Viet Cong
Jungle tunnel fighters
The Viet Cong were communist guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, allied with North Vietnam against the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese government.
The term, derived from Vietnamese for "Vietnamese Communist," was used by opponents; the fighters called themselves the National Liberation Front.
Viet Cong ambushes made the jungle treacherous for American patrols.
Cold-era Indochina military engagement
- North VietnamFormerly divided nation's communist half
- South VietnamFormer U.S.-backed Asian state
- SaigonFormer Vietnamese capital
- HanoiVietnam's seat of government
DMZ · Agent Orange · napalm · My Lai Massacre · Fall of Saigon · Paris Peace Accords · Vietnamization · Tet Offensive
Surprise strike from concealment
- guerrilla warfareIrregular combat using ambushes
- booby-trapConcealed device causing harm
- tunnelEnclosed underground route
- jungle warfareArmed conflict in dense forest
hit-and-run · infiltration · sabotage · punji sticks · camouflage · sniper · reconnaissance · demolition
Collective ownership system
- Marxism-LeninismState-led revolutionary socialism
- Ho Chi MinhVietnamese nationalist leader
- revolutionarySeeking fundamental systemic change
- cadreCore of trained personnel
propaganda · doctrine · reunification · anti-colonialism · anti-imperialism · liberation · socialism · collective
Prolonged East-West standoff
- proxy warConflict fought through intermediaries
- Soviet UnionFormer communist superstate
- ChinaEast Asian superpower
- domino theoryContagious political collapse belief
containment · superpower · geopolitics · nuclear · ideological · communism · capitalism · escalation
Vietnam War
Cold-era Indochina military engagement
- North VietnamFormerly divided nation's communist half
- South VietnamFormer U.S.-backed Asian state
- SaigonFormer Vietnamese capital
Hanoi · DMZ · Agent Orange · napalm · My Lai Massacre · Fall of Saigon · Paris Peace Accords · Vietnamization · Tet Offensive · POW
ambush
Surprise strike from concealment
- guerrilla warfareIrregular combat using ambushes
- booby-trapConcealed device causing harm
- tunnelEnclosed underground route
jungle warfare · hit-and-run · infiltration · sabotage · punji sticks · camouflage · sniper · reconnaissance · demolition · clandestine
communism
Collective ownership system
- Marxism-LeninismState-led revolutionary socialism
- Ho Chi MinhVietnamese nationalist leader
- revolutionarySeeking fundamental systemic change
cadre · propaganda · doctrine · reunification · anti-colonialism · anti-imperialism · liberation · socialism · collective · political commissar
Cold War
Prolonged East-West standoff
- proxy warConflict fought through intermediaries
- Soviet UnionFormer communist superstate
- ChinaEast Asian superpower
domino theory · containment · superpower · geopolitics · nuclear · ideological · communism · capitalism · escalation · détente
- Rebel GroupsFARC, IRA, ETA, PLO, Sandinistas
- resistanceresistance, defiance, resistance fighters, civil resistance, resist
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis
- communismMarx, Marxism, Leninism, Lenin, proletariat
- Vietnam WarVietnam War, Vietnam, Tet Offensive, My Lai Massacre, Ho Chi Minh Trail
- Asian Warfaresamurai, ninja, katana, shogun, bushido