Vietnam War

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Watch the Viet Cong's guerrilla communist forces move down the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos and Cambodia

Track the rapid escalation of the Vietnam War under Pres. John F. Kennedy's administration

Kennedy, John F.: presidential address on the Pathet Lao

For Students

U.S. trooops of the 7th. and 9th. divisions wade through marshland during a joint operation on South Vietnam's Mekong Delta, April 1967.

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Key Facts of the Vietnam War

Vietnam War Timeline

Causes and Effects of the Vietnam War

Vietnam War: Facts & Related Content

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Facts

Also Known As	Second Indochina War
Date	1954 - 1975
Location	Vietnam
Participants	United States • Viet Cong
Context	Indochina wars

Did You Know?

The total tonnage of bombs the United States dropped on North Vietnam surpassed that of the bombing of Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II.
As of January 15, 2018, 1,601 American soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War remained unaccounted for.
Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr., was the only soldier ever sentenced in connection with the My Lai Massacre.

Photos and Videos

self-immolation of Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc in protest during the Vietnam War

Examine the state of the U.S.-backed and Diem-led South Vietnamese army against the communist Viet Cong

Learn about the U.S. government's prior knowledge of the military coup against and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem

Analyze the effects of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed under the Lyndon Johnson administration during the Vietnam War

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Topics

Agent Orange domino theory boat people The Deer Hunter

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Timeline

Gulf of Tonkin incident

August 2, 1964 - August 4, 1964

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

August 5, 1964

Battle of Ia Drang

November 14, 1965 - November 18, 1965

See how the North Vietnamese-backed Viet Cong launched surprise attacks across South Vietnam

Tet Offensive

January 31, 1968

My Lai Massacre

March 16, 1968

Fall of Saigon

March 4, 1975 - April 30, 1975

Key People

Richard Nixon

president of United States

John F. Kennedy

president of United States

Lyndon B. Johnson

president of United States

Ho Chi Minh

president of North Vietnam

Gerald Ford

president of the United States

Harold K. Johnson

United States Army officer

Henry Kissinger

United States statesman

William Westmoreland

United States general

John Kerry

United States senator and secretary of state

Creighton Williams Abrams, Jr.

United States general

Robert S. McNamara

United States statesman

William Yarborough

United States Army officer

Norodom Sihanouk

king of Cambodia

Seymour Hersh

American journalist

Vo Nguyen Giap

Vietnamese general

Mike Mullen

United States admiral

Ngo Dinh Diem

Vietnamese political leader

Thanom Kittikachorn

prime minister of Thailand

McGeorge Bundy

United States government official

Nguyen Huu Tho

president of Vietnam

Causes and Effects

Causes

A parallel increase in support to the North from both China and the Soviet Union
An insurgency of communist Vietnamese (known as the Viet Cong) against the South Vietnam Army beginning in the late 1950s that grew into an ongoing guerilla campaign
Attacks on two U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 5, 1964, which greatly escalated U.S. military involvement in the region and led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving the U.S. president new authority to wage war
Increasing financial and military aid from the U.S. to South Vietnam in an attempt to limit the spread of communism in the area
The defeat of France in the French Indochina War in 1954, which produced a communist government in the victorious North Vietnam (above the 17th parallel) and a democratic government in the French-influenced South Vietnam

Effects

Economic downturn and political isolation for Vietnam, which was only supported by the Soviet Union and its allies in Eastern Europe
In contrast to the fears of the U.S. government before the war, the creation of a unified, communist Vietnam did not start a "domino effect" of spreading communism throughout the countries of the region
The collapse of the South Vietnamese government in the spring of 1975, resulting in a unified communist government in the country
The deaths of as many as 2 million Vietnamese civilians, 1.1 million North Vietnamese soldiers, 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers, and 58,000 U.S. servicemen
The emigration of some 2 million refugees from Vietnam from the late 1970s to the early '90s

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