Vietnam War: Facts & Related Content
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.
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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
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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