AQA GCSE History Conflict & Tension in Asia

The Cold War

Conflict between capitalist USA and communist USSR which avoided direct conflict

Truman Doctrine

Policy of the USA trying to stop the further spread of communism

Syngman Rhee

Leader of South Korea. Supported by the USA, but was not very democratic

38th Parallel

Line which divided North and South Korea

North Korea

Side which attacked first in the Korean War

Boycott

What the USSR was doing to the UN, hence why it got involved in the Korean War

General MacArthur

Leader of the UN troops

Inchon

The landing site for the UN/US troops in Korea

October 1950

When 200,000 Chinese troops joined the war, as the UN had reached too close to their border

Stalemate

What the Korean War became, after weeks of bitter fighting

Reasons why MacArthur was sacked

Ignoring instructions, considering using nuclear weapons

Panmunjom

Place where the peace agreement was signed that ended the Korean War in 1953

1.3 Million

Number of casualties Korea suffered during the war. The majority were civilians.

$60 Billion

Cost of US defence spending at the end of the Korean War

Dien Bien Phu

Where French troops were defeated by the Viet Minh in 1954

National Liberation Front

Another name for the Viet Cong

Ho Chi Minh Trail

A complex series of tunnels that kept the Viet Cong supplied

Domino Theory

The US fear that if one state became communist then other states nearby would follow

Strategic Hamlet Programme

Whole villages were moved from Viet Cong areas to South Vietnam. Paid for by the USA

1964

Year in which North Vietnamese fired on the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin

Operation Rolling Thunder

US bombing campaign during the Vietnam War

Guerrilla Warfare

Tactic used by the Viet Cong. They didn't have any uniform

Search and Destroy

US tactic which located Viet Cong strategic locations. Often killed civilians

My Lai Massacre

A Search and Destroy raid which killed 400 civilians in 1968

Laos & Cambodia

Viet Cong soldiers could retreat into these countries, and the US couldn't follow

Tet Offensive

Massive Viet Cong attack launched during New Year. Changed US attitudes to the war

Walter Cronkite

The most trusted reporter in America. Said he thought the war was unwinnable

Vietnamisation

Nixon's policy of training South Vietnamese troops to take over fighting

$400,000

Estimated cost to kill one Viet Cong soldier

Kent State University

1970, State Troopers opened fire on students protesting against the Vietnam War

Paris

Where the Peace Agreement was signed in 1973 that ended the Vietnam War

Lightweight Cameras

Meant that Americans were shown the true reality of war from the Media