IB History Impact of the Vietnam Conflict Key Definitions

Agent Orange was a herbicide and defoliant used by the US military during the Vietnam War to destroy jungle cover and crops. It was sprayed over approximately 10% of South Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 under Operation Ranch Hand. Agent Orange contained dioxin, a highly toxic chemical compound linked to cancer, birth defects, and other severe health conditions in both Vietnamese civilians and US veterans exposed to it.

A regional organisation founded in 1967 by Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. ASEAN was partly a response to the instability created by the Vietnam War and communist insurgencies across the region. Its founding members sought to promote economic cooperation and political stability among non-communist Southeast Asian states.

The deliberate destruction of forest and agricultural vegetation using chemical agents, primarily for military purposes. During the Vietnam War, the US military sprayed approximately 77 million litres of defoliants across South Vietnam under Operation Ranch Hand (1962–1971) to deny the Viet Cong jungle cover and destroy food supplies. The most widely used defoliant was Agent Orange.

The Communist Party of Kampuchea, led by Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and attempted to create an agrarian utopia through forced collectivisation, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 1.5 to 2 million people.

The Paris Peace Accords, signed on 27 January 1973, ended direct US military involvement in the Vietnam War. The agreement called for a ceasefire, withdrawal of US forces, and the release of prisoners of war. It did not reunify Vietnam. Fighting between North and South Vietnam continued after the US withdrawal, ending with North Vietnamese forces capturing Saigon on 30 April 1975.

Detention facilities established by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam after 1975 for former South Vietnamese military officers, government officials, and others deemed politically unreliable. An estimated 1 to 2.5 million people passed through the camps; hundreds of thousands were held for years without trial. Conditions were harsh, with forced labour, malnutrition, and political indoctrination.

A US federal law passed by Congress over President Nixon's veto in November 1973. It requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing US armed forces to military action and limits any such engagement to 60 days without congressional authorisation. Passed in direct response to the Vietnam War, it was an attempt by Congress to reassert its constitutional war-making authority.