37: Why did the USA go to war in Vietnam? (And why didn’t they win?)

Full Episode description

Parents, don’t worry, this episode is completely safe from gore and death. The only thing you need to be concerned about is whether you can keep up with your kids as they gain an understanding of communism, dominoes and the causes of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War.You’ll need to listen carefully so you can play to win in the Gorillas vs. Guerrillas game!

Many thanks to special guest co-host Cooper Broxup! Another first on this show is the trailer for a history podcast, aimed more at adults, called Casting Through Ancient Greece – check them out on Facebook and Twitter!

Read industry reviews of Dad’s World War II novels, A Chance Kill and The Slightest Chance, at paulletters.com. Available on Kindle, as well as in paperback. Dad’s first wartime novel, A Chance Kill, is a love-story/thriller based on real events in Poland, Paris, London and Prague. The Slightest Chance follows the remarkable true story of the only escape from Japanese imprisonment by a Western woman during World War II.

Here are some questions to see if you were listening:

1. Which two countries invaded Vietnam before America did?
2. When did China become communist?
3. Who lost the 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu?
4. What was the name of Vietnam’s communist leader?
5. What was the ‘domino theory’?
6. What was the Gulf of Tonkin incident?

Please rate and review us wherever you get podcasts. And share our podcast on social media and recommend it to friends – that’s how we’ll keep going.

We’ll be back on the first weekend of next month!

Podcast cover art by Molly Austin

All music is from https://filmmusic.io and composed by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Sound effects used under RemArc Licence. Copyright 2020 © BBC