Full: Viet Nam Cong San
English: Vietnamese Communists
First used by President Diem in order to scorn the
insurgents, the guerrilla force known as Viet Cong that fought against South
Vietnam and the United States. Belonging
to the National Liberation Front, the Viet Cong became the “military arm” of
the organization, which was a collection of groups that opposed Diem’s
presidency. The goal of the organizations was to overthrow the Southern
government and reunify Vietnam. They later joined with the Viet Minh, combining
elements from both organizations. Majority of the organization was recruited to
Southern Vietnam after North Vietnam had penetrated into its southern
half. While the Viet Cong suffered major
losses during the Tet Offensive of 1968, as Britannica Online describes them,
“the Viet Cong fought essentially a guerrilla war of ambush, terrorism, and
sabotage.” [J]
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| Viet Cong flag: Click for more info! |
Hello Alicia,
ReplyDeleteI noticed some connections between your blog and the our homework readings. The article "An Assassination's Long Shadow" by Adam Hochschild shows how the Congolese, after being scorned by King Baudouin, raged against the violence and humiliations of colonialism. Also, in "The Afghan War," extensive guerrilla warfare eventually led to the Soviets, the US, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to resolve to an agreement. Overall, I realized that neither the Soviets nor the US ever directly fought against each other, rather, encouraged and provided different sides with weaponry that would counterattack each other. For instance, the US supplied shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles to the mujahideen which allowed them to neutralize Soviet air power. It's ridiculous that in the end they just decide to pull out and let Afghanistan do their own thing. What was the point of all this?