Have students define and illustrate key vocabulary relating to the Vietnam War to aid in their comprehension.
Testo Storyboard
VIET CONG
AGENT ORANGE
ARVN
NVA
Viet Cong is the name given to the Vietnamese rebels or guerrilla fighters in the South who fought against the Southern Vietnam government and the United States. They called themselves the People's Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam (PLAF), and were the army of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF). The "Vietcong" flag was the Communist flag with a blue half.
Agent Orange is a toxic chemical used as an herbicide and defoliant. It was used by the U.S. military as a weapon to destroy forest cover and crops for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops from 1961 to 1971. It was found to also cause serious health problems like cancer, birth defects, and severe psychological and neurological problems to the Vietnamese people as well as U.S. troops and their children.
ARVN is short for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. They were the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April 1975.
DMZ
17th Parallel
17th Parallel
NVA is short for the North Vietnamese Army, today known as the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) or Vietnamese People's Army (VPA). While the Viet Cong were irregular or guerrilla forces in South Vietnam, the NVA were regular army forces of North Vietnam.
HO CHI MINH TRAIL
Vietnam War Vocabulary
THE DRAFT
DOMINO THEORY
DMZ stands for Demilitarized Zone. It was the border line established between North and South Vietnam from July 1954 to 1976 after the First Indochina War. It was located on the 17th parallel north latitude and extended from the Laos border to the coast. The DMZ saw heavy fighting during the Vietnam War.
A network of paths and roads manually carved out of the jungle winding south from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam. It was used by North Vietnam to send weapons and supplies to the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War.
Conscription is compulsory service in the armed forces. It has been used 6 times in the U.S.: the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War from 1964 and 1973, 2.2 million American men were drafted. 25% of military in combat zones were draftees. Many soldiers supported the war, others felt the draft was forcing them to fight in a war they did not believe in.
The domino theory, from the 1950s to 80s, theorized that if one country in a region became communist, then it would lead to communist takeovers in neighboring countries, like dominoes falling. U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower first mentioned it in a speech in 1954, when arguing why the U.S. should support the French against communists in Vietnam who were trying to overthrow French colonial rule.
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