History
342
Devine
Vietnam War Terms
17th Parallel
The dividing line between North
Vietnam and South Vietnam as established by the 1954 Geneva
Conference. The 17th parallel was buffered by a demilitarized zone, or DMZ,
between the two countries.
Agent Orange
A chemical herbicide and defoliant
that U.S. forces sprayed extensively in order to kill vegetation in the
Vietnamese jungle and expose Viet Cong hideouts. Agent Orange inflicted immense
damage on Vietnam’s natural environment and led to decades of unforeseen health
problems among Vietnamese civilians and U.S. military forces.
Annam
The central of the three divisions
of French colonial Vietnam, between Tonkin to the north and Cochin
China to the south. The major city in Annam was Hue.
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
(ARVN)
The national army of South Vietnam,
which U.S. “military advisors” of the MACV trained beginning in 1962. By
1965, after several defeats by the Viet Cong at battles such as Ap Bac
and Pleiku, the ARVN was seen as
ineffective.
Central Office of South Vietnam
(COSVN)
The alleged central command center
that controlled all Viet Cong operations during the Vietnam War.
Although U.S. military officials insisted that the COSVN existed, it was never
found, despite exhaustive, resource-draining search campaigns by U.S. forces.
It is unclear whether the COSVN ever existed at all, as the Viet Cong was
notorious for decentralized guerrilla operations that were difficult to pin
down or disable.
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)
The no-man’s-land surrounding the
border between North Vietnam and South Vietnam at the 17th
parallel.
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV)
The Ho Chi Minh-led Communist
government of North Vietnam which was created after the 1954 Geneva
Conference divided the country at the 17th parallel.
Geneva Conference
A 1954 peace conference at the end
of the First Indochina War, prompted by the stunning French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. The conference
issued the Geneva Accords, which divided Vietnam officially into North
Vietnam and South Vietnam along the 17th parallel as a
temporary measure and promised free Vietnam-wide elections for 1956 (although
these elections never occurred).
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
A 1964 resolution, passed by a
near-unanimous vote in the U.S. Congress, that gave President Lyndon B.
Johnson a free hand to escalate the war in Vietnam. The resolution was
prompted by an incident in which two U.S. Navy destroyers were allegedly
attacked by North Vietnamese forces in the Gulf of Tonkin. Though not an
explicit war declaration, the resolution empowered Johnson to initiate Operation
Rolling Thunder and allowed a process of escalation that would eventually
see more than 500,000 U.S. soldiers committed to the war in Vietnam.
Ka Ly
Le Ly’s
village in central Vietnam
Military Assistance Command of
Vietnam (MACV)
A group of U.S. “military advisors”
whom President John F. Kennedy sent to Vietnam in 1962 to train the
South Vietnamese army, the ARVN, to fight against the Viet Cong.
The MACV’s numbers soared steadily through the 1960s as the United States
became increasingly involved in Vietnam. General William C. Westmoreland became
head of MACV in 1964.
My Lai Massacre
A 1968 raid on the tiny village of My
Lai by an American unit in South Vietnam. The soldiers, angry and
frustrated at their inability to find Viet Cong operatives in the
village, killed up to 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians—men, women, children,
and elderly—without provocation. News of the massacre surfaced in 1969,
outraging Americans and turning public opinion against the U.S. military. The
leader of the company, Lieutenant William Calley,
was court-martialed in 1971 and sentenced to a life term but later paroled.
Napalm
A flammable, sprayable,
gasoline-based gel that the U.S. military used extensively as a weapon in
Vietnam. Napalm inflicted devastating burns, killing and maiming many
Vietnamese soldiers and civilians.
National Liberation Front (NLF)
An organization formed in 1960 to
provide structure and support to the formerly isolated cells of the southern Viet
Cong. Eventually, the terms NLF and Viet Cong came to be used
interchangeably.
Operation Rolling Thunder
A sustained U.S. bombing effort
against North Vietnam authorized by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965
and lasting until 1968. Rolling Thunder was launched in response to a Viet
Cong raid on a U.S. military base at Pleiku
that killed several U.S. servicemen. When the air strikes failed to end the
war, Johnson increased the number of U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam from
roughly 200,000 to over 500,000.
Republic of Vietnam (RVN)
The corrupt, U.S.-backed government
of South Vietnam, which Ngo Dinh Diem proclaimed
in 1955.
Tet Offensive
A massive offensive launched by Viet
Cong guerrillas on January 30, 1968, the Vietnamese new year holiday of Tet.
The Tet Offensive comprised simultaneous attacks on dozens of U.S.-controlled
sites in South Vietnam. Although the offensive resulted in a tactical victory
for the United States and many Viet Cong casualties, the American public saw it
as a setback, as the U.S. military and President Lyndon B. Johnson had
led them to believe that the Viet Cong was already well on its way to defeat.
The Tet Offensive caused public support for the war to plummet in the United
States, especially when the U.S. military requested 200,000 soldiers in the
months following the attacks.
Tonkin
The northernmost of the three
divisions of French colonial Vietnam, above Amman and Cochin China to
the south. The major city in Tonkin was Hanoi.
Viet Cong (VC)
By the time of U.S. involvement, the
Viet Cong was a sizable guerrilla force hidden among South Vietnam’s
population, making its members extremely difficult to find or target. It often
worked in conjunction with the professional North Vietnamese Army (NVA)
to attack U.S. soldiers and supply lines. The United States lost the war in
Vietnam in large part due to the Viet Cong’s tenacity and its widespread
popularity with the South Vietnamese.
Viet Minh
Vietnamese Communist resistance
forces, based in northern Vietnam and led by Ho Chi Minh, during the First
Indochina War with France (1945–1954).
Vietnamization
President Richard M. Nixon’s 1969
plan that called for withdrawing almost all of the 500,000 U.S. troops in
Vietnam over the next year and handing over more responsibility to the South
Vietnamese. Although Nixon did remove troops, he also planned another intensive
round of bombing in North Vietnam to convince Hanoi to end the war.