Vietnam | Define Vietnam at Dictionary.com Vietnam [vee-et-nahm, -nam, vyet-, vee-it-] /viˌɛtˈnɑm, -ˈnæm, ˌvyɛt-, ˌvi ɪt-/ Spell noun 1. Official name Socialist Republic of Vietnam. a country in SE Asia, comprising the former states of Annam, Tonkin, and Cochin-China: formerly part of French Indochina; divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam during the Vietnam War but now reunified. 126,104 sq. mi. (326,609 sq. km). Capital: Hanoi. Examples from the Web for Vietnam Expand Contemporary Examples More than a decade after she left her mother behind in Saigon, Carina returned to Vietnam to help bring her parents to America. Remembering the Fall of Saigon and Vietnam’s Mass ‘Boat People’ Exodus Katie Baker April 29, 2014 I was taken into one by Maurice, a gnarled old Vietnam vet in a wooly hat.

When a Picture Is Too Powerful Jeff Greenfield September 14, 2014 Historical Examples Americans, I believe, are united in the hope that the Paris talks will bring an early peace to Vietnam. British Dictionary definitions for Vietnam Expand noun 1. a republic in SE Asia: an ancient empire, conquered by France in the 19th century; occupied by Japan (1940–45) when the Communist-led Vietminh began resistance operations that were continued against restored French rule after 1945. In 1954 the country was divided along the 17th parallel, establishing North Vietnam (under the Vietminh) and South Vietnam (under French control), the latter becoming the independent Republic of Vietnam in 1955.

From 1959 the country was dominated by war between the Communist Vietcong, supported by North Vietnam, and the South Vietnamese government; increasing numbers of US forces were brought to the aid of the South Vietnamese army until a peace agreement (1973) led to the withdrawal of US troops; further fighting led to the eventual defeat of the South Vietnamese government in March 1975 and in 1976 an elected National Assembly proclaimed the reunification of the country. Official language: Vietnamese. Religion: Buddhist majority. Currency: dong. Capital: Hanoi. Pop: 92 477 857 (2013 est). Area: 331 041 sq km (127 816 sq miles) Official name Socialist Republic of Vietnam Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.

1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for Vietnam Expand from Vietnamese Viet, the people's name + nam "south." Vietnam War attested by 1963. Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper Expand Vietnam [(vee-et-nahm, vee-et-nam)] Republic in Southeast Asia , bordered by Cambodia and Laos to the west, China to the north, and the South China Sea (an arm of the Pacific Ocean ) to the east and south. Note: Vietnam was under the control of France from the second half of the nineteenth century until World War II , when it was occupied by the Japanese. The country became an autonomous state in 1946. France's attempts to reassert control resulted in the French Indochina War (1946–1954), in which the French were defeated.

Note: The Geneva Conference of 1954 divided Vietnam into North Vietnam, controlled by communists , and South Vietnam, controlled by noncommunists. Note: In the Vietnam War of 1954–1975, South Vietnam, which was aided by the United States, fought communist insurgents, who were aided by North Vietnam. The war ended when the communists overran the south in 1975. The country was reunified in 1976. Note: American involvement in the Vietnam War was strongly protested in the United States. Note: Great numbers of Vietnamese refugees, known as boat people, fled the country in the aftermath of the war. Note: Between 1978 and 1979, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and installed a puppet government. The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Vietnam - definition of Vietnam by The Free Dictionary Vietnam - definition of Vietnam by The Free Dictionary Related to Vietnam: Vietnam War Vietnam Vi·et·nam (vē-ĕt′näm′, -năm′, vē′ĭt-, vyĕt′-) A country of southeast Asia in eastern Indochina on the South China Sea. It comprises the historical regions of Tonkin, Annam, and Cochin China, much of which was under Chinese control from the 3rd century bc to the 15th century ad. Portuguese traders arrived in 1535, and the area came under French influence in the mid-19th century as part of French Indochina. After the fall of the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, it was partitioned into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The Vietnam War (1959-1975) grew out of the attempt by Communist Vietcong guerrillas backed by North Vietnam to overthrow the US-supported regime in the south. The South Vietnamese government collapsed in 1975, and the country was reunited in 1976.

Hanoi is the capital and Ho Chi Minh City the largest city. Vietnam Viet Nam n (Placename) a republic in SE Asia: an ancient empire, conquered by France in the 19th century; occupied by Japan (1940–45) when the Communist-led Vietminh began resistance operations that were continued against restored French rule after 1945. In 1954 the country was divided along the 17th parallel, establishing North Vietnam (under the Vietminh) and South Vietnam (under French control), the latter becoming the independent Republic of Vietnam in 1955. From 1959 the country was dominated by war between the Communist Vietcong, supported by North Vietnam, and the South Vietnamese government; increasing numbers of US forces were brought to the aid of the South Vietnamese army until a peace agreement (1973) led to the withdrawal of US troops; further fighting led to the eventual defeat of the South Vietnamese government in March 1975 and in 1976 an elected National Assembly proclaimed the reunification of the country. Official language: Vietnamese. Religion: Buddhist majority. Currency: dong. Capital: Hanoi.

Pop: 92 477 857 (2013 est). Area: 331 041 sq km (127 816 sq miles). Official name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vi•et•nam (viˌɛtˈnɑm, -ˈnæm, ˌvi ɪt-) n. a country in SE Asia, comprising the former states of Annam, Tonkin, and Cochin-China: formerly in French Indochina; divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam in 1954 and reunified in 1976. 77,311,210; 127,246 sq. mi. (329,565 sq. km). Cap.: Hanoi. Official name, Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Compare North Vietnam , South Vietnam. ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Noun 1.

Vietnam - a communist state in Indochina on the South China Sea; achieved independence from France in 1945 Annam , Socialist Republic of Vietnam , Viet Nam Dien Bien Phu - the French military base fell after a siege by Vietnam troops that lasted 56 days; ended the involvement of France in Indochina in 1954 Vietnam War , Vietnam - a prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States ASEAN , Association of Southeast Asian Nations - an association of nations dedicated to economic and political cooperation in southeastern Asia and who joined with the United States to fight against global terrorism Indochina , Indochinese peninsula - a peninsula of southeastern Asia that includes Myanmar and Cambodia and Laos and Malaysia and Thailand and Vietnam North Vietnam - a former country in southeastern Asia that existed from 1954 (after the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu) until 1975 when South Vietnam collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War South Vietnam - a former country in southeastern Asia that existed from 1954 (after the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu

) until 1975 when it was defeated and annexed by North Vietnam capital of Vietnam , Hanoi - the capital city of Vietnam; located in North Vietnam Ho Chi Minh City , Saigon - a city in South Vietnam; formerly (as Saigon) it was the capital of French Indochina Haiphong - a port city in northern Vietnam; industrial center Annamese , Vietnamese - a native or inhabitant of Vietnam 2.

Vietnam - a prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States hum3bg - 1954_Vietnam Split at the 17th Parallel hum3bg Vietnam Splits at the 17th Parallel Shows where the 17th parallel is, dividing Vietnam in two. The North being communist, the South Anti-Communist. Division in Vietnam: During the time of the Vietnam War there was conflict between South Vietnam (allied with the U.S) and North Vietnam. South Vietnam fought to prevent being united with the communist leadership of North Vietnam. The Agreement: In the early 1950’s the United States became involved with what was going on in Vietnam. Vietnam had been in the middle of a civil war, between the Vietnamese communists, the Vietnamese nationalists, and the French. The war ended after the French military disaster in 1954 and after the conference in Geneva. At this conference the French signed a cease-fire agreement. An agreement was also made to split Vietnam at the 17th parallel and forbid foreign troops.

This agreement, that separated the two sides until free elections were held(in 1956), was called the Geneva Accords. The U.S. refused to sign the Geneva Accords, continuing to be the primary supporter of the anti-communist efforts in South Vietnam. Connection: This connects to the Cold War because the whole war was about democratic countries fighting communist countries. Vietnam's Independence Video "Vietnam War." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 08 Apr. 2011. < __** >. Trân Thi, Liên. "The Catholic Question in North Vietnam: From Polish Sources, 1954–56." Cold War History 5.4 (2005): 427. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Apr. 2011.

Vietnam | Definition, meaning & more | Collins Dictionary Vietnam (ˌvjɛtˈnæm ) or Viet Nam Definitions noun a republic in SE Asia : an ancient empire , conquered by France in the 19th century; occupied by Japan (1940–45) when the Communist-led Vietminh began resistance operations that were continued against restored French rule after 1945. In 1954 the country was divided along the 17th parallel , establishing North Vietnam (under the Vietminh) and South Vietnam (under French control), the latter becoming the independent Republic of Vietnam in 1955. From 1959 the country was dominated by war between the Communist Vietcong , supported by North Vietnam, and the South Vietnamese government; increasing numbers of US forces were brought to the aid of the South Vietnamese army until a peace agreement (1973) led to the withdrawal of US troops ; further fighting led to the eventual defeat of the South Vietnamese government in March 1975 and in 1976 an elected National Assembly proclaimed the reunification of the country. Official language: Vietnamese. Religion : Buddhist majority . Currency : dong . Capital: Hanoi .

Pop: 92 477 857 (2013 est). Area: 331 041 sq km (127 816 sq miles). Official name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers Vietnam in American English (ˈviɛtˈnɑm ; vēˈetnämˈ; ˈviɛtˈnæm ; vēˈetnamˈ) Definitions country on the E coast of the Indochinese Peninsula : ruled by the French from mid-19th cent . until 1945; partitioned into two republics (North Vietnam & South Vietnam) in 1954; war between the two republics ( see Vietnam War ) ended with the defeat of South Vietnam & reunification of the two republics (1976) as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: 127,246 sq mi (329,566 sq km); pop. 64,412,000; cap . Hanoi Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, compiled by the editors of Webster’s New World Dictionaries.

Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. Word origin of 'Vietnam' Geneva Conference begins - Apr 26, 1954 - HISTORY.com Geneva Conference begins Publisher A+E Networks In an effort to resolve several problems in Asia, including the war between the French and Vietnamese nationalists in Indochina, representatives from the world’s powers meet in Geneva. The conference marked a turning point in the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. Representatives from the United States, the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, France, and Great Britain came together in April 1954 to try to resolve several problems related to Asia. One of the most troubling concerns was the long and bloody battle between Vietnamese nationalist forces, under the leadership of the communist Ho Chi Minh, and the French, who were intent on continuing colonial control over Vietnam. Since 1946 the two sides had been hammering away at each other. By 1954, however, the French were tiring of the long and inclusive war that was draining both the national treasury and public patience.

The United States had been supporting the French out of concern that a victory for Ho’s forces would be the first step in communist expansion throughout Southeast Asia. When America refused France’s requests for more direct intervention in the war, the French announced that they were including the Vietnam question in the agenda for the Geneva Conference. Discussions on the Vietnam issue started at the conference just as France suffered its worst military defeat of the war, when Vietnamese forces captured the French base at Dien Bien Phu. In July 1954, the Geneva Agreements were signed. As part of the agreement, the French agreed to withdraw their troops from northern Vietnam. Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, pending elections within two years to choose a president and reunite the country. During that two-year period, no foreign troops could enter Vietnam. Ho reluctantly signed off on the agreement though he believed that it cheated him out of the spoils of his victory. The non-communist puppet government set up by the French in southern Vietnam refused to sign, but without French support this was of little concern at the time. The United States also refused to sign, but did commit itself to abide by the agreement. Privately, U.S.

officials felt that the Geneva Agreements, if allowed to be put into action, were a disaster. They were convinced that national elections in Vietnam would result in an overwhelming victory for Ho, the man who had defeated the French colonialists. The U.S. government scrambled to develop a policy that would, at the least, save southern Vietnam from the communists. Within a year, the United States had helped establish a new anti-communist government in South Vietnam and began giving it financial and military assistance, the first fateful steps toward even greater U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Related Videos Geneva Conference of 1954 – History Wars Weapons About Geneva Conference of 1954 The Geneva Conference of 1954 was a diplomatic conference in which representatives of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, the Associated States of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, North Korea, and South Korea met in Geneva, Switzerland, to deal with two complicated international issues: the Indochina War in South East Asia and the unification of South Korea and North Korea after the war. The part of the conference on the Korean question ended without a solution and no declarations or proposals were made.

On the French Indochina War issue, the Geneva Conference produced a set of documents known as the Geneva Accords. Geneva Accords The Geneva Accords of 1954 arranged a settlement which brought about an end to the French Indochina war. This agreement was reached at the end of the Geneva Conference. A ceasefire was signed and France agreed to withdraw its troops from the region. French Indochina was split into three countries: Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The Geneva Accords divided Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel, with Ho Chi Minh’s Communists in the North, and the Emperor Bao Dai’s was granted the South. The accords also provided for national elections to be held in all of Vietnam within two years to reunify the country. Nevertheless, these elections were never held due to repeated refusals to hold free nationwide elections by both Ho Chi Minh and Bao Dai’s regimes. Thus, the Viet Minh, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, established a communist state in North Vietnam. The United States gave Ngo Dinh Diem, who was the president of South Vietnam after the fall of Emperor Bao Dai, considerable support in the form of financial aid.

However, due to the corruption evident in his regime, and the question of the depth of support for him in Vietnam, there was a certain amount of reluctance in doing so. » See all Vietnam War Articles Vietnam War summary: Summary of the Vietnam War: The Vietnam War is the commonly used name for the Second Indochina War, 1954–1973. Usually, it refers to the period when the United States and other members of the SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) joined the forces of the Republic of South Vietnam in contesting communist forces comprised of South Vietnamese guerrillas and regular-force units, generally known as Viet Cong (VC), and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). The U.S. had the largest foreign military presence and basically directed the war from 1965 to 1968. For this reason, in Vietnam today it is known as the American War. It was a direct result of the First Indochina War (1946–1954) between France, which claimed Vietnam as a colony, and the communist forces then known as Viet Minh.

In 1973 a “third” Vietnam war began—a continuation, actually—between North and South Vietnam but without significant U.S. involvement. It ended with communist victory in April 1975. The Vietnam War was the longest in U.S. history, until the war in Afghanistan that began in 2002 and continues at this writing (2013). It was extremely divisive in the U.S., Europe, Australia and elsewhere. Because the U.S. failed to achieve a military victory and the Republic of South Vietnam was ultimately taken over by North Vietnam, the Vietnam experience became known as “the only war America ever lost.” It remains a very controversial topic that continues to affect political and military decisions today. Casualties in the Vietnam War The U.S. suffered over 47,000 killed in action plus another 11,000 noncombat deaths; over 150,000 were wounded and 10,000 missing. Casualties for the Republic of South Vietnam will never be adequately resolved. Low estimates calculate 110,000 combat KIA and a half-million wounded.

Civilian loss of life was also very heavy, with the lowest estimates around 415,000. Similarly, casualty totals among the VC and NVA and the number of dead and wounded civilians in North Vietnam cannot be determined exactly. In April 1995, Vietnam’s communist government said 1.1 million combatants had died between 1954 and 1975, and another 600,000 wounded. Civilian deaths during that time period were estimated at 2 million, but the U.S. estimate of civilians killed in the north at 30,000. Among South Vietnam’s other allies, Australia had over 400 killed and 2,400 wounded; New Zealand, over 80 KIA ; Republic of Korea, 4,400 KIA; and Thailand 350 killed. North Vietnam, South Vietnam Vietnam has a long history of being ruled by foreign powers, and this led many Vietnamese to see the United States’ involvement in their country as neo-colonialism.

China conquered the northern part of modern Vietnam in 111 BC and retained control until 938 AD; it continued to exert some control over the Vietnamese until 1885. Originally, Vietnam ended at the 17th parallel, but it gradually conquered all the area southward along the coastline of the South China Sea and west to Cambodia. Population in the south was mostly clustered in a few areas along the coast; the north always enjoyed a larger population. The two sections were not unlike North and South in the United States prior to the Civil War; their people did not fully trust each other. France’s military involvement in Vietnam began when it sent warships in 1847, ostensibly to protect Christians from the ruling emperor Gia Long. Before the 1880s, the French controlled Vietnam. In the early 20th century, Vietnamese nationalism began to rise, clashing with the French colonial rulers. By the time of World War II , a number of groups sought Vietnamese independence but as Vo Nguyen Giap —who would build Vietnam’s post–WWII army—expressed it, the communists were the best organized and most action-oriented of these groups.

During the Second World War, Vichy France could do little to protect its colony from Japanese occupation. Post-war, the French tried to re-establish control but faced organized opposition from the Viet Minh (short for Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, or League for the Independence of Vietnam), led by Ho Chi Minh and Giap. The French suffered a major defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, leading to negotiations that ended with the Geneva Agreements, July 21, 1954. Under those agreements, Cambodia and Laos—which had been part of the French colony—received their independence. Vietnam, however, was divided at the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh led a communist government in the north (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) with its capital at Hanoi, and a new Republic of South Vietnam was established under President Ngo Dinh Diem , with its capital at Saigon. The division was supposed to be temporary: elections were to be held in both sections in 1956 to determine the country’s future. When the time came, however, Diem resisted the elections; the more populous north would certainly win.

Hanoi re-activated the Viet Minh to conduct guerilla operations in the south, with the intent of destabilizing President Diem’s government. In July 1959, North Vietnam’s leaders passed an ordinance called for continued socialist revolution in the north and a simultaneous revolution in South Vietnam. Some 80,000 Vietnamese from the south had moved to the north after the Geneva Agreements were signed. (Ten times as many Vietnamese had fled the north, where the Communist Party was killing off its rivals, seizing property, and oppressing the large Catholic population.) A cadre was drawn from those who went north; they were trained, equipped and sent back to the south to aid in organizing and guiding the insurgency. (Some in the North Vietnamese government thought the course of war in the south was unwise, but they were overruled.) Although publicly the war in the south was described as a civil war within South Vietnam, it was guided, equipped and reinforced by the communist leadership in Hanoi. The insurgency was called the National Liberation Front (PLF); however, its soldiers and operatives became more commonly known by their opponents as the Viet Cong (VC), short for Vietnamese Communists.

The VC were often supplemented by units of the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN), more often called simply the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) by those fighting against it. Following the Tet Offensive of 1968, the NVA had to assume the major combat role because the VC was decimated during the offensive. United States Military Advisors in Vietnam The U.S., which had been gradually exerting influence after the departure of the French government, backed Diem in order to limit the area under communist control. Mao Zedong’s Communist Party had won the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and western governments—particularly that of the U.S—feared communist expansion throughout Southeast Asia. This fear evolved into the “Domino Theory”; if one country fell to communist control, its neighbors would also soon fall like a row of dominos. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) advised that was not the case—America had a strong military presence in the Pacific that would serve as a deterrent. Earlier, “Wild Bill” Donovan , head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the World War II forerunner of the CIA, had also advised that the U.S.

had nothing to gain and much to lose by becoming involved in what was then French Indochina. Read More in Vietnam Magazine Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!! A different feeling prevailed among many within the U.S. government. The communist takeover of China and subsequent war in Korea (1950-53) against North Korean and Chinese troops had focused a great deal of attention on Southeast Asia as a place to take a strong stand against the spread of communism. During President Dwight Eisenhower ‘s administration (1953–1961), financial aid was given to pay South Vietnam’s military forces and American advisors were sent to help train them. The first American fatality was Air Force Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr., killed June 8, 1956. (His son, Marine Corps lance corporal Richard Fitzgibbon III would be killed in action in Vietnam September 7, 1965. They were the only father-son pair to die in Vietnam.) In July 1959 Major Dale Buis and Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand were off duty when they were killed during an attack at Bien Hoa . Ho Chi Minh had been educated in Paris.

There is considerable debate over whether he was primarily nationalist or communist, but he was not especially anti-Western. (An American medic treated him during World War II, probably saving his life.) Ho attempted to contact Eisenhower to discuss Vietnam but received no answer. “Ike” may not have seen the message, but at any rate he was focused on establishing NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) as a wall against additional communist advances in Europe and was intent on securing France’s participation in NATO. That would have made any negotiation with Ho politically ticklish. A lingering question of the war is what might have happened if Eisenhower and Ho had arranged a meeting; possibly, an accord could have been reached, or possibly Ho was simply seeking to limit American involvement, in order to more easily depose the Diem government. American Military Involvement Escalates American involvement began to escalate under President John F. Kennedy ‘s administration (January 1961–November 1963). North Vietnam, had by then established a presence in Laos and developed the Ho Chi Minh Trail through that country in order to resupply and reinforce its forces in South Vietnam.

Kennedy saw American efforts in Southeast Asia almost as a crusade and believed increasing the military advisor program, coupled with political reform in South Vietnam, would strengthen the south and bring peace. Two U.S. helicopter units arrived in Saigon in 1961. The following February a “strategic hamlet” program began; it forcibly relocated South Vietnamese peasants to fortified strategic hamlets. Based on a program the British had employed successfully against insurgents in Malaya, it didn’t work in Vietnam. The peasants resented being forced from their ancestral lands, and consolidating them gave the VC better targets. The program, which had been poorly managed, was abandoned after about two years, following the coup that deposed Diem. Diem fell from favor with his American patrons, partly over disagreements in how to handle the war against the VC and partly because of his unpopular suppression of religious sects and anyone he feared threatened his regime. Buddhists, who comprised South Vietnam’s majority, claimed Diem, a Catholic, favored citizens of his religion in distributing aid. He, in turn, called the Buddhists VC sympathizers.

On June 11, 1963, an elderly Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc sat down in the street in front of a pagoda in Saigon to protest Diem’s policies. Two younger monks poured a mix of gasoline and jet fuel over him and, as the three had planned, set fire to him. Associated Press correspondent Malcolm “Mal” Browne photographed him sitting quietly in the lotus position as the flames consumed him. The photo was published worldwide under the title “The Ultimate Protest,” raising (or in some cases reinforcing) doubts about the government that the democratic United States was supporting. Seven more such immolations occurred that year. To make matters worse, Diem responded by sending troops to raid pagodas. In November, a coup deposed Diem, with the blessing of Kennedy’s administration, which had quietly assured South Vietnam’s military leaders it was not adverse to a change in leadership and military aid would continue. The administration was caught by surprise, however, when Diem was murdered during the coup, which was led by General Duong Van Minh. This began a series of destabilizing changes in government leadership. That same month, Kennedy himself was assassinated in Dallas, Texas .

His successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson , inherited the Vietnam situation. Johnson wanted to focus on instituting “Great Society” programs at home, but Vietnam was a snake he did not dare let go of. His political party, the Democrats, had been blamed for China falling to communism; withdrawing from Vietnam could hurt them in the 1964 elections. On the other hand, Congress had never declared war and so the president was limited in what he could do in Southeast Asia. Gulf of Tonkin Incident That changed in August 1964. On August 2, two North Vietnamese torpedo boats in broad daylight engaged USS Maddox, which was gathering communications intelligence in the Gulf of Tonkin . Two nights later, Maddox and the destroyer USS Turner Joy were on patrol in the Gulf and reported they were under attack. The pilot of an F-8E Crusader did not see any ships in the area where the enemy was reported, and years later crew members said they never saw attacking craft. An electrical storm was interfering with the ships’ radar and may have given the impression of approaching attack boats. Congress swiftly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that removed most restrictions from the president in regards to Vietnam.

By year’s end, 23,000 American military personnel would be in South Vietnam. Though a congressional investigative committee the previous year had warned that America could find itself slipping into in a morass that would require more and more military participation in Vietnam, Johnson began a steady escalation of the war, hoping to bring it to a quick conclusion. Ironically, the leadership of North Vietnam came to a similar conclusion: they had to inflict enough casualties on Americans to end support for the war on the U.S. homefront and force a withdrawal before the U.S. could build up sufficient numbers of men and material to defeat them. On September 30, 1964, the first large-scale antiwar demonstration took place in America, on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. The war became the central rallying point of a burgeoning youth counterculture, and the coming years would see many such demonstrations, dividing generations and families.. On Christmas Eve, in Saigon, a VC set off an explosive at the American officers’ billet in the old Brink Hotel, killing two Americans and 51 South Vietnamese.

This would be a war without a front or a rear; it would involve full-scale combat units and individuals carrying out terrorist activities such as the Brink Hotel bombing. Both the Army of the Republic of South Vietnam (ARVN) and the VC used torture, to extract information or to cowl opposition. General William C. Westmoreland In previous war, progress and setbacks could be shown on maps; large enemy units could be engaged and destroyed. Guerrilla warfare (asymmetrical warfare) does not permit such clear-cut data. This presented the new MACV commander (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam), General William C. Westmoreland with a thorny challenge: how to show the American people progress was being made. Westmoreland adopted a search-and-destroy policy to find and engage the enemy and use superior firepower to destroy him. Success was measured in “body count.” It was to be a war of attrition and statistics, a policy that suited Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara , who distrusted the military and often bypassed the Joint Chiefs of Staff in issuing directives. Every major engagement between U.S.

forces and VC or NVA was an American victory, and the casualty (body count) ratio always showed significantly larger casualties for the communist forces than for the Americans. The body count policy fell into disfavor and was not employed in future American wars; in Vietnam it led officers to inflate enemy casualties. The VC and NVA dragged off as many of their dead and wounded as possible, sometimes impressing villagers into performing this task during battles, so determining their casualties was guesswork based on such things as the number of blood trails. On the other side, the same thing was occurring, with even more inflated numbers—vastly more. Both sides were fighting a war of attrition, so communist commanders sent Hanoi battle reports that often were pure fantasy. One example, cited in Grab Their Belts to Fight Them: The Viet Cong’s Big-Unit War Against the U.S., 1965–1966, by Warren Wilkins (Naval Institute Press, 2011), is a description of the first major battle between the VC and American Forces—U.S. Marines—near Van Truong, from the VC point of view.

It claimed,”In one day of ferocious fighting we had eliminated from the field of battle a total of 919 American troops, had knocked out 22 enemy vehicles and 13 helicopters, and had captured one M-14 rifle.” Marine losses actually were 45 dead, 203 wounded, and a few vehicles damaged. Read More in Vietnam Magazine Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!! On February 7, 1965, the U.S. Air Force began bombing selected sites in North Vietnam. This grew into the operation known as Rolling Thunder that began on March 2, 1965, and continued to November 2, 1968. Its primary goal was to demoralize the North Vietnamese and diminish their manufacturing and transportation abilities. An air war was the most that could be done north of the 17th parallel, because the use of ground troops had been ruled out. North Vietnam was a prodigy of both the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Red China. On July 9, 1964, China had announced it would step in if the U.S. attacked North Vietnam, as China had done in the Korean War.

North Vietnamese officers, after the war, said the only thing they feared was an American-led invasion of the north, but the U.S. was not going to risk starting World War III, and at the time that seemed to loom as a distinct possibility. Tet—the Turning Point By the end of 1967, there were 540,000 American troops in Vietnam, and the military draft was set to call up 302,000 young men in the coming year, an increase of 72,000 over 1967. Financial costs had risen to $30 billion a year. But the war news was hopeful. The South Vietnamese Army was showing improvement, winning 37 of their last 45 major engagements. American troops had won every major battle they fought, and General Nguyen Van Thieu had come to power in South Vietnam in September; he would remain in office until 1975, bringing a new measure of stability to the government, though he could not end its endemic corruption. Antiwar protests continued across America and in many other countries, but on April 28, 1967, Gen.

Westmoreland became the first battlefield commander ever to address a joint session of Congress in wartime, and Time magazine named him Man of the Year. In an interview he was asked if there was light at the end of the tunnel, and he responded that the U.S. and its allies had turned a corner in Vietnam. On January 30, 1968, during Vietnam’s celebration of Tet, the lunar new year, VC and NVA units launched a massive attack in every province of South Vietnam. They struck at least 30 provincial capitals and the major cities of Saigon and Hue . American intelligence knew an attack was coming, though the Army had downplayed a New York Times report of large communist troop movements heading south. The timing and scale of the offensive caught ARVN, the U.S. and other SEATO troops by surprise, however. They responded quickly, recapturing lost ground and decimating an enemy who had “finally come out to fight in the open.” Communist losses were extremely heavy. The VC was effectively finished; it would not field more than 25,000–40,000 troops at any time for the remainder of the war. The NVA had to take over.

It was one of the most resounding defeats in all of military history—until it became a victory. News footage showed the fighting in Saigon and Hue . The Tet Offensive shocked Americans at home, who thought the war was nearing victory. Initially, however, homefront support for the war effort grew, but by March Americans, perceiving no change in strategy that would bring the war to a conclusion, became increasingly disillusioned. CBS evening news anchor Walter Cronkite returned to Vietnam to see for himself what was happening. He had been a war correspondent during World War II and had reported from Vietnam during America’s early involvement. In 1972 a poll determined he was “the most trusted man in America.” In a February 27, 1968, broadcast he summed up what he had found during his return trip to the war zone. He closed by saying: To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion.

On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy’s intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could. President Johnson, watching the broadcast, said, “If we’ve lost Walter Cronkite, we’ve lost the country.” In May, Johnson announced he would not run for reelection. He also said there would be a pause in the air attacks on North Vietnam as “the first step to de-escalate” and promised America would substantially reduce “the present level of hostilities.” Adding to Americans’ disillusionment was the race issue . Tensions between blacks and whites had been intensifying for years as African Americans sought to change centuries-old racial policies. The Civil Rights Movement had produced significant victories, but many blacks had come to describe Vietnam as “a white man’s war, a black man’s fight.” Between 1961 and 1966, black males accounted for about 13 percent of the U.S.

population and less than 10 percent of military personnel but almost 20 percent of all combat-related deaths. That disparity would decline before the war ended, but the racial tensions at home began to insert themselves into the military in Vietnam, damaging unit morale. Even white troops were beginning to protest. One day in October 1969, fifteen members of the Americal Division wore black armbands while they were on patrol, the symbol antiwar protestors wore in the states. Earlier, in March 1968, the Americal Division had been involved in what became known as the My Lai Massacre , in which over 100 men, women and children were killed. Similar, even larger, atrocities were conducted by VC and NVA units—such as an NVA attack on a Buddhist orphanage at An Hoa in September 1970 or the execution of 5,000 people at Hue during the Tet Offensive—but the concept of American soldiers killing civilians in cold blood was more than many Americans could bear. Support for the war eroded further. Some antiwar protestors blamed the men and women who served in Vietnam, taunting them and spitting on them when they came home.

Military personnel, including nurses, were warned not to wear their uniforms in the States. However, polls consistently showed the majority of Americans supported the war. Richard Nixon’s War Republican Richard Nixon won the presidency in the fall elections. Emphasis switched to “Vietnamization,” preparing South Vietnam’s military to take over responsibility for continuing the war. General Westmoreland had been promoted to Army Chief of Staff and replaced in Vietnam by Gen. Creighton Abrams. For the first time, MACV worked with South Vietnam’s government to create annual plans. Security was improving even as American forces were in the process of withdrawing. Then, on March 30, 1972, the North Vietnamese attacked across the 17th parallel with 14 divisions and additional individual regiments. Better armed than ever before, thanks to increased aid from the Soviet Union, they employed tanks for the first time. The ARVN bent but did not break. By June they had stalled the invasion, with the help of American airpower. The NVA suffered some 120,000 casualties. American drawdown continued, with only 43,000 personnel left in-country by mid-August.

In retaliation for the invasion, and in hopes of forcing Hanoi to negotiate in good faith, Nixon ordered Haiphong harbor in North Vietnam to be mined and he intensified bombing of North Vietnam. Hanoi offered to restart peace talks, yet remained intransigent in its demands. Frustrated, Nixon ordered the big bombers—B-52s—to strike Hanoi , beginning December 16 ( Operation LINEBACKER ). In less than two weeks, these strategic bombers had shattered the north’s defenses. On January 27, 1973, peace accords were signed between North Vietnam and the U.S. The ceasefire allowed Nixon to declare “peace with honor,” but no provisions existed for enforcing the terms of the accords. North Vietnam spent two years rebuilding its military; South Vietnam was hamstrung in its responses by a fear the U.S. Congress would cut off all aid if it took military action against communist buildup. Its army lacked reserves, while the NVA was growing. On March 5, 1975, the NVA invaded again. ARVN divisions in the north were surrounded and routed. No American air strikes came to aid the overstretched South Vietnamese, despite Nixon’s earlier assurances to Thieu.

To its own surprise, Hanoi found its forces advancing rapidly toward Saigon, realized victory was at hand, and renamed the operation the Ho Chi Minh Offensive. On April 30, their tanks entered Saigon . American helicopters rescued members of its embassy and flew some South Vietnamese to safety, but most were left behind. North and South Vietnam were combined into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976. The domino fell but did not take down any of those around it. Although America’s war in Vietnam failed to salvage the Republic of South Vietnam, it bought time in which neighboring countries improved their economies and defensive capabilities, and it may have discouraged greater communist activism in places like the Philippines. The Media and Vietnam One of the lingering legacies of the Vietnam War is the widespread belief in America that “the media cost us the war in Vietnam.” Images such as the burning monk; South Vietnamese Police Chief Lt. Col.

Nguyen Ngoc Loan about to pull the trigger of a pistol pointed at the head of a bound VC prisoner; of a naked young girl running crying down a road after an American napalm strike that left her badly burned—these images and others became seared into the minds of Americans on the homefront, and in those of civilians in allied nations such as Australia. Read More in Vietnam Magazine Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!! Never before or since have journalists been given such complete access to cover a war. Unlike previous wars, where only still images or short movie newsreels were available for conveying images, this was America’s first television war. Images of fighting, of dead and wounded soldiers, of POWs held in North Vietnam were beamed into America’s living rooms night after night, as was footage of hundreds, sometimes thousands of antiwar protestors marching through the streets. Such images pack tremendous emotional punch but often lack context. The photo of the South Vietnamese police chief, for example, cannot by itself explain he had just seen the dead body of a close friend minutes before; even Eddie Adams, the photojournalist who snapped the photo felt it unfairly maligned Lt. Col. Loan.

Undoubtedly, news media played an important role in Americans saying, “Enough.” Indeed, Vo Nyugen Giap had always envisioned using media as one of his spear points for victory. He has written that he was prepared for a 25-year war; he realized he did not have to achieve military victory; he only had to avoid losing. Yet, to say the media cost America victory in Vietnam is vastly oversimplifying a very complex situation. As noted above, a number of sources warned U.S. leaders against becoming embroiled in Southeast Asia. Corruption and instability in South Vietnam’s government did not instill confidence in its people, or in the Americans working with it. Ruling out an invasion of North Vietnam assured that a purely military victory would not be possible, a fact that was at odds with many Americans’ expectations for the war. The Vietnam War remains a very controversial subject. It is unlikely historians will ever agree on whether it was necessary or what benefits derived from it.

Articles Featuring Vietnam War From History Net Magazines Featured Article The Geneva Accords of 1954 The Geneva Accords of 1954 Delegates to the 1954 Geneva conference In April 1954 diplomats from several nations - including the United States, the Soviet Union, China, France and Great Britain - attended a conference in Geneva, Switzerland. The Geneva gathering was convened to discuss two Cold War hotspots, Berlin and Korea - but by the time it began the Viet Minh had overrun the French base at Dien Bien Phu , forcing Vietnam onto the agenda. By the start of May, Paris had announced its intention to withdraw from Indochina and dismantle the colonial administration there. The French withdrawal would leave Vietnam without an established national government, placing it at risk of a communist takeover. The Geneva conference was given the unenviable task of arranging for Vietnam's reunification and self government. The conference produced a set of resolutions known as the Geneva Accords, a road map for Vietnam's transition to independence. The Accords were not supported by major players, however, so had little chance of success. The delegates at Geneva noted similarities between Vietnam and post-war Korea, a country also left divided after World War II.

Until 1945 Korea had been occupied by the Japanese. After their withdrawal, the Korean peninsula was divided at the 38th parallel. This division was intended to be temporary, however the region soon firmed into two separate states: communist-controlled North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and China; and South Korea, backed by the United States and its Western allies. The rulers of both states thought themselves the rightful rulers of the entire peninsula. In 1950 North Korean troops launched an invasion of the South, triggering an international response. A United Nations military coalition led by the United States intervened to prevent South Korea from being overrun. A ceasefire ended the Korean War in July 1953 with the peninsula still divided. US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (right) with President Eisenhower The Geneva conference adopted a similar approach in Vietnam. Vietnamese territory would be divided temporarily into north and south, then given a road map to free elections, self government, reunification and independence. But the plan hatched at Geneva was undermined and sabotaged by a lack of support. American delegates attended the Geneva summit but scarcely participated.

US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, a vehement anti-communist, refused to recognise, shake hands with or speak directly to Chinese or Viet Minh delegates. There was also division and disagreement in the communist bloc. Both China and the Soviet Union, for their own strategic reasons, refused to back the Viet Minh claim to govern all of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh's chief negotiator, Pham Van Dong , chose not to align too closely with Moscow or Beijing, preferring that North Vietnam remain in charge of its own destiny. British delegate Sir Anthony Eden later remarked that he had "never known a conference of this kind... the parties would not make direct contact and we were in constant danger of one or another backing out the door". The Geneva conference took until July 21st before it produced a formal agreement. Among the terms of the Geneva Accords were the following: Vietnam would become an independent nation, formally ending 75 years of French colonialism. The former French colonies Cambodia and Laos would also given their independence. Vietnam would be temporarily divided for a period of two years. The temporary border was fixed at the line of latitude 17 degrees north of the equator, also known as the 17th parallel.

The border was intended to "settle military questions with a view to ending hostilities ... the military demarcation line is provisional and should not in any way be interpreted as constituting a political or territorial boundary". Nationwide elections were scheduled for July 1956. They would be conducted under international supervision. The election result would determine the political system and government in the newly independent Vietnam. During the two year transition period, military personnel were instructed to return to their place of origin: Viet Minh soldiers and guerrillas to North Vietnam, French and pro-French troops to South Vietnam. Vietnamese civilians were free to relocate to either North or South Vietnam. During the transition period both North and South Vietnam agreed not to form any foreign military alliances or authorise the construction of foreign military bases. A 1954 cartoon critical of US and French policies in Vietnam On the surface, the Geneva Accords appeared a sensible solution to a difficult problem. The Accords generated some optimistic press coverage and hope that Vietnam could be stabilised and eased into independence. In reality, the Accords were almost certainly doomed to fail. They were hastily drafted and rushed into existence barely two months after the fall of Dien Bien Phu.

The Geneva conference was an acrimonious affair, undermined by Cold War tensions and mistrust. The Accords were not negotiated in good faith: many stakeholders either refused to sign or signed under pressure. Both South Vietnam and its main benefactor, the United States, "acknowledged" the Accords but refused to sign them or commit to honouring their terms. The Viet Minh delegates did not wish to sign: they sceptical about the scheduled 1956 elections and reluctant to agree to the 17th parallel border, which would mean surrendering territory to the South. In the end the Viet Minh representatives signed on the instructions of Ho Chi Minh, who was himself under pressure from the Soviet Union and China. "That the end envisioned by the 1954 accords (peace) proved elusive was not due to the means by which peace was to be attained. The fatal defect was to be found in the fact that the accords were not confirmed or assented to by all of the parties to the conflict. The US and the South are not bound by the accords, since they not only refused to sign... or endorse orally the declaration, but also stated affirmatively their opposition." Roger H.

Hull, US lawyer The Geneva Accords also provided a 300 day grace period, so that civilians could relocate to North or South Vietnam. The United States began providing assistance to those Vietnamese who wanted to move south. A joint US-French naval task force was assembled near Haiphong harbour, while US personnel and aid workers organised refugee camps, food and medical supplies in South Vietnam. This process - pointedly titled Operation Passage to Freedom - was part humanitarian mission, part propaganda ploy. American politicians described it as the generous act of a benevolent superpower, fulfilling its moral obligation to help freedom loving people. Approximately 660,000 Vietnamese chose to relocate from North Vietnam to the South; almost half of them did so aboard American ships. Many southbound refugees were frightened by rumours that the North intended to slaughter Catholics. Around 140,000 Vietnamese also moved in the opposite direction, south to north, with little or no assistance. 1. The Geneva Accords refer to series of agreements pertaining to the future of Vietnam. They were produced during multilateral discussions in Geneva between March and July 1954. 2. The discussions at Geneva were marred by Cold War paranoia and mistrust.

Delegates from some nations refused to negotiate directly, while the United States and South Vietnam refused to sign the Accords. 3. Under the terms of the Geneva Accords, Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel for a period of two years. Free elections were scheduled for July 1956 to decide the government of reunified Vietnam. 4. Both soldiers and militia from North and South Vietnam were instructed to return to their place of origin, while Vietnamese civilians were free to relocate to the north or south. 5. In 1954-55 the United States launched Operation Passage to Freedom to assist Vietnamese civilians with relocating from north to south. It was part humanitarian mission, part propaganda exercise. © Alpha History 2016. Content on this page may not be republished or distributed without permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use . This page was written by Jennifer Llewellyn, Jim Southey and Steve Thompson. To reference this page, use the following citation: J.

Llewellyn et al, "The Geneva Accords of 1954", Alpha History, accessed [today's date], Vietnam War Terms Vietnam War Terms 17th Parallel The dividing line between North Vietnam and South Vietnam as established by the 1954 Geneva Conference. The 17th parallel was buffered by a demilitarized zone, or DMZ, between the two countries. Agent Orange A chemical herbicide and defoliant that U.S. forces sprayed extensively in order to kill vegetation in the Vietnamese jungle and expose Viet Cong hideouts. Agent Orange inflicted immense damage on Vietnamï¿½s natural environment and led to decades of unforeseen health problems among Vietnamese civilians and U.S. military forces. Annam The central of the three divisions of French colonial Vietnam, between Tonkin to the north and Cochin China to the south. The major city in Annam was Hue. Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) The national army of South Vietnam, which U.S. ï¿½military advisorsï¿½ of the MACV trained beginning in 1962.

By 1965, after several defeats by the Viet Cong at battles such as Ap Bac and Pleiku, the ARVN was seen as ineffective. Central Office of South Vietnam (COSVN) The alleged central command center that controlled all Viet Cong operations during the Vietnam War. Although U.S. military officials insisted that the COSVN existed, it was never found, despite exhaustive, resource-draining search campaigns by U.S. forces. It is unclear whether the COSVN ever existed at all, as the Viet Cong was notorious for decentralized guerrilla operations that were difficult to pin down or disable. Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) The no-manï¿½s-land surrounding the border between North Vietnam and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel. Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) The Ho Chi Minh-led Communist government of North Vietnam which was created after the 1954 Geneva Conference divided the country at the 17th parallel. Geneva Conference A 1954 peace conference at the end of the First Indochina War, prompted by the stunning French defeat at Dien Bien Phu.

The conference issued the Geneva Accords, which divided Vietnam officially into North Vietnam and South Vietnam along the 17th parallel as a temporary measure and promised free Vietnam-wide elections for 1956 (although these elections never occurred). Gulf of Tonkin Resolution A 1964 resolution, passed by a near-unanimous vote in the U.S. Congress, that gave President Lyndon B. Johnson a free hand to escalate the war in Vietnam. The resolution was prompted by an incident in which two U.S. Navy destroyers were allegedly attacked by North Vietnamese forces in the Gulf of Tonkin. Though not an explicit war declaration, the resolution empowered Johnson to initiate Operation Rolling Thunder and allowed a process of escalation that would eventually see more than 500,000 U.S. soldiers committed to the war in Vietnam. Le Lyï¿½s village in central Vietnam Military Assistance Command of Vietnam (MACV) A group of U.S. ï¿½military advisorsï¿½ whom President John F. Kennedy sent to Vietnam in 1962 to train the South Vietnamese army, the ARVN, to fight against the Viet Cong.

The MACVï¿½s numbers soared steadily through the 1960s as the United States became increasingly involved in Vietnam. General William C. Westmoreland became head of MACV in 1964. My Lai Massacre A 1968 raid on the tiny village of My Lai by an American unit in South Vietnam. The soldiers, angry and frustrated at their inability to find Viet Cong operatives in the village, killed up to 500 unarmed Vietnamese civiliansï¿½men, women, children, and elderlyï¿½without provocation. News of the massacre surfaced in 1969, outraging Americans and turning public opinion against the U.S. military. The leader of the company, Lieutenant William Calley, was court-martialed in 1971 and sentenced to a life term but later paroled. Napalm A flammable, sprayable, gasoline-based gel that the U.S. military used extensively as a weapon in Vietnam. Napalm inflicted devastating burns, killing and maiming many Vietnamese soldiers and civilians.

National Liberation Front (NLF) An organization formed in 1960 to provide structure and support to the formerly isolated cells of the southern Viet Cong. Eventually, the terms NLF and Viet Cong came to be used interchangeably. Operation Rolling Thunder A sustained U.S. bombing effort against North Vietnam authorized by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 and lasting until 1968. Rolling Thunder was launched in response to a Viet Cong raid on a U.S. military base at Pleiku that killed several U.S. servicemen. When the air strikes failed to end the war, Johnson increased the number of U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam from roughly 200,000 to over 500,000. The corrupt, U.S.-backed government of South Vietnam, which Ngo Dinh Diem proclaimed in 1955. Tet Offensive A massive offensive launched by Viet Cong guerrillas on January 30, 1968, the Vietnamese new year holiday of Tet. The Tet Offensive comprised simultaneous attacks on dozens of U.S.-controlled sites in South Vietnam.

Although the offensive resulted in a tactical victory for the United States and many Viet Cong casualties, the American public saw it as a setback, as the U.S. military and President Lyndon B. Johnson had led them to believe that the Viet Cong was already well on its way to defeat. The Tet Offensive caused public support for the war to plummet in the United States, especially when the U.S. military requested 200,000 soldiers in the months following the attacks. Tonkin The northernmost of the three divisions of French colonial Vietnam, above Amman and Cochin China to the south. The major city in Tonkin was Hanoi. Viet Cong (VC) By the time of U.S. involvement, the Viet Cong was a sizable guerrilla force hidden among South Vietnamï¿½s population, making its members extremely difficult to find or target. It often worked in conjunction with the professional North Vietnamese Army (NVA) to attack U.S. soldiers and supply lines. The United States lost the war in Vietnam in large part due to the Viet Congï¿½s tenacity and its widespread popularity with the South Vietnamese.

Viet Minh Vietnamese Communist resistance forces, based in northern Vietnam and led by Ho Chi Minh, during the First Indochina War with France (1945ï¿½1954). Vietnamization President Richard M. Nixonï¿½s 1969 plan that called for withdrawing almost all of the 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam over the next year and handing over more responsibility to the South Vietnamese. Although Nixon did remove troops, he also planned another intensive round of bombing in North Vietnam to convince Hanoi to end the war.

Question: Which country was divided at the 17th parallel in 1954?
Answer: Vietnam