Vietnam War

Leader of North Vietnam. He inspired the Vietnamese people to fight for an independent Vietnam, first against the Japanese, then the French, finally against the US.

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Agreement of 1954, by which Vietnam was effectively divided into North and South Vietnam until elections could be held to decide its future.

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National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam. This group included South Vietnamese opponents of the government, but also Communist North Vietnamese

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Theory President Eisenhower believed in. He and his Secretary of State were convinced that China and the USSR were planning to spread Communism throughout Asia. So, if Vietnam fell to Communism, then Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma and possibly India might also fall.

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American president who sent military personnel (he always called them advisers) to fight the Vietcong. During his administration, tension between North and South Vietnam increased, and so did American involvement.

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American president determined to commit the USA to a full-scale conflict in Vietnam. The first one to send marines, combat troops rather than advisers.

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Place where North Vietnamese patrol boats opened fire on US ships. After this incident, the US Congress passed a resolution that gave the American president power to take all necessary measures to prevent further aggression, this meant they could get into war.

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Kind of warfare in which fighters did not wear uniform and had no known base camp or headquarters. They worked in small groups with limited weapons, they were hard to tell apart from the peasents. They attacked and then disappeared into the jungle, into the villages or into the tunnels.

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A powerful chemical weapon, highly toxic "weedkiller", used to destroy the jungle where the Vietcong hid. The Americans used it to spray thousands of square kilometres of jungle.

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Chemical weapon used to destroy jungles. It also burned through skin to the bone.

(a)