Glossary

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Agent Orange:
A Bio-Chemical weapon used by the United States During the Vietnam War
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Attrition:
United States military strategy in Vietnam, which measured the progress through the body count rather than the control of territory. Advocated by General William Westmoreland to maintain the infantry's traditional role of marking contact and destroying enemy forces. Attrition assumed that victory would come when enemy lost more soldiers than it could replace. It failed largely because it tried to impose a conventional war on guerrilla conflict and underestimated the Vietnamese capacity to absorb losses.

August Revolution:
Launched by Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh at the end of World War II and declared the independence of Vietnam. During World War II, the Japanese took over French's Indochina. However, After Japan and Germany have been defeated, Japan left Vietnam with out any government. Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh saw this "vacuum of power" and took it chance and declared independence for Vietnam. However, French later regained some of its power, but not the heart of Vietnamese.

Cluster Bomb:
A deadly weapon developed and used by the United States. This bomb exploded into many small metal fragments, which can injure the leg of anyone with in the area.

Containment Policy:
United States cold war policy design to restrict communist expansion. Containment policy was suggested by U.S. diplomat George Kennan in 1946-47. He believed that patient but firm resistance to soviets expansion would ultimately end its aggression. To achieve this goal, U.S. presidents from Truman to George Bush often utilized military forces.

Counter Culture:
A new culture created during the Vietnam War as a method of protest. The culture was started in the 1960; it was symbolized by drugs, sex, and antiwar protest. These people who were adapted to the new culture were known as Hippies.

Counterinsurgency:
Efforts by an established government to defeat a rebellion aimed at overthrowing its authority. Successful counterinsurgency provides security for and gains control of general population. with the general population supporting the government, the guerrilla army will greatly reduce in size since most of the soldiers are ordinary citizens.

Defoliation:
The attempt to eliminate enemy hideouts in jungles by using airplanes to spray the land with bio-chemical weapons

DeSoto Missions:
Electronic intelligence-gathering conducted mission during 1963-64 by the U.S. Navy. These missions often consisted of intercepting North Vietnamese communication during South Vietnamese Raids into the North.

Détente:
Means "peaceful co-existence". This refers to a period from the late 1960's to 1970's when the cold war tension between the United States and the USSR was reduced.

Dien Bien Phu:
A huge French fortress 175 miles west of Hanoi. taken over by the Vietminh in the first Indochina war. A huge defeat for the French.
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Domino Theory:
The Domino Theory is a strong visual metaphor regarding the spread of Communism. It was believed that the fall of one country to communism would lead a chain reaction collapse of its neighboring countries. it served as an important argument in developing containment policy. in Southeast Asia, believed that the lost of South Vietnam could spread communism into Asia.

Easter Offensive:
Launched on March 30, of 1972 by North Vietnamese. North Vietnam hoped to capture some land and place itself in a better negotiation in the upcoming peace talk. Like the Tet offensive, the Easter Offensive caught American and South Vietnam by surprise. Having only 95,000 troops left, the United States reacted to this offensive by its air power with B-52s to bomb any military forces. However, the result of the offensive was not what the North Vietnamese had expected. They lost 100,000 people while the south only lost 25,000.

Elysée Agreement:
It was agreement offered by the French hoping that it will undermine the vietminh before the First Indochina War. This agreement returned emperor Bao Dai his power, and it also granted limited independence to Vietnam with in the French union but in return, the French should have the control of Vietnam. Another words, a puppet government under Bao Dai.

Enclave Strategy:
Military Strategy briefly adopted by the United States in March of 1965. American combat forces were limited to protecting a number of heavily populated coastal regions and military bases, enclaves, while South Vietnam forces took offensive in the country side. With American protecting crucial areas, South Vietnam can focus their attack on the offensive.

First Indochina War:
War from 1945-1954 between the Vietnamese, led by the leaders of the Vietminh, and the French.
More detail on First Indochina War Click Here

Geneva Accords:
Agreements made at Geneva in 1954. Ended the fighting between French and Vietnamese and temporary divided Vietnam into two parts along the 17th parallel.

Guerrilla Warfare:
A type of warfare in which the enemy forces are part civilian population and try to take down a larger, well-trained enemy with hit and run strategy.

Ho Chi Minh Trail:
A network of camouflaged jungle trail through Laos and Cambodia; used by North Vietnamese to send supplies and troops to the Vietcongs in the south.