Conflict and Tension in Asia: All of Korea and Vietnam

DMZ

Demilitarized Zone

38th Parallel

Dividing line between North and South Korea

Pusan

The area in Southeast South Korea

16

Nations in UN Coalition

Operation Moolah

Defection of Korean aircraft

Seoul

Capital of South Korea

Pyongyang

Capital of North Korea

Yalu River

the river separating North Korea and China

Inchon

Korean port

Communism

A society in which all property is publicly owned by government

Containment

American policy of resisting further expansion of communism around the world

Marshall Plan

A plan for aiding the European nations in economic recovery after World War II

Japan

Controlled Korea before WW2

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet-dominated East and the U.S.-dominated West

MiG-15

Main Soviet plane during the Korean War

$30 Billion

Costs for Korean War for America

200,000 volunteers

Chinese helpers to "support" North Korea

M.A.D.

Mutually Assured Destruction

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Ideology

A system of ideas and ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy

Security Council

Five permanent members (US, UK, France, China, USSR) with veto power in the UN.

Berlin Blockade

Soviet blocking of Berlin from allies; Causing the Berlin Airlift

1950

Korean War begins

1949

USSR gets Atom Bomb and China turns communist

1951

MacArthur fired

1953

Korean War ends

16 Nations

Part of UN Coalition

38500

American soldiers dead

1,000,000

Civilians killed by bombing campaigns

2,000,000

Overall number of people killed

1,500,000

Overall number of civilians killed

Stalin

Dictator of the Soviet Union

Chiang Kai Shek

Nationalist Chinese leader

Truman

33rd president of the United States

Krushchev

took power after Stalin died

Mao

Leader of the Communist Party in China

Eisenhower

President after Truman

McCarthy

Senator Joseph McCarthy who led the search for communists in America

Ridgeway

MacArthur's replacement

Syngman Rhee

Leader of South Korea

General MacArthur

US General led the UN army in Korea, and later, removed by Truman.

China

Country that became communist in 1949 under Mao

Domino Theory

President Eisenhower's belief that once one country falls to communism the surrounding nations would also fall.

North Korea

Communist Korea

S Korea

Capitalist Korea

United Nations

An international peacekeeping organization

Atomic bomb

USSR first tested this in 1949

Nuclear weapons

General MacArthur wanted to use these to 'roll back' communism in North Korea and China

25 June 1950

Date N Korea invaded S Korea

Stalemate

Described state of war between N and S Korea 1951 to 1953

Kim Il Sung

Leader of North Korea

1954

Battle of Bien Dien Phu

1973

US troops leave Vietnam

1975

Fall of Saigon to North Vietnamese and end of the war

1964

Gulf of Tonkin

1970

Kent State Massacre

1945

Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnamese independence

March 1968

My Lai Massacre

November 1969

My Lai Massacre revealed

1968

Tet Offensive

1963

Corrupt President of South Vietnam assassinated by CIA & own generals

1964

Gulf of Tonkin resolution leads to US troops deployed on the ground in Vietnam

1955

Corrupt elections in South Vietnam break the Geneva Accords

1965

First US combat troops arrive in Vietnam to fight the VC

Eisenhower

US President 1953-60, saw escalation in Vietnam

Khrushchev

Leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 (after Stalin)

Diem

Corrupt South Vietnamese president

US Presidents from 1945-74

Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ and Nixon

Kennedy

US President 1961-3, saw more escalation in Vietnam

Johnson

US President 1963-68, used the Gulf of Tonkin to put US troops on the ground

Hanoi

North Vietnamese capital city

Cambodia and Laos

Two neighbouring countries through which these supply routes went

Strategic Hamlet Program

Disastrous US idea of putting peasants into protective villages

Vietminh

North Vietnamese guerrilla force that defeated the French

Vietcong

South Vietnamese communist guerrillas that fought against the regime

Domino Theory

US foreign policy idea - one country falls to communism followed by another

The Red Scare

Period of mass anti-communist fear and paranoia in America

ARVN

South Vietnamese army who fought against the VC/NLF

Operation Rolling Thunder

Huge US bombing campaign from 1964-68

Punji Sticks

Booby traps made of sharpened bamboo (with optional excrement)

Underground Tunnel System

The VC had over 300km of these - used to hide in; store supplies; launch ambushes

Bouncing Betties

Booby trap where a grenade would denote/explode at waist height (or slightly lower!)

Hearts and Mind Programme

Idea of winning the popular support of the peasants - it failed

Agent Orange

Chemical weapon, defoliant

Napalm

Devastating chemical weapon - burning petroleum jelly

Henry Kissinger

Nixon's Secretary of State

Vietminh

Opposed the French army 1945-54

Saigon

Capital of South Vietnam

Rubber

Main Raw Material from Indochina

Hua Tho

Leader of the Vietcong

Cu Chi

Main tunnel complex outside of Saigon

Pathet Lao

Communist party in Laos

1968-73 Paris Peace Talks

Negotiations to end the war

Hue

Imperial city held by VC for 40 days

National Liberation Front (NLF)

Proper name for Vietcong

Niagara

Bombing campaign to save Khe Sanh

French Indochina

French colonies in SE Asia

Kent State Massacre

Ohio university where 4 killed

Le Duc Tho

N. Vietnamese peace negotiator

Hippies

Long haired peace protestors