The Vietnam War Years
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Created by:
andrea2015 on May 16, 2011
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26 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 French Indochina | french-ruled colony made up of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia |
| Ho Chi Minh | revolutionary founder of the Indochinese Communist Party |
| Domino Theory | belief that if a country fell to communism, the fall of nearby countries would follow |
| Ngo Dinh Diem | leader of South Vietnam |
| Bay of Pigs Invasion | failed US attempt to overthrow Cuba's communist leader |
| Cuban Missile Crisis | 1962 confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union caused by Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba |
| Viet Cong | South Vietnamese who fought to overthrow the Diem government and reunite the country under Communist rule |
| Ho Chi Minh Trail | secret route used by North Vietnamese to send troops and supplies to the Viet Cong |
| guerrillas | small bands of fighters who weaken enemy with surprise raids and hit-and-run attacks |
| guerrilla warfare | surprise attacks by small bands of fighters |
| Gulf of Tonkin Resolution | 1964 legislation that gave President Johnson the power to use military force in Vietnam |
| escalation | policy of increasing military involvement in Vietnam |
| William Westmoreland | general in command of US forces in South Vietnam |
| Tet offensive | surprise Communist attack on US and South Vietnamese forces in 1968; further weakened American support for the war. |
| napalm | jellied gasoline that burns violently; used to destroy vegetation and as a weapon |
| Agent Orange | chemical that kills plants; used in Vietnam to expose Viet Cong hideouts |
| counterculture | movement of mostly young Americans who had become disillusioned with the Vietnam War and injustices in society |
| dove | US citizens who opposed the Vietnam War |
| hawks | US citizens who supported the Vietnam War |
| Richard Nixon | Republican president elected in 1968 |
| Vietnamization | strategy for withdrawing US troops and turning the ground fighting over to the South Vietnamese |
| Cambodia | country bordering Vietnam |
| commune | a place where people or families live together and share everything |
| Twenty-sixth Amendment | Constitutional amendment passed in 1971 that lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 |
| War Powers Act | legislation passed in 1973 to limit the president's war-making powers |
| ambush | an unexpected attack form the hidden position |
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