VIETNAM WAR (1963-1973)

VIETNAM WAR

1963-1973

The Vietnam War was a long, unpopular war in which the United States stepped into another country's conflict to stop the spread of communism. Vietnam won its independence from France in 1954 & divided into communist North Vietnam and anti-communist South Vietnam, with the South. resisting reunifying as one country. Guerrilla fighters known as the Vietcong began trying to overthrow the government with the communist North's help. training fighters & sending supplies via the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The US sent thousands of military advisors, & in 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered airstrikes and deployed American troops in South Vietnam. which was mostly under the control of the Vietcong. The Vietcong knew the Jungle terrain and engaged in brutal surprise tactics.

By 1968 over 500,000 American soldiers were fighting the Vietcong, the U.S. was spending billions, & Americans were watching people die on television. After the Tet Offensive, Americans began to doubt and public opinion turned against the Vietnam war. People began to protest the war, especially the draft which randomly selected young men. Support grew for lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 & the 26th Amendment was passed in March 1971.

When Richard Nixon was elected president in 1969, the US moved toward Vietnamization, U.S. Soldiers started coming home, but the bombing of North Vietnam and neighboring Cambodia increased, targeting supplies. & soldiers going into South Vietnam. A cease-fire agreement was reached in the Paris Peace Accords of 1973. In 1975, South Vietnam surrendered & the country. was reunified under communist rule.

The Vietnam War cost over a million lives, a large number of Vietnamese civilians, & billions of U.S. dollars. The U.S. Congress passed the War Powers Act in 1973.

Vocabulary:

Vietnam war - military conflict (1954-1975) in which the United States. supported South Vietnam against communist North Vietnamese fighters.

Guerrilla fighters- one who engages in warfare usually in less organized groups using surprise tactics.

Vietcong- communist guerrilla fighters of North Vietnam who fought South Vietnam and United States forces in the Vietnam war

Ho Chi Minh Trail- military supply route that sent men, weapons, & other Supplies from North Vietnam to South Vietnam during the war 

Tet Offensive- coordinated series of attacks on South Vietnamese cities and towns that shocked the U.S. with its swift brutality

Draft-  selection for mandatory military service by a lottery system

26th Amendment - the amendment that lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 Vietnamization - U.S. policy of withdrawing troops & making South Vietnam more responsible for the Vietnam war

cease-fire- a pause in fighting, usually for negotiations to take place Paris Peace Accords agreement between North Vietnam, South Vietnam, & the United States to end the Vietnam war

Paris Peace Accords- agreement between North Vietnam, South Vietnam, & the Uniter States to end the Vietnam War

War Powers Act- a law passed after the Vietnam War to limit the President’s power to declare war, requiring a Congressional vote.