Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a prolonged armed conflict fought primarily between North Vietnam, led by the Communist Party under Ho Chi Minh, and South Vietnam, supported by the United States and allied nations. The war emerged from the collapse of French colonial rule in Indochina and the division of Vietnam at the 17th parallel following the 1954 Geneva Accords.

Key governments involved included North Vietnam, South Vietnam, the United States, the Soviet Union, China, France, Australia, South Korea, and other U.S.-aligned states. The conflict was a central front of the Cold War, driven by containment policy aimed at preventing the spread of communism in Southeast Asia.

Major U.S. escalation followed the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964, after which Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Lyndon B. Johnson authority to deploy military forces without a formal declaration of war. U.S. troop levels peaked at over 540,000 by 1969.

Military tactics included large-scale aerial bombing campaigns such as Operation Rolling Thunder, widespread use of napalm and chemical defoliants including Agent Orange, and counterinsurgency operations against the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong). These actions caused extensive civilian casualties and long-term environmental and health damage.

Key individuals included Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Ngo Dinh Diem, and Nguyen Van Thieu. Defense contractors such as Dow Chemical and Monsanto produced chemical agents used during the war.

The conflict resulted in an estimated 2 to 3 million Vietnamese deaths, including civilians, and over 58,000 U.S. military deaths. Millions more were wounded or displaced. The war ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces following the 1973 Paris Peace Accords and the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, leading to the reunification of Vietnam under communist rule.