signified the end of French colonial domination of Vietnam. Dien Bien Phu is best described as a:
A. battle in which the Viet Cong were defeated by their Viet Minh counterparts
B. location where French and Viet Minh officials met to discuss French withdrawal plans from Vietnam
C. battle in which the French position was overrun by attacking Viet Minh forces that had tunneled beneath the French fortifications
D. battle in which combined Viet Cong and Viet Minh forces overwhelmed the French position with a flanking action combined with a heavy artillery barrage
6. The colonial French were restored as the rulers of Vietnam:
A. by the terms of a French-Vietnamese agreement containing the consent of Ho Chi Minh and his followers
B. by defeating the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) forces at Dien Bien Phu
C. by the mutual consent of the Great Powers of Britain, France, and the U.S., all of which combined to defeat the Japanese who occupied Vietnam
D. because Ho Chi Minh felt that the French would maintain economic stability for Vietnam in the post-war years
7. The French commanders at the battle of Dien Bien Phu believed they could defeat the Viet Minh and begin negotiations toward an end to the war because:
A. they (the French) vastly outnumbered the Viet forces
B. they believed the Viet Minh, with overextended supply lines, could not supply their troops with food, munitions, and other military support
C. they were a superior, better trained fighting force
D. they were very well “dug in” and fighting from an entrenched position with much artillery at their disposal
8. Had it been successful, Operation Vulture might have turned the tide in favor of the surrounded French forces at Dien Bien Phu. Operation Vulture was the code name given to:
A. a canceled French military operation in which 30,000 additional French, Algerian, and British troops would parachute into a position where they could attack General Giap’s forces from the rear
B. a specialized tactical operation by Foreign Legion fighters to disrupt the Viet Minh chain of command by killing General Giap
C. a British attempt to repel Giap’s attacks on the French position by strafing Viet Minh ranks with fast British Spitfires
D. General Eisenhower’s plan to send 200 bombers from Manila to destroy Giap’s army
9. The country of Vietnam was partitioned at the 16th parallel because:
A. of an agreement signed between the Great Powers at the Geneva Conference of 1954
B. the French offensive stalled there
C. the people of South Vietnam preferred the traditional French colonial government to government by the Viet Minh leaders and wanted a country apart from the North
D. American officials at the Geneva Conference insisted on a separate Buddhist state
10. The United States preferred to recognize Ngo Dinh Diem over other possible persons as the leader of South Vietnam because:
A. he was a Buddhist, a nationalist, a religious leader, and a friend of General Eisenhower
B. he was a Catholic, a nationalist, had made friends with several important American political figures while in exile from Vietnam, and had opposed both the French and the Viet Minh
C. he was a civil servant and the direct descendant of abdicated Emperor Bao Dai
D. he was a Buddhist and had a strong military force behind him that could keep the peace in the war’s aftermath
DSST Vietnam Practice Questions Answer Key