Vietnam War

The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in <a href="/facts/Vietnam/0ulfA8Eq">Vietnam</a>, <a href="/facts/Laos/S0afugjX">Laos</a>, and <a href="/facts/Cambodia/t1wJd6GU">Cambodia</a> fought between <a href="/facts/North_Vietnam/1d0osuEy">North Vietnam</a> (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and <a href="/facts/South_Vietnam/2QwTFmzd">South Vietnam</a> (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other <a href="/facts/Anti-communist/bJuolzxo">anti-communist</a> nations. The conflict was the second of the <a href="/facts/Indochina_wars/0YtB5hbA">Indochina wars</a> and a <a href="/facts/Proxy_war/uSySFXLM">proxy war</a> of the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a> between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial <a href="/facts/Wars_of_national_liberation/PUz88cLR">wars of national liberation</a>, a theater in the Cold War, and a <a href="/facts/Civil_war/bMhgxnxC">civil war</a>, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct <a href="/facts/United_States_in_the_Vietnam_War/rr8sqUDg">US military involvement</a> escalated from 1965 until its withdrawal in 1973. The fighting spilled into the <a href="/facts/Laotian_Civil_War/UqQ3jLFA">Laotian</a> and <a href="/facts/Cambodian_Civil_War/Wu91I43X">Cambodian Civil Wars</a>, which ended with all three countries becoming <a href="/facts/Communism/PkUwa9xK">communist</a> in 1975.
After the defeat of the <a href="/facts/French_Union/7PWc4WKK">French Union</a> in the <a href="/facts/First_Indochina_War/oQW2oRrR">First Indochina War</a> that began in 1946, Vietnam gained independence in the <a href="/facts/1954_Geneva_Conference/oBs72jK7">1954 Geneva Conference</a> but was divided in two at the <a href="/facts/17th_parallel_north/mpBxXmT6">17th parallel</a>: the <a href="/facts/Viet_Minh/l03MGQh5">Viet Minh</a>, led by <a href="/facts/Ho_Chi_Minh/JLRhYPI7">Ho Chi Minh</a>, took control of North Vietnam, while the US assumed financial and military support for South Vietnam, led by <a href="/facts/Ngo_Dinh_Diem/m6pYmcEQ">Ngo Dinh Diem</a>. The North Vietnamese supplied and directed the <a href="/facts/Viet_Cong/hkoWcwRy">Viet Cong</a> (VC), a <a href="/facts/Common_front/jm3S3VcP">common front</a> of dissidents in the south which intensified a <a href="/facts/Guerrilla_war/IMWNg4bI">guerrilla war</a> from 1957. In 1958, North Vietnam <a href="/facts/North_Vietnamese_invasion_of_Laos/FbmMtt7I">invaded Laos</a>, establishing the <a href="/facts/Ho_Chi_Minh_trail/vWNdwKek">Ho Chi Minh trail</a> to supply the VC. By 1963, the north had covertly sent 40,000 soldiers of its <a href="/facts/People%2527s_Army_of_Vietnam/ayoTsmQP">People's Army of Vietnam</a> (PAVN), armed with Soviet and Chinese weapons, to fight in the insurgency in the south. President <a href="/facts/John_F._Kennedy/1cdDaswg">John F. Kennedy</a> increased US involvement from 900 <a href="/facts/Military_Assistance_Advisory_Group/VmSHnzeK">military advisors</a> in 1960 to 16,000 in 1963 and sent more aid to the <a href="/facts/Army_of_the_Republic_of_Vietnam/93VwySnx">Army of the Republic of Vietnam</a> (ARVN), which failed to produce results. In 1963, Diem was killed in <a href="/facts/1963_South_Vietnamese_coup_d%2527%25C3%25A9tat/vIwECNEX">a US-backed military coup</a>, which added to the south's instability.
Following the <a href="/facts/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident/BoXp51py">Gulf of Tonkin incident</a> in 1964, the US Congress passed <a href="/facts/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Resolution/SnYs3nh6">a resolution</a> that gave President <a href="/facts/Lyndon_B._Johnson/PKNthHX1">Lyndon B. Johnson</a> authority to increase military presence without declaring war. Johnson launched <a href="/facts/Operation_Rolling_Thunder/k5koDMHf">a bombing campaign of the north</a> and sent combat troops, dramatically increasing deployment to 184,000 by 1966, and 536,000 by 1969. US forces relied on <a href="/facts/Air_supremacy/5NweGjhm">air supremacy</a> and overwhelming firepower to conduct <a href="/facts/Search_and_destroy/4BbP815E">search and destroy</a> operations in rural areas. In 1968, North Vietnam launched the <a href="/facts/Tet_Offensive/ImMHIwCv">Tet Offensive</a>, which was a tactical defeat but convinced many Americans the war could not be won. Johnson's successor, <a href="/facts/Richard_Nixon/HS8uXAoC">Richard Nixon</a>, began "<a href="/facts/Vietnamization/6MggW3xc">Vietnamization</a>" from 1969, which saw the conflict fought by an expanded ARVN while US forces withdrew. The <a href="/facts/1970_Cambodian_coup_d%2527%25C3%25A9tat/RGYcW9Vk">1970 Cambodian coup d'état</a> resulted in a PAVN invasion and US–ARVN <a href="/facts/Cambodian_campaign/d9Xqh9Tc">counter-invasion</a>, escalating its civil war. US troops had mostly withdrawn from Vietnam by 1972, and the 1973 <a href="/facts/Paris_Peace_Accords/EpE1SKg3">Paris Peace Accords</a> saw the rest leave. The accords were broken and fighting continued until the <a href="/facts/1975_spring_offensive/48Crlf90">1975 spring offensive</a> and <a href="/facts/Fall_of_Saigon/9jrBqnvp">fall of Saigon</a> to the PAVN, marking the war's end. North and South Vietnam were reunified in 1976.
The war exacted an <a href="/facts/Vietnam_War_casualties/MBQ2ea3U">enormous cost</a>: estimates of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed range from 970,000 to 3 million. Some 275,000–310,000 <a href="/facts/Khmer_people/QpC03RhC">Cambodians</a>, 20,000–62,000 <a href="/facts/Lao_people/Stshtq3J">Laotians</a>, and 58,220 US service members died. Its end would precipitate the <a href="/facts/Vietnamese_boat_people/IFCazhXy">Vietnamese boat people</a> and the larger <a href="/facts/Indochina_refugee_crisis/cPYQSkT0">Indochina refugee crisis</a>, which saw millions leave Indochina, of which about 250,000 perished at sea. 20% of South Vietnam's jungle was sprayed with <a href="/facts/Agent_Orange/L73dWGkn">toxic herbicides</a>, which led to significant health problems.: 144–145  The <a href="/facts/Khmer_Rouge/fEDLaMwY">Khmer Rouge</a> carried out the <a href="/facts/Cambodian_genocide/G4MAgPYQ">Cambodian genocide</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Cambodian%25E2%2580%2593Vietnamese_War/tVTha8PM">Cambodian–Vietnamese War</a> began in 1978. In response, China <a href="/facts/Sino-Vietnamese_War/S0Qq3kI5">invaded Vietnam</a>, with <a href="/facts/Sino-Vietnamese_conflicts_(1979%25E2%2580%25931991)/cfdCe7NP">border conflicts</a> lasting until 1991. Within the US, the war gave rise to <a href="/facts/Vietnam_syndrome/oKQ2Cs0Y">Vietnam syndrome</a>, an aversion to American overseas military involvement, which, with the <a href="/facts/Watergate_scandal/7fEhrNXM">Watergate scandal</a>, contributed to the crisis of confidence that affected America throughout the 1970s.

Vietnam War open-in-new

Vietnam War