Vietnam War

Previous: World War II
Concurrent: Part of the Cold War
*Korean War
*South African Border War
*Arab-Israeli Conflict
Next: Unknown	 	
	 	
Start: November 1, 1955
End: April 30, 1975
Location:
*South Vietnam
*North Vietnam
*Cambodia
*Laos
Outcome: North Vietnamese Victory
*Withdrawal of American forces from Indochina
*Dissolution of the Republic of Vietnam
*Communist governments take power in South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos	 	
{| align="center" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="article-table" style="height:250px;width:250px;"	Anti-Communist Force's:	Communist Force's:
*Republic of Vietnam
*United States
*Republic of Korea
*Australia 
*Philippines
*New Zealand
*Thailand
*Khmer Republic
*Kingdom of Laos
Supported By:
*Spain
*Republic of China	
*Democratic Republic of Vietnam
*Viet Cong
*Khmer Rouge
*Pathet Lao
Supported By:
*Democratic People's Republic of Korea
*People's Republic of China (to 1968)
*Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
*Republic of Cuba	
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist countries.
The Viet Cong (also known as the National Liberation Front, or NLF), a lightly armed South Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The Vietnam People's Army (North Vietnamese Army) engaged in a more conventional war, at times committing large units into battle. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, and airstrikes.
The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment. The North Vietnamese government and Viet Cong viewed the conflict as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state.
American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962.
U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned international borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. American involvement in the war peaked in 1968, at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this, U.S. ground forces were gradually withdrawn as part of a policy known as Vietnamization. Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued.
Category:Wars