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The Vietnam War timeline trails a complicated era in American history.

Context: The fearful Cold War both preceded and lingered on long after the conflict in Vietnam, which was supposed to be a short military stint. The paranoia and fear associated with communism (on the heels of both WWII and the Korean War) became part of everyday American life. The heated Civil Rights movement was also in high form at this time.

We made this infographic of the Vietnam War timeline, including a few pre-war events. Below the infographic is a more detailed account of the timeline.

MORE INFOGRAPHICS!
American Wars timeline 2001-Present American Foreign Conflicts 2001-Present
November 1, 1955 - April 30, 1975

Pre-war events in Vietnam

1945 - 1954 - Japan, France, and Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh fight for control of Vietnam. In a final effort, France creates South Vietnam and establishes Saigon as its capitol.

1954 - Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh defeat the French and treaty negotiations split the country at the 17th parallel with Ho governing the North and French-selected Emperor Bao Dai in the South. Plans are set in place for an election to be held in 1956 with hopes of national reconciliation.

1955 - Anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem usurps Bao Dai and becomes president of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam. U.S. President Eisenhower pledges support to Diem and South Vietnam in the name of opposing communism. Under Diem's rule, 100,000 Viet Cong living in South Korea are arrested and many are tortured and killed.

1957 - Viet Cong retaliates against the repressive Diem regime.

1959 - South Vietnam Army joins the fight.

1960 - The National Liberation Front (NLF) forms to oppose Diem's cruelty and claims to be full of non-Communists as well as Communists.

1961 - President Kennedy increases military support in South Vietnam to combat the NLF, as Washington officials presume it to be a Communist ploy.

1962 - 9,000 US troops were stationed in South Vietnam.

1963 - Diem is killed in a coup led by his own generals. Three weeks later Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

1964 - Lyndon B. Johnson responds to political unrest in South Vietnam by increasing U.S. military presence, still. Operation Rolling Thunder begins regular bomb raids on North Korea after two U.S. boats were torpedoed in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1965 - In March, Johnson decides to send troops into combat in North Vietnam. In addition to 82,000 troops stationed in South Vietnam, he sends 100, 000 more in July. An anti-war movement is germinating in the U.S.

1966 - Johnson sends another 100,000 troops to Vietnam. Other countries send (significantly fewer) troops to aid South Vietnam: Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Thailand. North Vietnam receives aid from China and the Soviet Union.

1967 - American troops nears 500,000 and distrust among Americans builds both at home and in combat areas. Wounded Americans reaches 109, 527; casualties are up to 15,058. Protesters rally in front of the Pentagon. Other protests ensue in Japan and Western Europe.

1968 - North Vietnam attacks 100 South Vietnam cities, surprising South Vietnam and its allies. North Vietnam is unable to maintain control of the cities or gain any ground in the war. U.S. General Westmoreland requests 200,000 more troops, which Johnson denies and pledges to seek peace. Peace talks with Hanoi are unsuccessful; Richard Nixon becomes the new U.S. president. Nixon pulls ground troops and increases airmen in an attempt to decrease U.S. casualties; he continue peace negotiations, but North Vietnam's main condition includes American troops leaving Vietnam completely.

1969 - Anti-war movement gains momentum, especially after news reaches home that U.S. troops killed 400+ unarmed civilians in a village in March 1968. Over 250,000 protesters rally in peaceful protest-the largest in American history-in Washington, D.C. This movement caused division at home and on the war front.

1970 - U.S. and South Vietnamese forces break international law by invading Cambodia, and South Vietnam continues on to invade Laos. North Vietnam thwarts their attempts and new protests break out in America in response. Six students were killed by the National Guard in these protests.

1972 - Nixon stops the draft; 500,000+ "draft-dodgers" had avoided the draft, many fleeing to Canada. Hanoi finally agrees to a peace treaty, but Saigon refuses it. Nixon authorizes the Christmas Bombings (targeting Hanoi & Haiphong), and receives global disapproval.

1973 - Nixon withdraws American troops from Vietnam after reaching a peace agreement with North Korea. America's involvement ends, but the civil war continues for 2 more years.

1975 - Vietnam War ends when Saigon falls to the Viet Cong, and the divided country eventually becomes the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Sources:
A Vietnam War Timeline The Vietnam War

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Infographic - Vietnam War Timeline - VFW Southern Conference

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The Vietnam War timeline trails a complicated era in American history. Context: The fearful Cold War both preceded and lingered on long after the conflict in Vietnam, which was supposed to be a short military stint. The paranoia and fear associated with communism (on the heels of both WWII and the Korean War) became part of everyday American life.

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The Communist North Vietnamese Army (NVA) defeated the South Vietnamese Army, with the latter surrendering on April 30, 1975.

North Vietnam was actively supported by their South Vietnamese ally - Viet Cong (VC), along with the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. South Vietnam was actively supported by the United States.

On March 29, 1973, the U.S. withdrew from Saigon, the capital city of South Vietnam, and on August 15, 1973, the U.S. officially ended direct military involvement.

On April 30, 1975, the NVA and VC captured Saigon, and on the same day, South Vietnam President General Duong Van Minh and his entire cabinet surrendered to the Communists, finally ending the 20-year conflict. North and South Vietnam were united and became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with Saigon as its capital. The city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, after the North Vietnamese leader.
Casualties and cost of war United States
As per the US National Archives and Records Administration 2008, the total loss of American lives recorded during the Vietnam conflict was 58,220.

The break down, by category: Regular Military - 34,508; Selected Service personnel - 17,671; Reserve - 5,762; Not reported - 182; National Guard - 97.

Break down by service category: Army - 38,224; Marine Corps - 14,844; Air Force - 2,586; Navy - 2,559; Coast Guard - 7.

Break down by race: White - 49,830; Black or African American - 7,243; Hispanic One Race - 349; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander - 229; American Indian/Alaska Native - 226; Non-Hispanic more than one race - 204; Asian - 139.
Deaths by country
South Vietnam - 55,661; North Vietnam - 1,120; Laos - 728; Cambodia - 523; Thailand - 178; China - 10.

Total wounded: 303,644

Total missing: 1,596 as on 2015

Between 1953 and1974, the total cost to the United States was estimated to be $134.45 billion ($1.020 trillion at 2015 value). The breakdown: direct military cost $111 billion; US military aid to South Vietnam $16.138 billion; US economic aid to South Vietnam $7.315 billion.
Vietnam
There are varying accounts of the total number of civilian and military casualties in North and South Vietnam. As per estimates released by the Vietnamese government, the North Vietnamese side lost 2 million civilians and 1.1 million military personnel. These figures probably include deaths in Laos and Cambodia, which were also drawn into the conflict. The number on the South Vietnamese side is estimated to be around 300,000.
Genesis of the Vietnam War
From 1850 till 1954, France controlled French Indochina, a region that included present day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

In September 1940, the Japanese Imperial forces had occupied Indochina and had support of the French. France had already been occupied by Germany, and its colonies were treated as an extension to serve Germany and their allies' war effort.

In 1941, the Indochinese Communist Party created Viet Minh Common Front, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, to take on the occupying Japanese Imperial forces. At the time, Viet Minh was actively supported by the United States and the Chinese Nationalist Party.

As World War II ended, the Japanese established the Empire of Vietnam, with Bao Dai as its head. The war drained Vietnam of its food resources that were sent out to support the German-Japanese war effort. This, along with bad weather, contributed in creating a devastating famine during 1944-45. Ho Chi Minh-led Viet Minh, encouraged the starving people to raid warehouses that housed food grains. The resulting loot only made Ho Chi Minh more popular among the people.

With the British withdrawal from South Vietnam on March 26, 1946, Viet Minh began the guerrilla campaign against the French, with the aim of establishing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Viet Minh soon spread its operations into neighboring Laos and Cambodia.

Two developments contributed to the beginning of the Vietnam War; Communist coming to power in China in 1949; the Korean War in 1950.

In January,1950, the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union recognized the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, with Hanoi as its capital. This, along with the commencement of the Korean war in June the same year, drew the United States' attention for intervention in the region, in order to curb the growing communist influence.

China increased weapons supplies to Ho Chi Minh's forces, and the Cold War increasing tensions between the US and the Soviet Union, it was only a matter of time before the US got drawn into the conflict.

The US did not expect a protracted involvement and initially it restricted its involvement to supply of weapons, training and financial aid to the government in South Vietnam. But from 1965 onwards, the US committed its military forces in direct engagement and was to mark the beginning of a long-drawn-out war that culminated with the US withdrawal from Saigon on March 29, 1973.
Domestic opposition to the war
The United States government faced severe opposition from the American people who wanted the US to exit the war. Street protests against the war increased from 1967 onwards, putting pressure on the government to end American involvement. Domestic pressure, the OPEC oil crisis of 1973 and the Watergate Scandal, all contributed towards the US finally withdrawing from further involvement in the Vietnam War.

Today, the United States and Vietnam share a friendly relationship, with increasing mutual trade, tourism and people-to-people interaction.
Related Maps:

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The Communist North Vietnamese Army (NVA) defeated the South Vietnamese Army, with the latter surrendering on April 30, 1975. North Vietnam was actively supported by their South Vietnamese ally - Viet Cong (VC), along with the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union.

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Effects on Vietnam from the Vietnam War 

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Effects on Vietnam from the Vietnam War 

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Lasting for 20 years (1955-1975), the Vietnam war, as bloody as any other wars, took away more than 2 millions lives, in which many of them were civilians. 3 millions were wounded, and hundreds of thousands of children were left orphans. The war ruined both North and South Vietnam.

Between 1965 and 1973, the U.S. Air forces dropped around 8 millions ton of bombs in Vietnam. Basic infrastructure in the North was devastated especially after Operation Linebacker II lasting from 18 to 29 in December 1972.

In the South, the U.S. forces had used around 20 million gallons of herbicides from 1962 to 1971 especially in the North of Saigon and along the borders with Laos and Cambodia to reduce the dense jungle foliage that might conceal the Viet Cong (National Liberation Front) as well as to destroy crops that the enemy might use for subsistence. In 1969, around 1,034,300 hectares of forest was destroyed. " Agent Orange ", one of major herbicides used, has left a serious ecological and human impact on Vietnamese people's lives. Today there are still many children in Vietnam growing up with various diseases and disabilities affected by the harmful chemicals carried out in the war.

What is more, after the fall of Saigon, the Communists promptly began to operate "re-education" programs which captured millions of people in South Vietnam to the so-called "re-education camps" and "new economic zones" and forced them to do extremely harsh works. Their actions caused a lot of hatred between the North and South Vietnamese people, whose effects, to some extent, still last to date. Besides, millions of people who couldn't stand the harsh political policies & treatment of the new government tried hard to escape from South Vietnam and became refugees. It is estimated that around 200,000 to 400,000 "boat people" died on the sea. A few decades have passed but Vietnam remains a developing country under the Communist government.

On the United States' side, more than 58,000 American soldiers were killed while more than 150,000 others wounded. Moreover, according to Indochina Newsletter, Asia Resource Center (Special Issue 93-97), the U.S. government spent around $350 billion to $900 billion on the Vietnam War including veteran benefits and interests, which left a heavy burden on its economy.

But blood and money were not the only prices they had to pay. The news of atrocities such as the My Lai massacre questioned the U.S. claim of moral superiority and its status as the world defender of freedom and right. Together with the Watergate scandal, the war weakened American people's faith and confidence in their governments. In fact, there was a widespread public distrust of the government, especially in military decisions right after the war.

The Vietnam War also left many long lasting effects on the veterans who had fought hard in the war. Around 700,000 Vietnam veterans suffered psychological after-effects. The Vietnam War thoroughly changed the way the American approaches military actions.

Read more about how the Vietnam War affected America here.

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What was the impact of the Vietnam War? - The Vietnam War

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Similar questions: effects of the vietnam war? Lasting for 20 years (1955-1975), the Vietnam war, as bloody as any other wars, took away more than 2 millions lives, in which many of them were civilians. 3 millions were wounded, and hundreds of thousands of children were left orphans.

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Go to section 12 on the link

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The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians. Opposition to the war in the United States bitterly divided Americans, even after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. Communist forces ended the war by seizing control of South Vietnam in 1975, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.

Roots of the Vietnam War

Vietnam, a nation in Southeast Asia on the eastern edge of the Indochinese peninsula, had been under French colonial rule since the 19th century.

During World War II, Japanese forces invaded Vietnam. To fight off both Japanese occupiers and the French colonial administration, political leader Ho Chi Minh-inspired by Chinese and Soviet communism -formed the Viet Minh, or the League for the Independence of Vietnam.

Following its 1945 defeat in World War II, Japan withdrew its forces from Vietnam, leaving the French-educated Emperor Bao Dai in control. Seeing an opportunity to seize control, Ho's Viet Minh forces immediately rose up, taking over the northern city of Hanoi and declaring a Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) with Ho as president.

Seeking to regain control of the region, France backed Emperor Bao and set up the state of Vietnam in July 1949, with the city of Saigon as its capital.

Both sides wanted the same thing: a unified Vietnam. But while Ho and his supporters wanted a nation modeled after other communist countries, Bao and many others wanted a Vietnam with close economic and cultural ties to the West.

Did you know? According to a survey by the Veterans Administration, some 500,000 of the 3 million troops who served in Vietnam suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and rates of divorce, suicide, alcoholism and drug addiction were markedly higher among veterans.

When Did the Vietnam War Start?

The Vietnam War and active U.S. involvement in the war began in 1954, though ongoing conflict in the region had stretched back several decades.

After Ho's communist forces took power in the north, armed conflict between northern and southern armies continued until a decisive the northern Viet Minh's decisive victory in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. The French loss at the battle ended almost a century of French colonial rule in Indochina.
READ MORE: Vietnam War Timeline
The subsequent treaty signed in July 1954 at a Geneva conference split Vietnam along the latitude known as the 17th Parallel (17 degrees north latitude), with Ho in control in the North and Bao in the South. The treaty also called for nationwide elections for reunification to be held in 1956.

In 1955, however, the strongly anti-communist politician Ngo Dinh Diem pushed Emperor Bao aside to become president of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam (GVN), often referred to during that era as South Vietnam.

The Viet Cong

With the Cold War intensifying worldwide, the United States hardened its policies against any allies of the Soviet Union, and by 1955 President Dwight D. Eisenhower had pledged his firm support to Diem and South Vietnam.

With training and equipment from American military and the CIA, Diem's security forces cracked down on Viet Minh sympathizers in the south, whom he derisively called Viet Cong (or Vietnamese Communist), arresting some 100,000 people, many of whom were brutally tortured and executed.

By 1957, the Viet Cong and other opponents of Diem's repressive regime began fighting back with attacks on government officials and other targets, and by 1959 they had begun engaging the South Vietnamese army in firefights.

In December 1960, Diem's many opponents within South Vietnam-both communist and non-communist-formed the National Liberation Front (NLF) to organize resistance to the regime. Though the NLF claimed to be autonomous and that most of its members were not communists, many in Washington assumed it was a puppet of Hanoi.

Domino Theory

A team sent by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to report on conditions in South Vietnam advised a build-up of American military, economic and technical aid in order to help Diem confront the Viet Cong threat.

Working under the " domino theory," which held that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, many other countries would follow, Kennedy increased U.S. aid, though he stopped short of committing to a large-scale military intervention.

By 1962, the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam had reached some 9,000 troops, compared with fewer than 800 during the 1950s.

Gulf of Tonkin

A coup by some of his own generals succeeded in toppling and killing Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, in November 1963, three weeks before Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

The ensuing political instability in South Vietnam persuaded Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to further increase U.S. military and economic support.

In August of 1964, after DRV torpedo boats attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson ordered the retaliatory bombing of military targets in North Vietnam. Congress soon passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave Johnson broad war-making powers, and U.S. planes began regular bombing raids, codenamed Operation Rolling Thunder, the following year.

The bombing was not limited to Vietnam; from 1964-1973, the United States covertly dropped two million tons of bombs on neighboring, neutral Laos during the CIA-led "Secret War" in Laos. The bombing campaign was meant to disrupt the flow of supplies across the Ho Chi Minh trail into Vietnam and to prevent the rise of the Pathet Lao, or Lao communist forces. The U.S. bombings made Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world.

In March 1965, Johnson made the decision-with solid support from the American public-to send U.S. combat forces into battle in Vietnam. By June, 82,000 combat troops were stationed in Vietnam, and military leaders were calling for 175,000 more by the end of 1965 to shore up the struggling South Vietnamese army.

Despite the concerns of some of his advisers about this escalation, and about the entire war effort amid a growing anti-war movement, Johnson authorized the immediate dispatch of 100,000 troops at the end of July 1965 and another 100,000 in 1966. In addition to the United States, South Korea, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand also committed troops to fight in South Vietnam (albeit on a much smaller scale).

William Westmoreland

In contrast to the air attacks on North Vietnam, the U.S.-South Vietnamese war effort in the south was fought primarily on the ground, largely under the command of General William Westmoreland, in coordination with the government of General Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon.

Westmoreland pursued a policy of attrition, aiming to kill as many enemy troops as possible rather than trying to secure territory. By 1966, large areas of South Vietnam had been designated as "free-fire zones," from which all innocent civilians were supposed to have evacuated and only enemy remained. Heavy bombing by B-52 aircraft or shelling made these zones uninhabitable, as refugees poured into camps in designated safe areas near Saigon and other cities.

Even as the enemy body count (at times exaggerated by U.S. and South Vietnamese authorities) mounted steadily, DRV and Viet Cong troops refused to stop fighting, encouraged by the fact that they could easily reoccupy lost territory with manpower and supplies delivered via the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Cambodia and Laos. Additionally, supported by aid from China and the Soviet Union, North Vietnam strengthened its air defenses.

Vietnam War Protests

By November 1967, the number of American troops in Vietnam was approaching 500,000, and U.S. casualties had reached 15,058 killed and 109,527 wounded. As the war stretched on, some soldiers came to mistrust the government's reasons for keeping them there, as well as Washington's repeated claims that the war was being won.

The later years of the war saw increased physical and psychological deterioration among American soldiers-both volunteers and draftees-including drug use, post-traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD), mutinies and attacks by soldiers against officers and noncommissioned officers.
READ MORE: Why Were Vietnam War Vets Treated Poorly When They Returned Home
Between July 1966 and December 1973, more than 503,000 U.S. military personnel deserted, and a robust anti-war movement among American forces spawned violent protests, killings and mass incarcerations of personnel stationed in Vietnam as well as within the United States.

Bombarded by horrific images of the war on their televisions, Americans on the home front turned against the war as well: In October 1967, some 35,000 demonstrators staged a massive Vietnam War protest outside the Pentagon. Opponents of the war argued that civilians, not enemy combatants, were the primary victims and that the United States was supporting a corrupt dictatorship in Saigon.

Tet Offensive

By the end of 1967, Hanoi's communist leadership was growing impatient as well, and sought to strike a decisive blow aimed at forcing the better-supplied United States to give up hopes of success.

On January 31, 1968, some 70,000 DRV forces under General Vo Nguyen Giap launched the Tet Offensive (named for the lunar new year), a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam.

Taken by surprise, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces nonetheless managed to strike back quickly, and the communists were unable to hold any of the targets for more than a day or two.

Reports of the Tet Offensive stunned the U.S. public, however, especially after news broke that Westmoreland had requested an additional 200,000 troops, despite repeated assurances that victory in the Vietnam War was imminent. With his approval ratings dropping in an election year, Johnson called a halt to bombing in much of North Vietnam (though bombings continued in the south) and promised to dedicate the rest of his term to seeking peace rather than reelection.

Johnson's new tack, laid out in a March 1968 speech, met with a positive response from Hanoi, and peace talks between the U.S. and North Vietnam opened in Paris that May. Despite the later inclusion of the South Vietnamese and the NLF, the dialogue soon reached an impasse, and after a bitter 1968 election season marred by violence, Republican Richard M. Nixon won the presidency.

Vietnamization

Nixon sought to deflate the anti-war movement by appealing to a "silent majority" of Americans who he believed supported the war effort. In an attempt to limit the volume of American casualties, he announced a program called Vietnamization: withdrawing U.S. troops, increasing aerial and artillery bombardment and giving the South Vietnamese the training and weapons needed to effectively control the ground war.

In addition to this Vietnamization policy, Nixon continued public peace talks in Paris, adding higher-level secret talks conducted by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger beginning in the spring of 1968.

The North Vietnamese continued to insist on complete and unconditional U.S. withdrawal-plus the ouster of U.S.-backed General Nguyen Van Thieu-as conditions of peace, however, and as a result the peace talks stalled.

My Lai Massacre

The next few years would bring even more carnage, including the horrifying revelation that U.S. soldiers had mercilessly slaughtered more than 400 unarmed civilians in the village of My Lai in March 1968.

After the My Lai Masscre, anti-war protests continued to build as the conflict wore on. In 1968 and 1969, there were hundreds of protest marches and gatherings throughout the country.

On November 15, 1969, the largest anti-war demonstration in American history took place in Washington, D.C., as over 250,000 Americans gathered peacefully, calling for withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.

The anti-war movement, which was particularly strong on college campuses, divided Americans bitterly. For some young people, the war symbolized a form of unchecked authority they had come to resent. For other Americans, opposing the government was considered unpatriotic and treasonous.

As the first U.S. troops were withdrawn, those who remained became increasingly angry and frustrated, exacerbating problems with morale and leadership. Tens of thousands of soldiers received dishonorable discharges for desertion, and about 500,000 American men from 1965-73 became "draft dodgers," with many fleeing to Canada to evade conscription. Nixon ended draft calls in 1972, and instituted an all-volunteer army the following year.

Kent State Shooting

In 1970, a joint U.S-South Vietnamese operation invaded Cambodia, hoping to wipe out DRV supply bases there. The South Vietnamese then led their own invasion of Laos, which was pushed back by North Vietnam.

The invasion of these countries, in violation of international law, sparked a new wave of protests on college campuses across America. During one, on May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, National Guardsmen shot and killed four students. At another protest 10 days later, two students at Jackson State University in Mississippi were killed by police.

By the end of June 1972, however, after a failed offensive into South Vietnam, Hanoi was finally willing to compromise. Kissinger and North Vietnamese representatives drafted a peace agreement by early fall, but leaders in Saigon rejected it, and in December Nixon authorized a number of bombing raids against targets in Hanoi and Haiphong. Known as the Christmas Bombings, the raids drew international condemnation.

When Did the Vietnam War End?

In January 1973, the United States and North Vietnam concluded a final peace agreement, ending open hostilities between the two nations. War between North and South Vietnam continued, however, until April 30, 1975, when DRV forces captured Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City (Ho himself died in 1969).

More than two decades of violent conflict had inflicted a devastating toll on Vietnam's population: After years of warfare, an estimated 2 million Vietnamese were killed, while 3 million were wounded and another 12 million became refugees. Warfare had demolished the country's infrastructure and economy, and reconstruction proceeded slowly.

In 1976, Vietnam was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, though sporadic violence continued over the next 15 years, including conflicts with neighboring China and Cambodia. Under a broad free market policy put in place in 1986, the economy began to improve, boosted by oil export revenues and an influx of foreign capital. Trade and diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the U.S. resumed in the 1990s.

In the United States, the effects of the Vietnam War would linger long after the last troops returned home in 1973. The nation spent more than $120 billion on the conflict in Vietnam from 1965-73; this massive spending led to widespread inflation, exacerbated by a worldwide oil crisis in 1973 and skyrocketing fuel prices.

Psychologically, the effects ran even deeper. The war had pierced the myth of American invincibility and had bitterly divided the nation. Many returning veterans faced negative reactions from both opponents of the war (who viewed them as having killed innocent civilians) and its supporters (who saw them as having lost the war), along with physical damage including the effects of exposure to the toxic herbicide Agent Orange, millions of gallons of which had been dumped by U.S. planes on the dense forests of Vietnam.

In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was unveiled in Washington, D.C. On it were inscribed the names of 57,939 American men and women killed or missing in the war; later additions brought that total to 58,200.

PHOTO GALLERIES

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The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

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Brief summary of important people of during the War. 

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Brief summary of important people of during the War. 

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17. President Dwight Eisenhower

President who subscribed to the domino theory and initiated the USA's military relationship with Vietnam.

16. George Kennan

First articulated the Containment Doctrine (1947) that became a central tenet of Far East policy and was a key justification of the Vietnam war.

15. Võ Nguyên Giáp

Ho Chi Minh's premier general in the earliest days of the Viet Minh. His military brilliance was evident in the First Indochina War, and he supervised the anti-US war effort.

14. Le Duc Tho

Negotiated a peace deal with Henry Kissinger in Paris in 1972, agreeing to a ceasefire and then an end to official US involvement.

13. Senator William Fulbright

An Arkansas Senator and figureheard of the anti-war movement, Fulbright published The Arrogance of Power (1966) which criticised Johnson and his war strategy.

12. Madame Nhu

A francophile, de facto first lady of the Diem regime (married to Diem's brother Dinh Nhu) who was contemptuous of a public that truly hated her. She evaded the 1963 coup.

11. Lieutenant William Calley

US Army Lieutenant and the only soldier prosecuted for participating in the My Lai massacre (1968.) He was given a life-sentence in 1971, but was paroled in 1974.

10. President John Kennedy

Increased the US military's advisory presence in Vietnam to 16 200 by late 1963 and supported a military coup against the Diem regime.

9. General William Westmoreland

A US General who instituted the 'search-and-destroy- tactic which dominated US strategy in the late 60s and, with its attritional logic, heightened casualty figures on each side.

8. McGeorge Bundy

As special assistant for national security affairs under JFK and LBJ, Bundy consistently pressed for escalation before quitting in 1966.

7. Ngo Dinh Diem

Led the SV Republic Of Vietnam up until 1963, the Catholic Diem was supported by the US until late 1963.

His Catholicism alienated the Buddhist majority in Vietnam, and his goverment was crippled by corruption and autocracy, suppressing Buddhist demonstations and ignoring calls for free elections. He was assassinated in October 1963 in a US backed coup.

6. Robert McNamara

Secretary of Defence from 1961 to 1968, McNamara was an early, vocal advocate of escalation. He grew disillusioned as the war progressed and resigned after the Tet Offensive.

5. Henry Kissinger

Served as President Nixon's national security advisor, then as his Secretary of State. Kissinger was Nixon's closest advisor on Vietnam strategy (including the bombing of Cambodia) and together with Le Duc Tho negotiated the final peace agreement.

4. President Richard Nixon

The 37th President orchestrated the withdrawal from Vietnam, Vietnamised the war effort and authorized illegal military action in Cambodia and Laos.

3. President Lyndon Johnson

Having made the crucial 'July Decisions', Johnson bears ultimate responsibility for the American war effort up to 1968. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and Operation Rolling Thunder were under his direct authority.

2. Ho Chi Minh

Founder of the Viet Minh (1941), the highly westernised leader of the North Vietnamese insurgency against South Vietnam was the face of the enemy for the USA.

1. Le Duan

Arguably the most important figure of the Vietnam War, Le Duan was tasked with organising an underground Communist party organisation following Vietnam's division in 1954. In 1960, he became general secretary of the Workers' Party of Vietnam's central committee - a position that made him second in command only to party chairman Ho Chi Minh.

As the latter's health declined throughout the 1960s, Le Duan assumed more and more of his responsibilities, eventually succeeding Ho Chi Minh as leader of North Vietnam upon his death in 1969.

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President who subscribed to the domino theory and initiated the USA's military relationship with Vietnam. First articulated the Containment Doctrine (1947) that became a central tenet of Far East policy and was a key justification of the Vietnam war. Ho Chi Minh's premier general in the earliest days of the Viet Minh.

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Forrest tells the story of his time serving in the Vietnam War. He and his unit were searching for the Viet Cong, nicknamed "Charlie," and needed to be cautious of ambushes and other attacks. As Forrest tells his story, he describes the climate and terrain of the country.

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class hook classhook anticipatory set education entertaining videos clips engage inspire favorite tv television shows movies forrest gump american history vietnam war jungle warfare geography climate terrain cold

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Forrest tells the story of his time serving in the Vietnam War. He and his unit were searching for the Viet Cong, nicknamed "Charlie," and needed to be cautious of ambushes and other attacks. As Forrest tells his story, he describes the climate and terrain of the country.

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HISTORY CRUNCH - History Articles, Biographies, Infographics, Resources and More

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The main reason the United States got involved in Vietnam was the purpose of doing everything possible to keep communism from spreading around world. Since the beginning of the Cold War the United States had practiced a policy of containment against the expansion of communism, and wanted to prevent the ideology from taking root in different regions of the world. This containment policy is often referred to as the Truman Doctrine, since American President Harry S. Truman argued that the United States should actively support the containment of Soviet Communism in the years immediately after World War II. Further to this idea, the reasons for American involvement in the Vietnam War are often held as part of the Domino Theory.

The war in Vietnam was the result of years and decades of tensions within the country. For example, in the late 19th century France controlled the country as part of its colonial empire. This colonial history angered many in Vietnam and caused a growing sense of mistrust towards foreign powers. Next, Japan dominated the region in the years during World War II. After the war ended and Japan was defeated by the United States, France, with the aid of the United States, attempted to regain control over Vietnam. However, this attempt led to the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh, a communist revolutionary, and the Viet Minh independence movement. As such, France was defeated at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and North Vietnam came under the control of Ho Chi Minh and his communist forces. As well, in 1954, at a conference in Geneva, the country of Vietnam was officially divided along the 17th parallel. The northern half came under the control of communists and Ho Chi Minh. South Vietnam was controlled by Ngo Dinh Diem and was supported by western democracies such as the United States.

Diem ruled over South Vietnam as a dictator as the tensions between North and South Vietnam intensified. United States President Dwight Eisenhower supported the Diem regime, as the United States was interested in stopping the spread of communism in the region. For example, by 1960 the United States had sent nearly 700 "advisors" into South Vietnam along with other financial and military aid. Regardless, the Diem regime was not well liked by all people in the country, including Buddhists who were persecuted against by the Catholic leader.

Soon, the United States took an increased role militarily in Vietnam. After being elected president in 1960, John F. Kennedy increased the military advisors in Vietnam to 16,000. Next, in 1963, Kennedy supported an overthrow (coup d'etat) of the Diem regime which resulted in the death of Diem and his brother. Unfortunately, John F. Kennedy would be assassinated soon after on November 22nd, 1963. He was replaced by Lyndon Johnson who would have a profound impact on the escalation of the United States' involvement in Vietnam.

When Lyndon Johnson became president he was determined to prevent communism from spreading into Vietnam. In fact, his Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, advised Johnson to try to overwhelm the communist forces of North Vietnam in order to cause their retreat. The Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 would ultimately see the tensions in the region rapidly increase and cause the United States to take an increased role.

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The main reason the United States got involved in Vietnam was the purpose of doing everything possible to keep communism from spreading around world. Since the beginning of the Cold War the United States had practiced a policy of containment against the expansion of communism, and wanted to prevent the ideology from taking root in different regions of the world.

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Scroll down and look at number 7 "Vietnam Protests" please click and look at the pictures!

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The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians. Opposition to the war in the United States bitterly divided Americans, even after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. Communist forces ended the war by seizing control of South Vietnam in 1975, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.

Roots of the Vietnam War

Vietnam, a nation in Southeast Asia on the eastern edge of the Indochinese peninsula, had been under French colonial rule since the 19th century.

During World War II, Japanese forces invaded Vietnam. To fight off both Japanese occupiers and the French colonial administration, political leader Ho Chi Minh-inspired by Chinese and Soviet communism -formed the Viet Minh, or the League for the Independence of Vietnam.

Following its 1945 defeat in World War II, Japan withdrew its forces from Vietnam, leaving the French-educated Emperor Bao Dai in control. Seeing an opportunity to seize control, Ho's Viet Minh forces immediately rose up, taking over the northern city of Hanoi and declaring a Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) with Ho as president.

Seeking to regain control of the region, France backed Emperor Bao and set up the state of Vietnam in July 1949, with the city of Saigon as its capital.

Both sides wanted the same thing: a unified Vietnam. But while Ho and his supporters wanted a nation modeled after other communist countries, Bao and many others wanted a Vietnam with close economic and cultural ties to the West.

Did you know? According to a survey by the Veterans Administration, some 500,000 of the 3 million troops who served in Vietnam suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and rates of divorce, suicide, alcoholism and drug addiction were markedly higher among veterans.

When Did the Vietnam War Start?

The Vietnam War and active U.S. involvement in the war began in 1954, though ongoing conflict in the region had stretched back several decades.

After Ho's communist forces took power in the north, armed conflict between northern and southern armies continued until a decisive the northern Viet Minh's decisive victory in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. The French loss at the battle ended almost a century of French colonial rule in Indochina.
READ MORE: Vietnam War Timeline
The subsequent treaty signed in July 1954 at a Geneva conference split Vietnam along the latitude known as the 17th Parallel (17 degrees north latitude), with Ho in control in the North and Bao in the South. The treaty also called for nationwide elections for reunification to be held in 1956.

In 1955, however, the strongly anti-communist politician Ngo Dinh Diem pushed Emperor Bao aside to become president of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam (GVN), often referred to during that era as South Vietnam.

The Viet Cong

With the Cold War intensifying worldwide, the United States hardened its policies against any allies of the Soviet Union, and by 1955 President Dwight D. Eisenhower had pledged his firm support to Diem and South Vietnam.

With training and equipment from American military and the CIA, Diem's security forces cracked down on Viet Minh sympathizers in the south, whom he derisively called Viet Cong (or Vietnamese Communist), arresting some 100,000 people, many of whom were brutally tortured and executed.

By 1957, the Viet Cong and other opponents of Diem's repressive regime began fighting back with attacks on government officials and other targets, and by 1959 they had begun engaging the South Vietnamese army in firefights.

In December 1960, Diem's many opponents within South Vietnam-both communist and non-communist-formed the National Liberation Front (NLF) to organize resistance to the regime. Though the NLF claimed to be autonomous and that most of its members were not communists, many in Washington assumed it was a puppet of Hanoi.

Domino Theory

A team sent by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to report on conditions in South Vietnam advised a build-up of American military, economic and technical aid in order to help Diem confront the Viet Cong threat.

Working under the " domino theory," which held that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, many other countries would follow, Kennedy increased U.S. aid, though he stopped short of committing to a large-scale military intervention.

By 1962, the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam had reached some 9,000 troops, compared with fewer than 800 during the 1950s.

Gulf of Tonkin

A coup by some of his own generals succeeded in toppling and killing Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, in November 1963, three weeks before Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

The ensuing political instability in South Vietnam persuaded Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to further increase U.S. military and economic support.

In August of 1964, after DRV torpedo boats attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson ordered the retaliatory bombing of military targets in North Vietnam. Congress soon passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave Johnson broad war-making powers, and U.S. planes began regular bombing raids, codenamed Operation Rolling Thunder, the following year.

The bombing was not limited to Vietnam; from 1964-1973, the United States covertly dropped two million tons of bombs on neighboring, neutral Laos during the CIA-led "Secret War" in Laos. The bombing campaign was meant to disrupt the flow of supplies across the Ho Chi Minh trail into Vietnam and to prevent the rise of the Pathet Lao, or Lao communist forces. The U.S. bombings made Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in the world.

In March 1965, Johnson made the decision-with solid support from the American public-to send U.S. combat forces into battle in Vietnam. By June, 82,000 combat troops were stationed in Vietnam, and military leaders were calling for 175,000 more by the end of 1965 to shore up the struggling South Vietnamese army.

Despite the concerns of some of his advisers about this escalation, and about the entire war effort amid a growing anti-war movement, Johnson authorized the immediate dispatch of 100,000 troops at the end of July 1965 and another 100,000 in 1966. In addition to the United States, South Korea, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand also committed troops to fight in South Vietnam (albeit on a much smaller scale).

William Westmoreland

In contrast to the air attacks on North Vietnam, the U.S.-South Vietnamese war effort in the south was fought primarily on the ground, largely under the command of General William Westmoreland, in coordination with the government of General Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon.

Westmoreland pursued a policy of attrition, aiming to kill as many enemy troops as possible rather than trying to secure territory. By 1966, large areas of South Vietnam had been designated as "free-fire zones," from which all innocent civilians were supposed to have evacuated and only enemy remained. Heavy bombing by B-52 aircraft or shelling made these zones uninhabitable, as refugees poured into camps in designated safe areas near Saigon and other cities.

Even as the enemy body count (at times exaggerated by U.S. and South Vietnamese authorities) mounted steadily, DRV and Viet Cong troops refused to stop fighting, encouraged by the fact that they could easily reoccupy lost territory with manpower and supplies delivered via the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Cambodia and Laos. Additionally, supported by aid from China and the Soviet Union, North Vietnam strengthened its air defenses.

Vietnam War Protests

By November 1967, the number of American troops in Vietnam was approaching 500,000, and U.S. casualties had reached 15,058 killed and 109,527 wounded. As the war stretched on, some soldiers came to mistrust the government's reasons for keeping them there, as well as Washington's repeated claims that the war was being won.

The later years of the war saw increased physical and psychological deterioration among American soldiers-both volunteers and draftees-including drug use, post-traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD), mutinies and attacks by soldiers against officers and noncommissioned officers.
READ MORE: Why Were Vietnam War Vets Treated Poorly When They Returned Home
Between July 1966 and December 1973, more than 503,000 U.S. military personnel deserted, and a robust anti-war movement among American forces spawned violent protests, killings and mass incarcerations of personnel stationed in Vietnam as well as within the United States.

Bombarded by horrific images of the war on their televisions, Americans on the home front turned against the war as well: In October 1967, some 35,000 demonstrators staged a massive Vietnam War protest outside the Pentagon. Opponents of the war argued that civilians, not enemy combatants, were the primary victims and that the United States was supporting a corrupt dictatorship in Saigon.

Tet Offensive

By the end of 1967, Hanoi's communist leadership was growing impatient as well, and sought to strike a decisive blow aimed at forcing the better-supplied United States to give up hopes of success.

On January 31, 1968, some 70,000 DRV forces under General Vo Nguyen Giap launched the Tet Offensive (named for the lunar new year), a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam.

Taken by surprise, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces nonetheless managed to strike back quickly, and the communists were unable to hold any of the targets for more than a day or two.

Reports of the Tet Offensive stunned the U.S. public, however, especially after news broke that Westmoreland had requested an additional 200,000 troops, despite repeated assurances that victory in the Vietnam War was imminent. With his approval ratings dropping in an election year, Johnson called a halt to bombing in much of North Vietnam (though bombings continued in the south) and promised to dedicate the rest of his term to seeking peace rather than reelection.

Johnson's new tack, laid out in a March 1968 speech, met with a positive response from Hanoi, and peace talks between the U.S. and North Vietnam opened in Paris that May. Despite the later inclusion of the South Vietnamese and the NLF, the dialogue soon reached an impasse, and after a bitter 1968 election season marred by violence, Republican Richard M. Nixon won the presidency.

Vietnamization

Nixon sought to deflate the anti-war movement by appealing to a "silent majority" of Americans who he believed supported the war effort. In an attempt to limit the volume of American casualties, he announced a program called Vietnamization: withdrawing U.S. troops, increasing aerial and artillery bombardment and giving the South Vietnamese the training and weapons needed to effectively control the ground war.

In addition to this Vietnamization policy, Nixon continued public peace talks in Paris, adding higher-level secret talks conducted by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger beginning in the spring of 1968.

The North Vietnamese continued to insist on complete and unconditional U.S. withdrawal-plus the ouster of U.S.-backed General Nguyen Van Thieu-as conditions of peace, however, and as a result the peace talks stalled.

My Lai Massacre

The next few years would bring even more carnage, including the horrifying revelation that U.S. soldiers had mercilessly slaughtered more than 400 unarmed civilians in the village of My Lai in March 1968.

After the My Lai Masscre, anti-war protests continued to build as the conflict wore on. In 1968 and 1969, there were hundreds of protest marches and gatherings throughout the country.

On November 15, 1969, the largest anti-war demonstration in American history took place in Washington, D.C., as over 250,000 Americans gathered peacefully, calling for withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.

The anti-war movement, which was particularly strong on college campuses, divided Americans bitterly. For some young people, the war symbolized a form of unchecked authority they had come to resent. For other Americans, opposing the government was considered unpatriotic and treasonous.

As the first U.S. troops were withdrawn, those who remained became increasingly angry and frustrated, exacerbating problems with morale and leadership. Tens of thousands of soldiers received dishonorable discharges for desertion, and about 500,000 American men from 1965-73 became "draft dodgers," with many fleeing to Canada to evade conscription. Nixon ended draft calls in 1972, and instituted an all-volunteer army the following year.

Kent State Shooting

In 1970, a joint U.S-South Vietnamese operation invaded Cambodia, hoping to wipe out DRV supply bases there. The South Vietnamese then led their own invasion of Laos, which was pushed back by North Vietnam.

The invasion of these countries, in violation of international law, sparked a new wave of protests on college campuses across America. During one, on May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, National Guardsmen shot and killed four students. At another protest 10 days later, two students at Jackson State University in Mississippi were killed by police.

By the end of June 1972, however, after a failed offensive into South Vietnam, Hanoi was finally willing to compromise. Kissinger and North Vietnamese representatives drafted a peace agreement by early fall, but leaders in Saigon rejected it, and in December Nixon authorized a number of bombing raids against targets in Hanoi and Haiphong. Known as the Christmas Bombings, the raids drew international condemnation.

When Did the Vietnam War End?

In January 1973, the United States and North Vietnam concluded a final peace agreement, ending open hostilities between the two nations. War between North and South Vietnam continued, however, until April 30, 1975, when DRV forces captured Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City (Ho himself died in 1969).

More than two decades of violent conflict had inflicted a devastating toll on Vietnam's population: After years of warfare, an estimated 2 million Vietnamese were killed, while 3 million were wounded and another 12 million became refugees. Warfare had demolished the country's infrastructure and economy, and reconstruction proceeded slowly.

In 1976, Vietnam was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, though sporadic violence continued over the next 15 years, including conflicts with neighboring China and Cambodia. Under a broad free market policy put in place in 1986, the economy began to improve, boosted by oil export revenues and an influx of foreign capital. Trade and diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the U.S. resumed in the 1990s.

In the United States, the effects of the Vietnam War would linger long after the last troops returned home in 1973. The nation spent more than $120 billion on the conflict in Vietnam from 1965-73; this massive spending led to widespread inflation, exacerbated by a worldwide oil crisis in 1973 and skyrocketing fuel prices.

Psychologically, the effects ran even deeper. The war had pierced the myth of American invincibility and had bitterly divided the nation. Many returning veterans faced negative reactions from both opponents of the war (who viewed them as having killed innocent civilians) and its supporters (who saw them as having lost the war), along with physical damage including the effects of exposure to the toxic herbicide Agent Orange, millions of gallons of which had been dumped by U.S. planes on the dense forests of Vietnam.

In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was unveiled in Washington, D.C. On it were inscribed the names of 57,939 American men and women killed or missing in the war; later additions brought that total to 58,200.

PHOTO GALLERIES

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The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.