Wars of Vietnam > Related Articles

From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

See also pages that link to Wars of Vietnam or to this page.

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This is an interim copy from Vietnam War, and has some things that will probably move to the coming new article on 1962-1999.

Contents 1 Parent topics 2 Subtopics 2.1 Doctrines 2.2 Events 2.3 People 2.3.1 Non-communist Vietnamese 2.3.2 U.S. 2.3.3 Communist Vietnamese 2.3.4 Other 2.4 Organizations 3 Other related topics 3.1 Organizations 4 Code words

Parent topics

• Cold War [r]: Geostrategic, economic and ideological struggle from about 1947 to 1991 between the Soviet Union and the United States and their allies. [e]
• Insurgency [r]: A wide range of political and military actions intended to change a government, through means considered illegal by that government. [e]
• United States of America [r]: A country of North America, north of Mexico, south of Canada. [e]
• Democratic Republic of Vietnam [r]: Communist state in Vietnam; formally the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Proclaimed 1945, recognized 1954, and with South Vietnam transformed into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976 [e]
• Vietnam [r]: A country in Southeast Asia, neighboring China, Laos, and Cambodia, and with seacoast on the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea. Now the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam, under a Communist government with a market economic system, it spawned from ancient kingdoms, was a colony called French Indochina, and was partitioned into the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) between 1954 and 1975. [e]
• Republic of Vietnam [r]: The political entity created by the Geneva Accords of 1954 that partitioned former French Indochina, and whose existence ended with the 1975 forcible occupation of the South by Communist forces of the North [e]
• Democratic Republic of Vietnam [r]: Communist state in Vietnam; formally the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Proclaimed 1945, recognized 1954, and with South Vietnam transformed into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976 [e]
• Vietnam, war, and the United States [r]: The interactions of the Vietnam War with United States domestic politics and public opinion, and, in turn, how domestic considerations affected the military situation [e]

Subtopics

Doctrines

• Containment policy [r]: A U.S. foreign policy doctrine of the Cold War, begun in 1947, focusing on keeping Communist nations "contained" from further expansion, rather than direct confrontation [e]
• dau tranh [r]: A term of art used in Vietnamese Communist revolutionary war theory, roughly translated to "struggle", and having components of political action, guerilla warfare, and psychological warfare [e]
• Detente [r]: A transition of the view of U.S. foreign policy from the Cold War model to one based on "realism", and a balance of power among the U.S., U.S.S.R., and China; most associated with Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger [e]
• General Offensive-General Uprising [r]: A series of strategic concepts, still not fully understood in the West, from the Politburo of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, differing from Chinese and Soviet doctrine, and focused on creating the conditions for victory in first 1965, and then 1968. The eventual execution did not succeed, and caused a change in strategic direction, as well as shifts in power in the Party, after the Tet Offensive. [e]
• Vietnamization [r]: A policy, formalized by name in the Nixon Administration but reflecting earlier U.S. thinking, of making the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam primarily responsible for conventional ground combat, in South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War [e]
• Vietnamese Communist grand strategy [r]: Add brief definition or description

Events

• Operation ATTLEBORO [r]: Originally intended as a "live-fire training" exercise for the 196th Light Infantry Brigade, it became a 22,000 man operation that was the first of five major "search-and-destroy" missions of 1966-1967 in the Vietnam War [e]
• Battle of Ap Bac [r]: Fought on January 2, 1963, a small but politically significant battle of the Vietnam War, won by the Viet Cong against Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) troops with United States Army advisors. It was significant in that the command failures were publicized to the press by John Paul Vann; denials by U.S. senior commanders started the pattern of aggressive investigative journalism [e]
• Battle of Bong Son [r]: First battle, in the Vietnam War, involving combat by a reinforced helicopter-borne division, with all elements in combat at the same time. [e]
• Operation CEDAR FALLS [r]: 19-day Vietnam War "search and destroy" mission in January 1967 in the "Iron Triangle" area northwest of Saigon. [e]
• Dien Bien Phu [r]: Site in northern Vietnam of a 1954 decisive battle that soon forced France to relinquish control of colonial Indochina. [e]
• Battle of the Ia Drang [r]: First divisional-scale battle involving helicopter-borne air assault troops, with U.S. forces against those of North Vietnam [e]
• Operation JUNCTION CITY [r]: A large "search and destroy" beginning in late 1967 and lasting for 72 days, following Operation CEDAR FALLS north of Saigon, with a 35,000 soldier force of South Vietnamese and United States troops [e]
• Battle of Khe Sanh [r]: While there had been fighting at Khe Sanh as early as 1964, with U.S. forces arriving in 1966, the main Battle of Khe Sanh ran from January to April 1968, capturing attention before the start of the Tet offensive at the end of January [e]
• Operation LINEBACKER I [r]: A U.S. bombing campaign targeted against the specific North Vietnamese infrastructure of the Ho Chi Minh trail, with the operational-level goal of interrupting the supply line to People's Army of Viet Nam conventional troops in the South. [e]
• Operation LINEBACKER II [r]: The most intense air campaign of the Vietnam War, directed against North Vietnam to force it back to the Paris Peace Talks; a peace agreement was signed one month after the start of the 11 days of attacks [e]
• Operation ROLLING THUNDER [r]: Initial sustained U.S. air campaign against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), based on a controversial model of retaliation and gradually increasing pressure rather than a short and intense campaign intended to destroy, not dissuade and punish [e]
• Operation STARLIGHT [r]: The first offensive operation, in the Vietnam War, by the United States Marine Corps with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, which pre-empted a Viet Cong attack on the logistics base at Chu Lai [e]
• South Vietnamese Buddhist crisis and coup of 1963 [r]: Events, in South Vietnam, beginning with Buddhist protests and suppression in May 1963, and culminating with the overthrow and killing of President Ngo Dinh Diem in October [e]
• Buddhist crisis of 1966 [r]: A major internal power struggle between Buddhist politicians and the South Vietnamese military in 1966, with some pressure to end the war on neutralist terms [e]
• Battle of Vinh Yen [r]: A battle of the Indochinese revolution, with disastrous results for the Viet Minh, who attacked French positions, without cover, in range of air attack and naval gunfire [e]

People

Non-communist Vietnamese

• Bao Dai [r]: Emperor of Annam (1932-1945), and head of state of French Indochina until replaced by Ngo Dinh Diem after the Geneva Accords. [e]
• Nguyen Van Thieu [r]: Vietnamese officer and politician (1923–2001); president of South Vietnam 1967–1975. [e]
• Nguyen Cao Ky [r]: Republic of Vietnam Air Force general, active in military coups, who served as Premier and member of several juntas [e]
• Nguyen Dynasty [r]: The last dynasty of Vietnam, which did involve several shifts of power, but is generally traced from the overthrow of the Le Dynasty in 1789, through French colonization in 1858, to Bao Dai, who finally left Vietnam in 1954. [e]
• Gia Long [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Ngo Dinh Nhu [r]: Brother and chief political advisor to Republic of Vietnam president Ngo Dinh Diem. While he did carry out special projects such as the Strategic Hamlet Program, he primarily worked in the background, often offending opposition groups. Overthrown and killed in 1963, with his brother. [e]
• Duong Van Minh [r]: Vietnamese general who led the 1963 overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem and final President of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975. [e]
• Ngo Dinh Diem [r]: President of the Republic of Vietnam from shortly after its creation, to his overthrow and death in the Vietnam War, Buddhist crisis and military coup of 1963. He was of the Catholic minority, ascetic and autocratic, and strongly anti-Communist [e]
• Nguyen Ngoc Tho‎ [r]: Under Ngo Dinh Diem and for a time after his overthrow, Vice-President of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Of the Buddhist majority rather than Diem's Catholic minority, while he did not command major personal forces, he had important roles in brokering arrangements with the politically powerful Buddhists, including after the Vietnam War, Buddhist crisis and military coup of 1963. [e]
• Phan Quang Dan‎ [r]: A Vietnamese nationalist whose political career started under France, in opposition under Ngo Dinh Diem, and through the end of South Vietnam [e]
• Tran Van Huong [r]: South Vietnamese civilian politician, a Catholic but generally opposed to Ngo Dinh Diem, who was Prime Minister twice as well as Vice President, under military dominated rule but maintaining a certain personal independence and integrity, if authoritarianism [e]
• Trung Sisters [r]: Vietnamese leaders of a revolt against Chinese government, in the first century CE; still actively celebrated as symbols of Vietnamese national identity [e]

U.S.

• Dwight D. Eisenhower [r]: (1890-1969) A career soldier who was the top Allied commander in Europe in World War II, and who later served as the 34th president of the United States (1953-1961). [e]
• John Foster Dulles [r]: U.S. Secretary of State during most of the Eisenhower administration; adamant about containment of, rather than compromise with, Communists. Allen Dulles was his brother and Director of Central Intelligence [e]
• Arthur Radford [r]: Admiral and Chief of Naval Operations of the United States Navy, 1953-1957; strong advocate of U.S. military intervention to aid France at Dien Bien Phu during the colonial period of the Vietnam War [e]
• John F. Kennedy [r]: American politician (1917-1963); president 1961-1963; assassinated in Dallas. [e]
• Robert McNamara [r]: A specialist in quantitative management who became president of the Ford Motor Company, but was quickly nominated as Secretary of Defense, becoming a major architect of policy, especially for the Vietnam War, in the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations. [e]
• Lyndon B. Johnson [r]: American politician (1908-1973); president 1963–1969; known for his civil rights bills and "The Great Society". [e]
• George Ball [r]: Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, who regularly advised against escalation in the Vietnam War, believing it detracted from U.S. priorities in Europe [e]
• William Westmoreland [r]: General in the U.S. Army; Commander, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (COMUSMACV)] 1964–1968; Chief of Staff of the Army 1968–1972. [e]
• Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. [r]: (1902-1985) was a representative and Senator from Massachusetts, Vice Presidential nominee (1960) and ambassador to Vietnam. [e]
• Edward Lansdale [r]: A U.S. Air Force general on assignment to the CIA, key counterinsurgency advisor to Phillipine President Ramon Magsaysay, involved in French Indochina and South Vietnam 1954-1960, although lost influence in U.S. policymaking through bureaucratic infighting [e]
• Henry Kissinger [r]: (1923—) American academic, diplomat, and simultaneously Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Secretary of State in the Nixon Administration; promoted realism (foreign policy) and détente with China and the Soviet Union; shared 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for ending the Vietnam War; Director, Atlantic Council [e]
• Ellsworth Bunker [r]: United States Ambassador and chief of the United States Mission to the Republic of Vietnam, (April 28, 1967 — May 11, 1973). [e]
• Frederick Nolting Jr. [r]: U.S. ambassador and head of the United States Mission to the Republic of Vietnam, from May 10 to August 15, 1963. A career Foreign Service Officer, he was preceded by Elbridge Durbrow, and succeeded by Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.. A supporter of Ngo Dinh Diem, he did not agree with the policy of U.S. support for a coup against Diem. [e]
• Elbridge Dubrow [r]: U.S. Foreign Service Officer and Ambassador to South Vietnam, 1957-1961 [e]
• Graham Martin [r]: Last U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam, leaving in the last helicopter lift from Saigon in 1975 [e]
• Maxwell Taylor [r]: U.S. Army officer who commanded Airborne units in the Second World War, he rose to full general and Chief of Staff of the Army. Recalled from retirement by John F. Kennedy, he took on a number of politicomilitary roles including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Ambassador to South Vietnam. [e]
• McGeorge Bundy [r]: Harvard University professor and dean who became Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs in the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Administrations between 1961-1966. [e]
• William Bundy [r]: Central Intelligence Agency officer who, who shifted to the Department of Defense during the John F. Kennedy administration, and then became Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. [e]
• Robert McNamara [r]: A specialist in quantitative management who became president of the Ford Motor Company, but was quickly nominated as Secretary of Defense, becoming a major architect of policy, especially for the Vietnam War, in the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations. [e]
• Harold Johnson [r]: U.S. Chief of Staff of the Army between 1964 and 1968, he was a full general who found himself increasingly at odds with the Vietnam War strategy of Lyndon Baines Johnson and William Westmoreland. He sponsored research on better approaches to counterinsurgency [e]
• Creighton Abrams [r]: General in the U.S. Army, who was the last head of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam and then Chief of Staff of the Army, who built the volunteer army and restructured the reserve components under the Total Force Concept [e]
• Edward Lansdale [r]: A U.S. Air Force general on assignment to the CIA, key counterinsurgency advisor to Phillipine President Ramon Magsaysay, involved in French Indochina and South Vietnam 1954-1960, although lost influence in U.S. policymaking through bureaucratic infighting [e]
• Lucien Conein [r]: (1919-1998), a U.S. clandestine operations officer working both for the Office of Strategic Services and the Central Intelligence Agency; he was the direct contact to the 1963 coup against Ngo Dinh Diem. [e]
• William Colby [r]: A U.S. intelligence and special operations officer eventually becoming Director of Central Intelligence (1973-1976). [e]
• Robert Komer [r]: U.S. national security official (1922-2000), best known for heading the U.S. pacification program during the Vietnam War, in the Johnson Administration [e]

Communist Vietnamese

• Ho Chi Minh [r]: Vietnamese communist and nationalist leader and revolutionary (1890–1969); president of North Vietnam 1946–1969. [e]
• Vo Nguyen Giap [r]: The most prominent general of the Viet Minh, the People's Army of Viet Nam, and eventually Defense Minister and Politburo member of North Vietnam [e]
• Pham Van Dong [r]: Early Indochinese revolutionary, and then Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North) and the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam for 30 years [e]
• Chu Huy Man [r]: A Senior General of the People's Army of Viet Nam, he was its first division commander, at the Battle of the Ia Drang. He later was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam [e]
• Truong Chinh [r]: North Vietnamese Politburo member and political theorist, especially advocating agrarian land reform, class struggle, and the "political dau trinh" form of strategy rather than the more military form of Vo Nguyen Giap. Both were eclipsed in power by Le Duan. [e]
• Bui Tin [r]: A Senior Colonel in the People's Army of Viet Nam, serving as a staff officer and a journalist for official publications, who was later exiled for his writings on the war [e]
• Le Duan [r]: Effective political heir, as leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), when Ho Chi Minh's health declined. While he did not depose his internal rivals, he gained power over Vo Nguyen Giap and Truong Chinh. [e]
• Le Duc Tho [r]: A member of the Politburo of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, who was the true, not public, senior negotiator at the Paris Peace Talks, although listed as "special adviser" [e]

Other

• Bernard Fall [r]: Add brief definition or description
• David Halberstam [r]: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, who was especially controversial for his coverage of the Vietnam War, where some thought he was providing critical investigation for the public, while others believed he was undermining the war effort [e]
• Walter Cronkite [r]: (1916-) Television journalist born in St. Joseph, Missouri. [e]
• Neil Sheehan [r]: A Pulitzer Prize winning American journalist most known for his work on the Vietnam War, considered one of the key sources of truth by some and as a biased opponent by others. He received the Pentagon Papers and oversaw the publication of these classified historical documents in the New York Times. He is also known for his complex biography and war history of John Paul Vann, A Bright and Shining Lie. [e]

Organizations

• Army of the Republic of Viet Nam [r]: A term describing both the ground force specifically, and the armed forces generally, of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War and Fall of South Vietnam [e]
• I Corps tactical zone [r]: The geographic command, under the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam, for the northernmost provinces of South Vietnam. It directly faced North Vietnam across the Demilitarized Zone, as well as having an important boundary with Laos. [e]
• II Corps tactical zone [r]: The geographical command of the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam that covered more land mass than any other region, in Central Vietnam including the Highlands. It roughly corresponded with the operational area of the U.S. II Field Force Vietnam. [e]
• III Corps tactical zone [r]: In the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam, the geographic command responsible for Saigon, the national capital, and its surrounding provinces. While relatively small in land mass, it had a large part of the population and the bulk of economy and industry. [e]
• IV Corps tactical zone [r]: The southernmost regional command of the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam, including the Mekong River Delta. [e]

• Can Lao [r]: A South Vietnamese semisecret political organization controlled by the Diem brothers [e]
• Dan Xa Dang [r]: A short-lived, nationalist, non-Communist political party of the Cochin China region of French Indochina in the late 1940s [e]
• Dong Min Hoi [r]: A broad-front coalition, formed with Chinese sponsorship, by Vietnamese nationalists while Vichy France and Japan controlled French Indochina, formed in October 1942. Its coalition included members of the Communist Viet Minh and various non-Communist groups such as the VNQDD [e]
• Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang [r]: One of the two nationalist parties opposing French colonial rule in Indochina, the other being its ultimate rival, the Vietnamese Communist Party. Purged from North Vietnam. [e]

• Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Military Assistance Command, Vietnam [r]: Headquarters for most U.S. combat and support units assisting the Republic of Vietnam [e]
• MACV-SOG [r]: The U.S. organization responsible for covert operations against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, as well as related cross-border operations from South Vietnam into Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam War; the abbreviation had an unclassified cover meaning, but was actually the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Special Operations Group [e]

• National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam [r]: A political movement, in South Vietnam, opposed to the Republic of Vietnam, and certainly dominated if not completely controlled by the North. It acted as a shadow government and had the Viet Cong as a military wing. [e]
• People's Army of Viet Nam [r]: The Communist military forces originally of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (i.e., North Vietnam), and then of the country after it was forcibly reunified in 1975. [e]}
• Viet Minh [r]: A short name for the Communist-dominated national revolutionary movement that overthrew the colonial government of French Indochina [e]
• Viet Cong [r]: The military wing of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF); a generic term for Communist forces in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War [e]

Other related topics

• Air assault [r]: Military operations in which infantry are carried by aircraft onto, or very near, the target, or by parachuting. The aircraft may be helicopters, tilt-rotor aircraft, short-landing transports, or, historically, gliders. [e]

Organizations

• Central Intelligence Agency [r]: The principal civilian intelligence organization of the United States, specializing in all-source intelligence analysis, clandestine human-source intelligence, and covert action. [e]
• Joint Chiefs of Staff [r]: The staff committee of the most senior members of the U.S. military services, charged with policy advice, doctrinal development, and preparedness rather than operational control of forces [e]
• United States Pacific Command [r]: The U.S. Unified Combatant Command, headquartered in Hawaii, and responsible for the Pacific and East Asia [e]
• United States Army [r]: Branch of the United States Armed Forces with the principal responsibility of conducting large-scale ground combat [e]
• United States Army Special Forces [r]: United States Army organization originally created to train and lead guerillas, highly qualified to work with other cultures; acquired additional missions including foreign internal defense, direct action (military), special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, etc. [e]

Code words

• BARREL ROLL: Covert bombing campaign against the Ho Chi Minh Trail
• Operation Bolo [r]: An offensive counter-air operation, sometimes called a fighter sweep, in which a formation of aircraft, looking like bombers and escorts, flew into North Vietnam to invite fighter attack; the attackers discovered that the "bombers" were actually air superiority fighters [e]
• DESOTO: Patrols, off the coast of North Vietnam, with one or more destroyers with a signal intelligence intercept van temporarily mounted on deck
• MARKET TIME: naval patrol operations against supplies and personnel being landed along the cost