IB History Reasons for Conflict in Vietnam Key Definitions

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (March-May 1954) was the decisive engagement of the First Indochina War, in which Viet Minh forces under General Vo Nguyen Giap surrounded and defeated a French fortified position in northwestern Vietnam. The French surrender on 7 May 1954 ended French military power in Indochina and led directly to the Geneva Accords of 1954.

The conflict between France and the Viet Minh independence movement led by Ho Chi Minh. France sought to reassert colonial control over Vietnam after World War II; the Viet Minh fought a guerrilla campaign that culminated in France's decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu (May 1954). The war ended with the Geneva Accords, which temporarily divided Vietnam at the 17th Parallel.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed by the US Congress on 7 August 1964, authorising President Johnson to use military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war. It was triggered by reported attacks on US destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin on 2 and 4 August 1964. The 4 August incident was later found to be highly doubtful or fabricated.

The Viet Cong (formally the National Liberation Front, NLF) was the communist guerrilla force that fought against the US-backed government of South Vietnam. It operated in the south, using ambushes, booby traps, and a network of tunnels to counter US firepower. The Viet Cong was politically guided by North Vietnam but included many southerners opposed to the Diem government.