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{{pp-semi|small=yes}}{{pp-move-indef}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|partof = the [[Cold War]] and the [[Indochina Wars]]
|image = [[File:Bruce Crandall's UH-1D.jpg|300px]]
|caption = A [[Bell UH-1 Iroquois|Bell UH-1D helicopter]] piloted by Major [[Bruce P. Crandall]] climbs skyward after discharging a load of U.S. infantrymen on a [[search and destroy]] mission
|
|date = {{start date|df=yes|1955|11|1}}<ref group=A name="start date" /> – {{End date|df=yes|1975|4|30}} ({{Age in years and days|1955|11|1|1975|04|30}})
|place = [[South Vietnam]], [[North Vietnam]], [[Cambodia]], [[Laos]]
|causes = Reunification of Vietnam (North Vietnam)<br>[[Containment Policy]] and [[Domino Theory]], [[Gulf of Tonkin Incident]] (United States)
|territory = Unification of North and South Vietnam into the [[Vietnam|Socialist Republic of Vietnam]].
|result = [[North Vietnam]]ese and [[Viet Cong]] victory, defeat of [[United States]] and allies.
* Withdrawal of [[United States Armed Forces|American forces]] from [[Indochina]]
* Dissolution of the [[Republic of Vietnam]]
* Communist governments take power in [[Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam|South Vietnam]], [[Democratic Kampuchea|Cambodia]] and [[Laos]]
|
|combatant1 = '''[[Anti-communism|Anti-Communist]] forces:'''
'''{{flagicon|South Vietnam}} [[Republic of Vietnam]]'''<br />
'''{{flag|United States}}'''<br />
{{flag|Republic of Korea}}<br />
{{flagicon|Australia}} [[Australia]]<br />
{{flag|Philippines|1919}}<br />
{{flag|New Zealand}}<br />
{{flagicon|Thailand}} [[Thailand]]<br />
{{flagicon|Cambodia|1970}} [[Khmer Republic]]<br>
{{flagicon|Laos|1952}} [[Kingdom of Laos]]

''Supported by:''<br />
{{flagicon|Spanish State}} [[Francoist Spain|Spain]]<br>
{{flagicon|Republic of China}} [[Republic of China]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.psywarrior.com/AlliesRepublicVietnam.html|title=ALLIES OF THE REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM |accessdate=24 September 2011 }}</ref><br>
|
|combatant2 = '''[[Communism|Communist]] forces:'''
'''{{flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]]'''<br />
{{flagicon|Republic of South Vietnam}} '''[[Viet Cong]]'''<br />
{{flagicon|Cambodia|1975}} [[Khmer Rouge]]<br />
{{flagicon|Laos}} [[Pathet Lao]]

''Supported by:''<br />
{{flag icon|Democratic People's Republic of Korea}} [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea]]<br />
{{flagicon|People's Republic of China}} [[People's Republic of China]] (to 1968)<br />
{{flag|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|1955}}<br />
{{flagicon|Cuba}} [[Republic of Cuba]]
|
|strength1 = '''~1,830,000 (1968)'''<br />
Republic of Vietnam: 850,000<br />
United States of America: 536,100<br />
[[Free World Military Forces]]: 65,000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historycentral.com/Vietnam/Troop.html |title=Vietnam War : US Troop Strength |publisher=Historycentral.com |accessdate=17 October 2009 }}{{dead link|date=October 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/mrc/reader/vvmcr.htm |title=Facts about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection |publisher=nps.gov}} (citing The first American ground combat troops landed in [[South Vietnam]] during March 1965, specifically the U.S. Third Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division, deployed to Vietnam from Okinawa to defend the Da Nang, Vietnam, airfield. During the height of U.S. military involvement, 31 December 1968, the breakdown of allied forces were as follows: 536,100 U.S. military personnel, with 30,610 U.S. military having been killed to date; 65,000 Free World Forces personnel; 820,000 South Vietnam Armed Forces (SVNAF) with 88,343 having been killed to date. At the war's end, there were approximately 2,200 U.S. missing in action (MIA) and prisoner of war (POW). Source: Harry G. Summers, Jr. Vietnam War Almanac, Facts on File Publishing, 1985.)</ref><br>
Republic of Korea: 50,000<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TGJ9V06p0BQC&pg=PA16 |title=Vietnam Marines 1965–73 |publisher=Google Books |date=8 March 1965 |accessdate=29 April 2011}}</ref><br />
Commonwealth of Australia: 7,672<br />
Kingdom of Thailand, Philippines: 10,450<br />
New Zealand: 552 <!-- expand troop numbers by country -->
|
|strength2 = ~'''461,000'''<br />
Democratic Republic of Vietnam: 287,465 (January 1968)<ref>Vietnam War After Action Reports, BACM Research, 2009, page 430</ref><br>
People's Republic of China: 170,000 (1969)<br />
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: 3,000<br />
Democratic People's Republic of Korea: 300–600<!-- expand troop numbers by country -->
|
|commander1 = {{flagicon|South Vietnam}} [[Ngo Dinh Diem|Ngô Đình Diệm]] <br />{{flagicon|South Vietnam}} [[Nguyen Van Thieu|Nguyễn Văn Thiệu]]<br>{{flagicon| South Vietnam}} [[Nguyen Cao Ky|Nguyễn Cao Kỳ]]<br>{{flagicon|South Vietnam}} [[Cao Van Vien|Cao Văn Viên]]<br>{{flagicon|USA}} [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] <br>{{flagicon|USA}} [[Richard Nixon]]<br />{{flagicon|USA}} [[William Westmoreland]]<br>{{flagicon|USA}} [[Creighton Abrams]]<br>[[Leaders of the Vietnam War|...''and others'']]
|
|commander2 = {{flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[Ho Chi Minh|Hồ Chí Minh]]<br>{{flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[Le Duan|Lê Duẩn]] <br>{{flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[Vo Nguyen Giap|Võ Nguyên Giáp]] <br>{{flagicon|Republic of South Vietnam}} [[Hoang Van Thai|Hoàng Văn Thái]] <br> {{flagicon|North Vietnam}} [[Van Tien Dung|Văn Tiến Dũng]] <br>{{flagicon|Republic of South Vietnam}} [[Tran Van Tra|Trần Văn Trà]]<br>{{flagicon|Republic of South Vietnam}} [[Nguyen Van Linh|Nguyễn Văn Linh]]<br>{{flagicon|Republic of South Vietnam}} [[Nguyễn Hữu Thọ]]<br>[[Leaders of the Vietnam War|...''and others'']]
|
|casualties1 = {{flagicon|South Vietnam}} '''Republic of Vietnam'''<br>361,000<ref name=FOOTNOTERummel1997/>-2,000,000 civilian dead;<ref name="AFPCivilian">''Agence France Presse'' [http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/casualty.html 4 April 1995]:
"The AFP release...says that the Hanoi government revealed on April 3 that the true civilian casualties of the VN war were 2,000,000 in the north, 2,000,000 in the south. Military casualties were 1.1 million killed and 600,000 wounded in 21 years of war (1963–74). These figures were deliberately falsified during the war by the North VN nationalists to avoid demoralizing the population, according to the French article. "</ref> military dead: 220,357 (lowest est.)<ref name="aaron">{{cite video |people = Aaron Ulrich (editor); Edward FeuerHerd (producer and director) |date=2005 & 2006 |title = Heart of Darkness: The Vietnam War Chronicles 1945–1975 |format = Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Dolby, Vision Software |medium = Documentary |publisher = Koch Vision |time = 321 minutes |isbn = 1-4172-2920-9 }}</ref> – 316,000 dead (highest est.);<ref name=FOOTNOTERummel1997>{{citation |last=Rummel |first=R.J |year=1997 |url=http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB6.1A.GIF |format=GIF |title=Table 6.1A. Vietnam Democide : Estimates, Sources, and Calculations, |work=Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War, [http://www.hawaii.edu/ University of Hawaii System] }}</ref> 1,170,000 wounded<br>
{{flagicon|United States}} '''United States'''<br />58,220 dead;{{#Tag:Ref|The figures of 58,220 and 303,644 for U.S. deaths and wounded come from the Department of Defense Statistical Information Analysis Division (SIAD), Defense Manpower Data Center, as well as from a Department of Veterans fact sheet dated May 2010<ref>{{cite report |date=26 February 2010 |title=America's Wars |url=http://www1.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/fs_americas_wars.pdf |publisher=Department of Veterans Affairs |month=May |Year=2010}}</ref> the CRS ([[Congressional Research Service]]) Report for Congress, American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics, dated 26 February 2010,<ref>{{cite report |date=26 February 2010 |title=American War and Military Operations: Casualties: Lists and Statistics |url=http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf |author1=Anne Leland |author2=Mari–Jana "M-J" Oboroceanu |publisher=Congressional Research Service}}</ref> and the book Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lawrence|2009|pp=[http://books.google.com/books?id=CxtJ56I2cjMC&pg=PA65 65], [http://books.google.com/books?id=CxtJ56I2cjMC&pg=PA107 107], [http://books.google.com/books?id=CxtJ56I2cjMC&pg=PA154 154], [http://books.google.com/books?id=CxtJ56I2cjMC&pg=PA217 217]}}</ref> Some other sources give different figures (e.g. the 2005/2006 documentary ''Heart of Darkness: The Vietnam War Chronicles 1945–1975'' cited elsewhere in this article gives a figure of 58,159 U.S. deaths,<ref name="aaron"/> The 2007 book ''Vietnam Sons: For Some, the War Never Ended'' gives a figure of 58,226)<ref name=Kueter2007 />|name=USd&w|group=A}} 303,644 wounded<ref group=A name=USd&w /><br>
{{flagicon|South Korea}} '''Republic of Korea'''<br>5,099 dead; 10,962 wounded; 4 missing<br>
{{flagicon|Australia}} '''Commonwealth of Australia'''<br>521 dead; 3,000 wounded<br>
{{flagicon|New Zealand}} '''New Zealand'''<br />37 dead; 187 wounded<br>
{{flagicon|Thailand}} '''Kingdom of Thailand'''<br />1,351 dead<ref name="aaron"/><br />
{{flagicon|Laos|1952}} '''Kingdom of Laos'''<br />30,000 killed, wounded unknown<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vietnamgear.com/casualties.aspx |title=Vietnam War Casualties |publisher=Vietnamgear.com |date=3 April 1995 |accessdate=17 October 2009 }}</ref>

'''Total dead: 315,384 – 2,220,357 (2,000,000 South civilians) '''<br />'''Total wounded: ~1,490,000+'''
|
|casualties2 = {{flagicon|North Vietnam}}{{flagicon|Republic of South Vietnam}} '''North Vietnam & NLF'''<br>50,000{{sfn|Rummel|1997}}-2,000,000 civilian dead;<ref name="AFPCivilian" /></br> 1,176,000 military dead or missing;<ref name="aaron"/> 600,000+ wounded<ref>Soames, John. ''A History of the World'', Routledge, 2005.</ref><br />
{{flagicon|China}} '''People's Republic of China'''<br />1,446 dead; 4,200 wounded<br>{{flagicon|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|1955}} '''Union of Soviet Socialist Republics'''<br />16 dead<ref>Dunnigan, James & Nofi, Albert: ''Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War: Military Information You're Not Supposed to Know.'' St. Martin's Press, 2000, p. 284. ISBN 0-312-25282-X.</ref>

'''Total dead: ~3,177,462 (50,000–2,000,000 North civilians)'''<br />'''Military dead: ~1,177,462 )'''<br />'''Total wounded: ~604,200+'''
|
|casualties3 = <div></div>
'''Vietnamese civilian dead''': 411,000<ref name=FOOTNOTERummel1997/> – 4,000,000<ref name="afp1995">For 2 million estimate see, {{cite news |title=20 Years After Victory, Vietnamese Communists Ponder How to Celebrate |author=Philip Shenon|first=Philip |last=Shenon |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/23/world/20-years-after-victory-vietnamese-communists-ponder-how-to-celebrate.html |date=23 April 1995 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |accessdate=24 February 2011 }} for 4 million see ''Agence France Presse'' [http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/casualty.html 4 April 1995]</ref><br>
'''Cambodian civilian dead''': 200,000 – 300,000*<ref name="Heuveline, Patrick 2001"/><ref name="Marek Sliwinski 1995"/><ref name="Banister, Judith 1993"/><br>
'''Laotian civilian dead''': ~20,000 – 200,000*<br>
'''Total civilian dead: – 631,000 – 4,500,000'''<br>
'''Total dead: – 5,397,819'''<ref name="AFPCivilian"></ref>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> indicates approximations, see [[#Casualties|Casualties]] below<br>
For more information see [[Vietnam War casualties]]
}}
{{Campaignbox Indochina Wars}}
{{Campaignbox Vietnam War}}

The '''Vietnam War'''{{#tag:ref|Also known as the ''Second Indochina War'', ''Vietnam Conflict'', ''American War'' in Vietnam, and, also in Vietnam, as ''War Against the Americans to Save the Nation''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Social-Isssues/193440/Two-250kg-wartime-bombs-defused.html |title=Official news source use of the name |publisher=Vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn |date=29 October 2009 |accessdate=28 April 2010}}</ref>|group="A"}} was a [[Cold War]]-era [[Proxy war|military conflict]] that occurred in [[Vietnam]], [[Laos]], and [[Cambodia]] from 1 November 1955{{#tag:ref|Due to the early presence of American troops in Vietnam the start date of the Vietnam War is a grey zone. In 1998 after a high level review by the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense (DoD)]] and through the efforts of [[Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr.|Richard B. Fitzgibbon]]'s family the start date of the Vietnam War was changed to 1 November 1955.<ref name="DoD p. ">{{harvnb|DoD|1998|p=}}</ref> U.S. government reports currently cite 1 November 1955 as the commencement date of the "Vietnam Conflict," for this was the day when the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Indochina (deployed to Southeast Asia under President Truman) was reorganized into country-specific units and MAAG Vietnam was established.<ref name="Lawrence p. 20">{{harvnb|Lawrence|2009|p=[http://books.google.com/books?id=CxtJ56I2cjMC&pg=PA20 20]}}</ref>

Other start dates include when Hanoi authorized Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam to begin a low-level [[insurgency]] in December 1956,<ref name=autogenerated1>James Olson and Randy Roberts, ''Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam, 1945–1990'', p. 67 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991).</ref> whereas some view 26 September 1959 when the first battle occurred between the Communist and South Vietnamese army, as the start date.<ref name="WarBegan">[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent14.htm Origins of the Insurgency in South Vietnam, 1954–1960], The Pentagon Papers (Gravel Edition), Volume 1, Chapter 5, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971), Section 3, pp. 314–346; International Relations Department, Mount Holyoke College.</ref>
|group="A"|name="start date"}} 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 [[communism|communist]] allies, and the government of [[South Vietnam]], supported by the [[United States]] and other [[anti-communism|anti-communist]] countries.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Vietnam War |quote=Meanwhile, the United States, its military demoralized and its civilian electorate deeply divided, began a process of coming to terms with defeat in its longest and most controversial war |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/628478/Vietnam-War |accessdate=5 March 2008}}</ref> 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 warfare|guerrilla war]] against anti-communist forces in the region. The [[Vietnam People's Army]] (North Vietnamese Army) engaged in a more [[conventional warfare|conventional war]], at times committing large units into battle. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on [[Air supremacy|air superiority]] and overwhelming firepower to conduct [[search and destroy]] operations, involving [[Army|ground forces]], [[artillery]], and [[airstrike]]s.

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]].<ref>{{cite web|author=Digital History, Steven Mintz |url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/vietnam/index.cfm |title=The Vietnam War |publisher=Digitalhistory.uh.edu|accessdate=31 October 2011}}</ref> American [[military advisor]]s 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.<ref>[http://25thaviation.org/facts/id430.htm Vietnam War Statistics and Facts 1], 25th Aviation Batallion website.</ref> U.S. [[Military organization|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.

U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973 as a result of the [[Case–Church Amendment]] passed by the U.S. Congress.<ref>Kolko, Gabriel ''Anatomy of War'', pp. 457, 461 ff., ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> The [[Fall of Saigon|capture of Saigon]] by the Vietnam People's Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities (see [[Vietnam War casualties]]). Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from less than one million<ref>Charles Hirschman et al., "Vietnamese Casualties During the American War: A New Estimate," Population and Development Review, December 1995.</ref> to more than five million.<ref name="AFPCivilian"/><ref>Associated Press, 3 April 1995, "Vietnam Says 1.1 Million Died Fighting For North."</ref> Some 200,000–300,000 [[Khmer people|Cambodians]],<ref name="Heuveline, Patrick 2001">Heuveline, Patrick (2001). "The Demographic Analysis of Mortality in Cambodia." In Forced Migration and Mortality, eds. Holly E. Reed and Charles B. Keely. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.</ref><ref name="Marek Sliwinski 1995">Marek Sliwinski, Le Génocide Khmer Rouge: Une Analyse Démographique (L'Harmattan, 1995).</ref><ref name="Banister, Judith 1993">Banister, Judith, and Paige Johnson (1993). "After the Nightmare: The Population of Cambodia." In Genocide and Democracy in Cambodia: The Khmer Rouge, the United Nations and the International Community, ed. Ben Kiernan. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Southeast Asia Studies.</ref> 20,000–200,000 [[Lao people|Laotians]],<ref>Warner, Roger, [[Shooting at the Moon (book)|Shooting at the Moon]], (1996), pp366, estimates 30,000 Hmong.</ref><ref>Obermeyer, "Fifty years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia", ''British Medical Journal,'' 2008, estimates 60,000 total.</ref><ref>T. Lomperis, ''From People's War to People's Rule,'' (1996), estimates 35,000 total.</ref><ref>Small, Melvin & Joel David Singer, ''Resort to Arms: International and Civil Wars 1816–1980'', (1982), estimates 20,000 total.</ref><ref>Taylor, Charles Lewis, ''The World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators,'' estimates 20,000 total.</ref><ref>Stuart-Fox, Martin, ''A History of Laos,'' estimates 200,000 by 1973.</ref> and 58,220 U.S. service members also died in the conflict.<ref group=A name=USd&w />

==Names for the War==
{{further2|[[Terminology of the Vietnam War]]}}
Various names have been applied to the conflict. ''Vietnam War'' is the most commonly used name in English. It has also been called the ''Second Indochina War'', and the ''Vietnam Conflict''.

As there have been so many conflicts in Indochina, this conflict is known by the name of their chief opponent to distinguish it from the others.<ref>Moore, Harold. G and Joseph L. Galloway ''We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam'' (p. 57).</ref> Thus, in [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], the war is known as ''Chiến tranh Việt Nam'' (The Vietnam War), or as ''Kháng chiến chống Mỹ'' (Resistance War Against America), loosely translated as ''the American War''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Asian-Nation: Asian American History, Demographics, &amp; Issues:: The American / Viet Nam War|quote=The Viet Nam War is also called 'The American War' by the Vietnamese |url=http://www.asian-nation.org/vietnam-war.shtml |accessdate=18 August 2008}}</ref>

The main military organizations involved in the war were, on one side, the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam]] (ARVN) and the U.S. military, and, on the other side, the [[Vietnam People's Army]] (VPA) (also known as the North Vietnamese Army, or NVA), and the [[Viet Cong]], or National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF), a South Vietnamese communist guerrilla force.

==Background to 1949==
{{See also|History of Vietnam|Cochinchina Campaign|Can Vuong|Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang|Yen Bai mutiny}}
France began its conquest of [[Indochina]] in the late 1850s, and completed pacification by 1893.<ref>Ooi, Keat Gin. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC Southeast Asia: a historical encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor]''. ABC-CLIO; 2004. ISBN 9781576077702. p. [http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&pg=PA520 520].</ref><ref>Rai, Lajpat. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=QQ_nS6pTlDgC Social Science]''. FK Publications; ISBN 9788189611125. p. [http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=QQ_nS6pTlDgC&pg=PA22 22].</ref><ref>Dommen, Arthur J.. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=MauWlUjuWNsC The Indochinese experience of the French and the Americans: nationalism and communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam]''. Indiana University Press; 2001. ISBN 9780253338549. p. [http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=MauWlUjuWNsC&pg=PA4 4–19].</ref> The [[Treaty of Huế (1884)|Treaty of Huế]], concluded in 1884, formed the basis for French colonial rule in Vietnam for the next seven decades. In spite of military resistance, most notable by the [[Can Vuong]] of [[Phan Dinh Phung]], by 1888 the area of the current-day nations of Cambodia and Vietnam was made into the [[colonialism|colony]] of [[French Indochina]] (Laos was added later).<ref>Neale, Jonathan ''The American War'', p. 3, ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> Various Vietnamese opposition movements to French rule existed during this period, such as the [[Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang]] who staged the failed [[Yen Bai mutiny]] in 1930, but none were ultimately as successful as the [[Viet Minh]] [[common front]], which was founded in 1941, controlled by the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Indochinese Communist Party]], and funded by the U.S. and the [[Kuomintang|Chinese Nationalist Party]] in its fight against Japanese occupation.<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 17">Neale, Jonathan ''The American War'', p. 17, ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref>{{#tag:Ref|The ''Việt Nam Ðộc Lập Ðồng Minh Hội'' had previously formed in [[Nanjing]], China, at some point between August 1935 and early 1936 when the non-communist Vietnamese Nationalist Party ([[Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang|Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng]], or Việt Quốc), led by [[Nguyễn Thái Học]], and some members of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Indochinese Communist Party]] (ICP) and a number of other Vietnamese nationalist parties formed an anti-imperialist united front. This organisation soon lapsed into inactivity, only to be revived by the ICP and [[Ho Chi Minh]] in 1941.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sophie Quinn-Judge|title=Ho Chi Minh: the missing years, 1919–1941|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=knErjpiKxQoC|year=2003|publisher=C. Hurst|isbn=9781850656586|pages=[http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=knErjpiKxQoC&pg=PA212 212–213]}}</ref>|group=A}}

During [[World War II]], the [[Battle of France|French were defeated by the Germans]] in 1940. For French Indochina, this meant that the colonial authorities became [[Vichy France|Vichy French]], allies of the German-Italian [[Axis powers]]. In turn this meant that the French collaborated with the Japanese forces after their [[invasion of French Indochina]] during 1940. The French continued to run affairs in the colony, but ultimate power resided in the hands of the Japanese.<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 17"/>

The Viet Minh was founded as a league for independence from France, but also opposed Japanese occupation in 1945 for the same reason. The U.S. and Chinese Nationalist Party supported them in the fight against the Japanese.<ref>[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WZry2NaH2_sC&lpg=PA42&ots=Yhrw1jzE4P&dq=Chinese%20nationalists%20supported%20Vietminh&pg=PA42#v=onepage&q&f=false Vietnam] Vietnam by Spencer Tucker, p. 42, ISBN 0813109663 Retrieved 4 June 2011.</ref> However, they did not have enough power to fight actual battles at first. Viet Minh leader [[Ho Chi Minh]] was suspected of being a communist and jailed for a year by the Chinese Nationalist Party.<ref>{{Harvnb|Brocheux|2007|p=[http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=fJtqjYiVbUAC&pg=PA198 198]}}</ref>

Double occupation by France and Japan continued until the German forces were expelled from France and the French Indochina colonial authorities started holding secret talks with the [[Free French Forces|Free French]]. Fearing that they could no longer trust the French authorities, the Japanese army interned them all on 9 March 1945 and assumed direct control themselves<ref>Neale, Jonathan ''The American War'', p. 18, ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> through their [[puppet state]], the [[Empire of Vietnam]], under [[Bảo Đại]].

During 1944–1945, a [[Vietnamese Famine of 1945|deep famine]] struck northern Vietnam due to a combination of bad weather and French/Japanese exploitation. 1 million people died of starvation (out of a population of 10 million in the affected area).<ref>Neale, Jonathan ''The American War'', pp. 18–19, ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> Exploiting the administrative gap<ref name="Kolko, Gabriel page 36">Kolko, Gabriel ''Anatomy of War'', p. 36, ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> that the internment of the French had created, the Viet Minh in March 1945 urged the population to ransack rice warehouses and refuse to pay their [[tax]]es.<ref>Neale, Jonathan ''The American War'', p. 19, ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> Between 75 and 100 warehouses were consequently raided.<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 20">Neale, Jonathan ''The American War'', p. 20, ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> This rebellion against the effects of the famine and the authorities that were partially responsible for it bolstered the Viet Minh's popularity and they recruited many members during this period.<ref name="Kolko, Gabriel page 36"/>

In August 1945, the Japanese had been defeated and [[Surrender of Japan|surrendered unconditionally]]. In French Indochina this created a [[power vacuum]], as the French were still interned and the Japanese forces stood down.<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 20"/> The Viet Minh stepped into this vacuum and grasped power across Vietnam in the [[August Revolution]],<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 20"/> largely supported by the Vietnamese population.<ref>Kolko, Gabriel ''Anatomy of War'', p. 37, ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> After their defeat in the war, the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] (IJA) gave weapons to the Vietnamese, and kept Vichy French officials and military officers imprisoned for a month after the surrender. The Việt Minh had recruited more than 600 Japanese soldiers and given them roles to train or command Vietnamese soldiers.<ref>{{cite web|title=ベトナム独立戦争参加日本人の事跡に基づく日越のあり方に関する研究|work = 井川 一久|publisher = Tokyo foundation|url = http://nippon.zaidan.info/seikabutsu/2005/01036/pdf/0001.pdf |date = October 2005|accessdate =10 June 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=日越関係発展の方途を探る研究 ヴェトナム独立戦争参加日本人―その実態と日越両国にとっての歴史的意味―|work = 井川 一久|publisher = Tokyo foundation|url = http://nippon.zaidan.info/seikabutsu/2006/00197/pdf/0001.pdf |date = May 2006|accessdate =10 June 2010}}</ref>

Ho Chi Minh declared the [[independence|independent]] [[North Vietnam|Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] before a crowd of 500,000 in [[Hanoi]] on 2 September 1945.<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 20"/> In an overture to the Americans, he began his speech by paraphrasing the [[United States Declaration of Independence]]: ''All men are created equal. The Creator has given us certain inviolable Rights: the right to Life, the right to be Free, and the right to achieve Happiness.''<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 20"/>

However, the major [[Allies of World War II|allied victors of World War II]], the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union, all agreed the area belonged to the French.<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 20"/> As the French did not have the ships, weapons, or soldiers to immediately retake Vietnam, the major powers came to an agreement that British troops would occupy the south while [[Kuomintang|Nationalist Chinese]] forces would move in from the north.<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 20"/> Nationalist Chinese troops entered the country to disarm Japanese troops north of the 16th parallel on 14 September 1945.<ref>{{Harvnb|Willbanks|2009|p=[http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=X5WWklFB5O4C&pg=PA8 8]}}</ref> When the British landed in the south, they rearmed the interned French forces as well as parts of the surrendered Japanese forces to aid them in retaking southern Vietnam, as they did not have enough troops to do this themselves.<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 20"/>

Following the [[party line (politics)|party line]] from Moscow, Ho Chi Minh initially attempted to negotiate with the French, who were slowly re-establishing their control across the country.<ref>Neale, Jonathan ''The American War'', p. 24, ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> In January 1946, the Viet Minh won elections across central and northern Vietnam.<ref>Neale, Jonathan ''The American War'', pp. 23–24 ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> On 6 March 1946, Ho signed an agreement allowing French forces to replace Nationalist Chinese forces, in exchange for French recognition of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as a "free" republic within the [[French Union]], with the specifics of such recognition to be determined by future negotiation.<ref>{{Harvnb|Willbanks|2009|p=[http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=X5WWklFB5O4C&pg=PA9 9]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vietnamgear.com/March6agreement.aspx |title=Franco-Vietnam Agreement of March 6th, 1946 |publisher=Vietnamgear.com |date=6 March 1946 |accessdate=29 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent2.htm |title=Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition, Chapter !, Section 2 |publisher=Mtholyoke.edu |accessdate=29 April 2011}}</ref> The French landed in Hanoi by March 1946 and in November of that year they ousted the Viet Minh from the city.<ref>Neale, Jonathan ''The American War'', p. 24 ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> British forces departed on 26 March 1946, leaving Vietnam in the hands of the French.<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Dennis|title=Troubled days of peace: Mountbatten and South East Asia command, 1945–46|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Inu7AAAAIAAJ|year=1987|publisher=Manchester University Press ND|isbn=9780719022050|page=[http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=Inu7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA179 179]}}</ref> Soon thereafter, the Viet Minh began a [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]] against the French Union forces, beginning the [[First Indochina War]].

The war spread to Laos and Cambodia, where Communists organized the [[Pathet Lao]] and the [[Khmer Serei]], both of which were modeled on the Viet Minh.<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 25">Neale, Jonathan ''The American War'', p. 25 ISBN 1-898876-67-3.</ref> Globally, the Cold War began in earnest, which meant that the [[rapprochement]] that existed between the [[Western world|Western powers]] and the Soviet Union during World War II disintegrated. The Viet Minh fight was hampered by a lack of weapons; this situation changed by 1949 when the [[Communist Party of China|Chinese Communists]] had largely won the [[Chinese Civil War]] and were free to provide arms to their Vietnamese allies.<ref name="Neale, Jonathan page 25"/>

==Exit of the French, 1950–1954==
{{Main|First Indochina War|Operation Passage to Freedom}}

In January 1950, the communist nations, led by the [[China|People's Republic of China]] (PRC), recognized the [[Viet Minh]]'s [[North Vietnam|Democratic Republic of Vietnam]], based in [[Hanoi]], as the government of Vietnam, while non-communist nations recognized the French-backed [[State of Vietnam]] in [[Saigon]], led by former Emperor [[Bảo Đại]], as the Vietnamese government the following month.<ref name="McNamara 377">McNamara, ''Argument Without End'' pp. 377–79.</ref> The outbreak of the [[Korean War]] in June 1950 convinced many Washington policymakers that the war in [[Indochina]] was an example of communist expansionism directed by the [[Government of the Soviet Union|Kremlin]].<ref>''Pentagon Papers'', Gravel, ed, Chapter 2, 'U.S. Involvement in the Franco-Viet Minh War', p. 54.</ref>
[[Image:French indochina 1953 12 1.png|thumb|left|French soldiers fight off a Viet Minh ambush in 1952.]]
PRC military advisors began assisting the Viet Minh in July 1950.<ref name="OtherSide14">Ang, Cheng Guan, ''The Vietnam War from the Other Side'', p. 14. Routledge (2002).</ref> PRC weapons, expertise, and laborers transformed the Viet Minh from a guerrilla force into a regular army.<ref name="HistoryPlace">{{cite web|url = http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1945.html |title = The History Place – Vietnam War 1945–1960 |accessdate =11 June 2008}}</ref> In September 1950, the United States created a [[Military Assistance Advisory Group|Military Assistance and Advisory Group]] (MAAG) to screen French requests for aid, advise on strategy, and train Vietnamese soldiers.<ref>Herring, George C.: ''America's Longest War'', p. 18.</ref> By 1954, the United States had supplied 300,000 small arms and spent US$1 billion in support of the French military effort, shouldering 80 percent of the cost of the war.<ref>Zinn, ''A People's History of the United States'', p. 471.</ref>

There were also talks between the French and Americans in which the possible use of three [[tactical nuclear weapon]]s was considered, though reports of how seriously this was considered and by whom are even now vague and contradictory.<ref name="Ten Thousand Day War 1981, page 57">Vietnam The Ten Thousand Day War, Thames 1981, Michael Maclear, p. 57.</ref><ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=seXWfsD46QQC Vietnam at War: The History: 1946–1975], ISBN 978-0-19-506792-7, [http://books.google.com/books?id=seXWfsD46QQC&pg=PA263 p. 263].</ref> One version of the plan for the proposed [[Operation Vulture]] envisioned sending 60 B-29s from U.S. bases in the region, supported by as many as 150 fighters launched from U.S. Seventh Fleet carriers, to bomb Viet Minh commander [[Vo Nguyen Giap]]'s positions. The plan included an option to use up to three atomic weapons on the Viet Minh positions. Admiral [[Arthur W. Radford]], [[Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff|Chairman]] of the U.S. [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], gave this nuclear option his backing. U.S. B-29s, B-36s, and B-47s could have executed a nuclear strike, as could carrier aircraft from the Seventh Fleet.<ref name=AirForceMagazine>[http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2004/August%202004/0804dien.aspx Dien Bien Phu], Air Force Magazine 87:8, August 2004.</ref>

U.S. carriers sailed to the [[Gulf of Tonkin]], and reconnaissance flights over Dien Bien Phu were conducted during the negotiations. According to U.S. Vice-President [[Richard Nixon]], the plan involved the Joint Chiefs of Staff drawing up plans to use three small tactical nuclear weapons in support of the French.<ref name="Ten Thousand Day War 1981, page 57"/> Nixon, a so-called "[[War Hawk|hawk]]" on Vietnam, suggested that the United States might have to "put American boys in".<ref name=Tucker1999p76>[http://books.google.com/books?id=FEpuVkgzFJYC Vietnam], Routledge, 1999, Spencer Tucker, ISBN 978-1-85728-922-0, [http://books.google.com/books?id=FEpuVkgzFJYC&pg=PA76 p. 76].</ref> U.S. President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] made American participation contingent on British support, but London was opposed to such a venture.<ref name=Tucker1999p76 /> In the end, convinced that the political risks outweighed the possible benefits, Eisenhower decided against the intervention.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=3kUWAycjBsMC The U.S. Navy: a history], Naval Institute Press, 1997, Nathan Miller, ISBN 978-1-55750-595-8, [http://books.google.com/books?id=3kUWAycjBsMC&pg=PA67 pp. 67–68].</ref> As an experienced [[General of the Army (United States)|five-star general]], Eisenhower was very wary of getting the United States involved in a [[Land warfare|land war]] in [[Asia]].

The Viet Minh received crucial support from the Soviet Union and PRC. PRC support in the [[First Indochina War|Border Campaign of 1950]] allowed supplies to come from the PRC into Vietnam. Throughout the conflict, U.S. intelligence estimates remained skeptical of French chances of success.<ref>''The Pentagon Papers.'' Gravel, ed. vol. 1, pp. 391–404.</ref>

The [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu]] marked the end of French involvement in Indochina. Giap's Viet Minh forces handed the French a stunning military defeat, and on 7 May 1954, the [[French Union]] garrison surrendered. Of the 12,000 French prisoners taken by the Viet Minh, only 3,000 survived.<ref>"William C. Jeffries (2006). ''[http://books.google.cz/books?id=zCVrzwEErzgC&pg=PA388&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false Trap Door to the Dark Side]''". p. 388. ISBN 1-4259-5120-1</ref> At the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Conference]], the French negotiated a ceasefire agreement with the Viet Minh, and independence was granted to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

==Transition period==
{{Main|Geneva Conference (1954)|Operation Passage to Freedom|Battle of Saigon (1955)|Ba Cut|State of Vietnam referendum, 1955}}
[[File:Gen-commons.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Conference]], 1954]]
Vietnam was [[partition of Vietnam|temporarily partitioned]] at the [[17th parallel north|17th parallel]], and under the terms of the Geneva Accords, civilians were to be given the opportunity to move freely between the two provisional states for a 300-day period. Elections throughout the country were to be held in 1956 to establish a unified government.<ref>Press release by the Embassy of the Republic of Vietnam, quoted from the Washington, D.C. press and Information Service, vol l. no. 18 (22 July 1955) and no. 20 (18 August 1955), in Chapter 19 of Gettleman, Franklin and Young, ''Vietnam and America: A Documented History'', pp. 103–105.</ref> Around one million northerners, mainly minority [[Catholic Church|Catholics]], fled south, fearing persecution by the communists<ref>Jacobs, pp. 45–55.</ref> following an American [[propaganda]] campaign using slogans such as "The [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Virgin Mary]] is heading south",<ref name="2VNbf">''Two Viet-nams'' by Bernard B. Fall. Praeger, 1964.</ref> and aided by a U.S. funded $93 million relocation program, which included ferrying refugees with the Seventh Fleet.<ref name="BSNMurti">''Vietnam Divided'' by B.S.N. Murti, Asian Publishing House, 1964.</ref> It is estimated that as many as two million more would have left had they not been stopped by the Viet Minh.<ref>Robert Turner, ''Vietnamese Communism: Its Origin and Development'', 102 (Stanford Ca: Hoover Institution Press, 1975).</ref> The northern, mainly Catholic refugees were meant to give the later [[Ngo Dinh Diem|Ngô Đình Diệm]] regime a strong anti-communist constituency.<ref name="Karnow p. 238">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=238}}</ref> Diem later went on to staff his administration's key posts mostly with northern and central Catholics.

In addition to the Catholics flowing south, up to 130,000 "Revolutionary Regroupees" went to the north for "regroupment," expecting to return to the south within two years.<ref>Anatomy of a war, Gabiel Kolko, Phoenix press 1994, p. 98.</ref> The Viet Minh left roughly 5,000 to 10,000 [[Professional revolutionaries|cadre]]s in the south as a "politico-military substructure within the object of its [[irredentism]]."<ref>1 ''Pentagon Papers'' (The Senator Gravel Edition), 247, 328 (Boston, Beacon Press, 1971).</ref> The last French soldiers were to leave Vietnam in April 1956.<ref name="HistoryPlace"/> The PRC completed its withdrawal from North Vietnam at around the same time.<ref name="OtherSide14"/> Around 52,000 Vietnamese civilians moved from south to north.<ref>John Prados, "[http://web.archive.org/web/20060527190340/http://www.vva.org/TheVeteran/2005_01/feature_numbersGame.htm The Numbers Game: How Many Vietnamese Fled South In 1954?]", ''The VVA Veteran'', January/February 2005. Retrieved 21 January 2007.</ref>

In the north, the Viet Minh ruled as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and engaged in a drastic [[land reform]] program in which more than 100,000 perceived "[[Enemy of the people|class enemies]]" were executed.<ref>[[R.J. Rummel]], "Vietnam Democide," http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB6.1A.GIF</ref><ref>"Chapter on Vietnamese Democide"http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP6.HTM</ref><ref>"50 Years On, Vietnamese Remember Land Reform Terror" http://www.vietamericanvets.com/Page-Records-50YearsLandReform.htmIn</ref><ref>[[#Rosefielde2009RedHolocaust|Rosefielde (2009) ''Red Holocaust'']] pp. 120–121.</ref>
In 1956, leaders in Hanoi admitted to "excesses" in implementing this program and restored a large amount of the land to the original owners.<ref>Christian G. Appy (2008) ''Vietnam: The Definitive Oral History, Told From All Sides''. London, Ebury Press: 46–7.</ref>

The south, meanwhile, constituted the State of Vietnam, with Bảo Đại as Emperor and [[Ngo Dinh Diem|Ngô Đình Diệm]] (appointed in July 1954) as his prime minister. In June 1955, Diem announced that the scheduled 1956 elections would not be held, claiming South Vietnam had rejected the Geneva Accords from the beginning and was therefore not bound by them. "How can we expect 'free elections' to be held in the Communist North?" he asked. President Eisenhower echoed senior U.S. experts<ref>Kolko, Gabriel, ''Anatomy of a War'' p. 98, ISBN 1-56584-218-9.</ref> when he wrote that, in 1954, "80 per cent of the population would have voted for the Communist Ho Chi Minh" over Emperor Bảo Đại.<ref>Dwight D. Eisenhower. ''Mandate for Change.'' Garden City, New Jersey. Doubleday & Company, 1963, p. 372.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent11.htm |title=Pentagon Papers |publisher=Mtholyoke.edu |accessdate=31 October 2011}}</ref>

From April to June 1955, Diem (against U.S. advice) eliminated any political opposition in the south by launching military operations against the [[Cao Dai]] religious sect, the [[Hoa Hao]] sect of [[Ba Cut]], and the [[Binh Xuyen]] [[organized crime]] group (which was allied with members of the secret police and some military elements). As broad-based opposition to his harsh tactics mounted, Diem increasingly sought to blame the communists.<ref name=RKBrigham>Robert K. Brigham. [http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/history/index.html ''Battlefield Vietnam: A Brief History.'']</ref>

In a referendum on the future of the State of Vietnam on 23 October 1955, Diem [[electoral fraud|rigged]] the poll supervised by his brother [[Ngo Dinh Nhu]] and was credited with 98.2 percent of the vote, including 133% in Saigon. His American advisers had recommended a more modest winning margin of "60 to 70 percent." Diem, however, viewed the election as a test of authority.<ref name="Karnow p. 224">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=224}}</ref> Three days later, he declared South Vietnam to be an independent state known as the Republic of Vietnam (ROV), with himself as president.<ref>Gerdes (ed.) ''Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons: The Vietnam War'' p. 19.</ref>

The ROV was created largely because of the Eisenhower administration's desire for an anti-communist state in the region.<ref name=RKBrigham /> The [[domino theory]], which argued that if one country fell to communism, then all of the surrounding countries would follow, was first proposed as policy by the Eisenhower administration.<ref>McNamara ''Argument Without End'' p. 19.</ref> It was, and is still, commonly hypothesized that it applied to Vietnam. [[John F. Kennedy]], then a [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]], said in a speech to the American Friends of Vietnam: "Burma, Thailand, India, Japan, the Philippines and obviously Laos and Cambodia are among those whose security would be threatened if the Red Tide of Communism overflowed into Vietnam."<ref>John F. Kennedy. "[http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Senator-John-F-Kennedy-at-the-Conference-on-Vietnam-Luncheon-in-the-Hotel-Willard-Washing.aspx America's Stakes in Vietnam]". Speech to the American Friends of Vietnam, June 1956.</ref>

==Diem era, 1955–1963==
{{Main|Ngo Dinh Diem|War in Vietnam (1954–1959)}}
[[File:Ngo Dinh Diem at Washington - ARC 542189.jpg|thumb|right|U.S. President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] greet President [[Ngo Dinh Diem]] of [[South Vietnam]] in Washington, 8 May 1957.]]

===Rule===
{{See also|Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to Australia}}
A devout [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]], Diem was fervently anti-communist, nationalist, and socially conservative. Historian Luu Doan Huynh notes that "Diem represented narrow and extremist nationalism coupled with autocracy and [[nepotism]]."<ref>McNamara ''Argument Without End'' pp. 200–201.</ref> As he was a wealthy Catholic, many ordinary Vietnamese viewed Diem as part of the elite who had helped the French rule Vietnam; Diem had been interior minister in the colonial government. The majority of Vietnamese people were [[Buddhism|Buddhist]], and were alarmed by actions such as Diem's dedication of the country to the Virgin Mary.

Beginning in the summer of 1955, Diem launched the "Denounce the Communists" campaign, during which communists and other anti-government elements were arrested, imprisoned, tortured, or executed. He instituted the [[death penalty]] against any activity deemed communist in August 1956.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent14.htm |title=The Pentagon Papers Gravel Edition Volume 1, Chapter 5, "Origins of the Insurgency in South Vietnam, 1954–1960" |publisher=Mtholyoke.edu |accessdate=31 October 2011}}</ref> The regime branded its opponents [[Viet Cong]] ("Vietnamese communist") to degrade their nationalist credentials. As a measure of the level of [[political repression]], about 12,000 suspected opponents of Diem were killed between 1955 and 1957 and by the end of 1958 an estimated 40,000 [[political prisoner]]s had been jailed.<ref>''Anatomy of a War'' by [[Gabriel Kolko]], ISBN 1-56584-218-9, p. 89.</ref>

In May 1957, Diem undertook a [[Ngo Dinh Diem presidential visit to the United States|ten-day state visit to the United States]]. President Eisenhower pledged his continued support, and a parade was held in Diem's honor in [[New York City]]. Although Diem was publicly praised, in private [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[John Foster Dulles]] conceded that Diem had been selected because there were no better alternatives.<ref name="Karnow p. 230">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=230}}</ref>

Future U.S. [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Robert McNamara]] wrote that the new American patrons of the ROV were almost completely ignorant of Vietnamese culture. They knew little of the language or long history of the country.<ref name="McNamara 377"/> There was a tendency to assign American motives to Vietnamese actions, and Diem warned that it was an illusion to believe that blindly copying Western methods would solve Vietnamese problems.<ref name="McNamara 377"/>

===Insurgency in the South, 1954–1960===
{{Main|Viet Cong|War in Vietnam (1959–1963)}}
President Eisenhower noted that had the Geneva Accords been held, "possibly 80 percent of the population would have voted for Communist Ho Chi Minh" and the government quickly became more repressive and unpopular. The Diem government had largely failed in implementing a [[land reform]] program for the peasants of South Vietnam (90% of the population) which along with "Peace, security, freedom, [and] their standard of living" was the peasants' prime concern according to specialist Philippe Devillers. Among the changes the government altered the tenant structure to competitive bidding which led to more tenant insecurity. Only 10% of the tenants benefited from the program and were oftentimes northerners, refugees, or Catholics which created more animosity among the Vietnamese. In 1959 the program became inoperative and by 1960, only 2% of the landowners owned 45% of the land.<ref name="WarBegan" />

The South government used widespread repression, between 1954 and 1960 it captured 50,000 prisoners and had put them into "political reeducation camps" as part of the Denunciation of Communists Campaign. In 1959 British specialist [[PJ Honey]] was invited to examine the camps and concluded after interviewing rural Vietnamese that "the consensus of the opinion expressed by these peoples is that...the majority of the detainees are neither communists nor pro-communists."<ref name="WarBegan" />

According to the ''Pentagon Papers'' the prisons were "little more than concentration camps for potential foes of the government" and used torture regardless of whether they were communist or not. The Diem government had also abolished elections for village councils out of fear of large amounts of Viet Minh candidates winning and replaced administrative village autonomy with government officials.<ref name="WarBegan" />

This had an effect, between 1954 and 1957 there was large scale random dissidence in the countryside which the Diem government successful quelled. In early 1957 South Vietnam had its first peace in over a decade. However, by mid-1957 through 1959 incidents of violence increased but the government "did not construe it as a campaign, considering the disorders too diffuse to warrant committing major GVN resources." By Early 1959 however, Diem had considered it a campaign and implemented Law 10/59, which made political violence punishable by death and property confiscation.<ref>[http://vietnam.vassar.edu/doc6.html Excerpts from Law 10/59, 6 May 1959].</ref> There had been some division among former Viet Minh whose main goal was to hold the elections promised in the Geneva Accords, leading to "[[wildcat strike|wildcat]]" activities separate from the other communists and anti-GVN activists.<ref name="WarBegan" />

In December 1960, the [[Viet Cong|National Liberation Front]] (NLF) was formally created consisting of all anti-GVN activists and included non-communists. According to the ''Pentagon Papers'', the NLF "placed heavy emphasis on the withdrawal of American advisors and influence, on land reform and liberalization of the GVN, on [[coalition government]] and the neutralization of Vietnam." Often the leaders of the organization were kept secret.<ref name="WarBegan" />

====North Vietnam interference?====
Very little evidence points to organization or interference on the part of North Vietnam. As the ''Pentagon Papers'' point out, "No direct links have been established between Hanoi and perpetrators of rural violence." As Kahin and Lewis point out:

{{quote|Contrary to United States policy assumptions, all available evidence shows that the revival of the civil war in the South in 1958 was undertaken by Southerners at their own—not Hanoi's—initiative...Insurgency activity against the Saigon government began in the South under Southern leadership not as a consequence of any dictate from Hanoi, but contrary to Hanoi's injunctions.<ref name="WarBegan" />}}

Similarly, historian [[Arthur Schlesinger Jr.]] states that "it was not until September, 1960 that the Communist Party of North Vietnam bestowed its formal blessing and called for the liberation of the south from American imperialism".<ref name="WarBegan" />

==During John F. Kennedy's administration, 1961–1963==
{{Main|Strategic Hamlet Program|Pham Ngoc Thao}}
In the [[U.S. presidential election, 1960|1960 U.S. presidential election]], Senator [[John F. Kennedy]] defeated Vice-President [[Richard Nixon]]. Although Eisenhower warned Kennedy about Laos and Vietnam, Europe and Latin America "loomed larger than Asia on his sights."<ref name="Karnow p. 264">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=264}}</ref> In his inaugural address, Kennedy made the ambitious pledge to "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty."<ref>The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. ''[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/kennedy.asp Inaugural Address of John F. Kennedy].''</ref> In June 1961, he bitterly disagreed with Soviet premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] when they [[Vienna summit|met in Vienna]] to discuss key U.S.-Soviet issues.

The Kennedy administration remained essentially committed to the Cold War foreign policy inherited from the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. In 1961, the U.S. had 50,000 troops based in Korea, and Kennedy faced a three-part crisis – the failure of the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]], the construction of the [[Berlin Wall]], and a negotiated settlement between the pro-Western government of Laos and the [[Pathet Lao]] communist movement.<ref name="Karnow p. 265">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=265}} – suggested that "Kennedy sidestepped Laos, whose rugged terrain was no battleground for American soldiers."</ref> These made Kennedy believe that another failure on the part of the United States to gain control and stop communist expansion would fatally damage U.S. credibility with its allies and his own reputation. Kennedy was thus determined to "draw a line in the sand" and prevent a communist victory in Vietnam. He told James Reston of ''[[The New York Times]]'' immediately after his Vienna meeting with Khrushchev, "Now we have a problem making our power credible and Vietnam looks like the place."<ref>[http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/goldzwig.htm The case of John F. Kennedy and Vietnam Presidential Studies Quarterly].</ref><ref>Mann, Robert. ''A Grand Delusion'', Basic Books, 2002.</ref>

In May 1961, Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] visited Saigon and enthusiastically declared Diem the "[[Winston Churchill]] of Asia."<ref name="Karnow p. 267">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=267}}</ref> Asked why he had made the comment, Johnson replied, "Diem's the only boy we got out there."<ref name="Karnow p. 230"/> Johnson assured Diem of more aid in molding a fighting force that could resist the communists.

Kennedy's policy toward South Vietnam rested on the assumption that Diem and his forces must ultimately defeat the guerrillas on their own. He was against the deployment of American combat troops and observed that "to introduce U.S. forces in large numbers there today, while it might have an initially favorable military impact, would almost certainly lead to adverse political and, in the long run, adverse military consequences."<ref>U.S. Department of Defense, ''U.S.-Vietnam Relations'', vol. 3, pp. 1–2.</ref>
The quality of the South Vietnamese military, however, remained poor. Bad leadership, corruption, and political promotions all played a part in emasculating the ARVN. The frequency of guerrilla attacks rose as the insurgency gathered steam. While Hanoi's support for the NLF played a role, South Vietnamese governmental incompetence was at the core of the crisis.<ref>McNamara ''Argument Without End'' p. 369.</ref>
[[File:South Vietnam Map.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[South Vietnam]], Military Regions, 1967]]

One major issue Kennedy raised was whether the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the United States. Although Kennedy stressed long-range missile parity with the Soviets, he was also interested in using special forces for counterinsurgency warfare in Third World countries threatened by communist insurgencies. Although they were originally intended for use behind front lines after a conventional invasion of Europe, Kennedy believed that the guerrilla tactics employed by special forces such as the [[Special Forces (United States Army)|Green Berets]] would be effective in a "brush fire" war in Vietnam.

Kennedy advisers [[Maxwell D. Taylor|Maxwell Taylor]] and [[Walt Whitman Rostow|Walt Rostow]] recommended that U.S. troops be sent to South Vietnam disguised as flood relief workers. Kennedy rejected the idea but increased military assistance yet again. In April 1962, [[John Kenneth Galbraith]] warned Kennedy of the "danger we shall replace the French as a colonial force in the area and bleed as the French did."<ref>John Kenneth Galbraith. "Memorandum to President Kennedy from John Kenneth Galbraith on Vietnam, 4 April 1962." ''The Pentagon Papers.'' Gravel. ed. Boston, Massachusetts Beacon Press, 1971, vol. 2. pp. 669–671.</ref> By 1963, there were 16,000 American military personnel in South Vietnam, up from Eisenhower's 900 advisors.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/conscientiousobjection/OverviewVietnamWar.htm
|title=Vietnam War |publisher=Swarthmore College Peace Collection |ref=harv}}</ref>

The [[Strategic Hamlet Program]] had been initiated in 1961. This joint U.S.-South Vietnamese program attempted to resettle the rural population into fortified camps. The aim was to isolate the population from the insurgents, provide education and health care, and strengthen the government's hold over the countryside.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}} The Strategic Hamlets, however, were quickly infiltrated by the guerrillas.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}} The peasants resented being uprooted from their ancestral villages.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}} In part, this was because Colonel [[Pham Ngoc Thao]], a Diem favourite who was instrumental in running the program, was in fact a communist agent who used his Catholicism to gain influential posts and damage the ROV from the inside.{{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}

The government refused to undertake land reform, which left farmers paying high rents to a few wealthy landlords. Corruption dogged the program and intensified opposition.

On 23 July 1962, fourteen nations, including the People's Republic of China, South Vietnam, the Soviet Union, North Vietnam and the United States, signed an agreement promising the neutrality of Laos.<ref name=laos35k>[http://www.answers.com/topic/international-agreement-on-the-neutrality-of-laos-35k International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos].</ref>

===Coup and assassinations===
:''See also: [[Role of the United States in the Vietnam War#John F. Kennedy (1961–1963)|Kennedy's role]], [[1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt]], [[1962 South Vietnamese Independence Palace bombing]], [[Huế Phật Đản shootings]] and [[Xa Loi Pagoda raids]]''
{{Main|Cable 243|Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem|Buddhist crisis| Krulak Mendenhall mission|McNamara Taylor mission|1963 South Vietnamese coup|Reaction to the 1963 South Vietnamese coup}}
The inept performance of the South Vietnamese army was exemplified by failed actions such as the [[Battle of Ap Bac]] on 2 January 1963, in which a small band of Viet Cong beat off a much larger and better equipped South Vietnamese force, many of whose officers seemed reluctant even to engage in combat.<ref>Neil Sheehan (1989) ''A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam''. New York, Vintage: 201–66.</ref> The ARVN were led in that battle by Diem's most trusted general, [[Huynh Van Cao]], commander of the [[IV Corps (South Vietnam)|IV Corps]]. Cao was a Catholic who had been promoted due to religion and fidelity rather than skill, and his main job was to preserve his forces to stave off coups; he had earlier vomited during a communist attack. Some policymakers in Washington began to conclude that Diem was incapable of defeating the communists and might even make a deal with Ho Chi Minh. He seemed concerned only with fending off coups, and had become more paranoid after attempts in 1960 and 1962, which he partly attributed to U.S. encouragement. As [[Robert F. Kennedy]] noted, "Diem wouldn't make even the slightest concessions. He was difficult to reason with..."<ref>Live interview by John Bartlow Martin. ''Was Kennedy Planning to Pull out of Vietnam?'' New York, New York. John F. Kennedy Library, 1964, Tape V, Reel 1.</ref>

Discontent with Diem's policies exploded following the [[Huế Phật Đản shootings]] of majority Buddhists who were protesting against the ban on the [[Buddhist flag]] on [[Vesākha|Vesak]], the Buddha's birthday. This resulted in mass protests against discriminatory policies that gave privileges to the Catholic Church and its adherents. Diem's elder brother [[Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục|Ngo Dinh Thuc]] was the Archbishop of Huế and aggressively blurred the separation between church and state. Thuc's anniversary celebrations shortly before Vesak had been bankrolled by the government and Vatican flags were displayed prominently. There had also been reports of Buddhist pagodas being demolished by Catholic paramilitaries throughout Diem's rule. Diem refused to make concessions to the Buddhist majority or take responsibility for the deaths. On 21 August 1963, the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces|ARVN Special Forces]] of Colonel [[Le Quang Tung]], loyal to Diem's younger brother [[Ngo Dinh Nhu]], [[Xa Loi Pagoda raids|raided pagodas across Vietnam]], causing widespread damage and destruction and leaving a death toll estimated to range into the hundreds.

[[File:Diem dead.jpg|thumb|[[Ngo Dinh Diem]] after being shot and killed in the 1963 coup.]]

U.S. officials began discussing the possibility of a regime change during the middle of 1963. The [[United States Department of State]] was generally in favor of encouraging a coup, while the Defense Department favored Diem. Chief among the proposed changes was the removal of Diem's younger brother Nhu, who controlled the secret police and special forces was seen as the man behind the Buddhist repression and more generally the architect of the Ngo family's rule. This proposal was conveyed to the U.S. embassy in Saigon in [[Cable 243]].

The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) was in contact with generals planning to remove Diem. They were told that the United States would not oppose such a move nor punish the generals by cutting off aid. President Diem was overthrown and executed, along with his brother, on 2 November 1963. When he was informed, Maxwell Taylor remembered that Kennedy "rushed from the room with a look of shock and dismay on his face."<ref name="Karnow p. 326">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=326}}</ref> He had not approved Diem's murder. The U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, [[Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.|Henry Cabot Lodge]], invited the coup leaders to the embassy and congratulated them. Ambassador Lodge informed Kennedy that "the prospects now are for a shorter war".<ref name="Karnow p. 327">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=327}}</ref>

Following the coup, chaos ensued. Hanoi took advantage of the situation and increased its support for the guerrillas. South Vietnam entered a period of extreme political instability, as one military government toppled another in quick succession. Increasingly, each new regime was viewed as a puppet of the Americans; whatever the failings of Diem, his credentials as a nationalist (as Robert McNamara later reflected) had been impeccable.<ref>McNamara ''Argument Without End'' p. 328.</ref>

U.S military advisers were embedded at every level of the South Vietnamese armed forces. They were, however, almost completely ignorant of the political nature of the [[insurgency]]. The insurgency was a political power struggle, in which military engagements were not the main goal.<ref name="Demma">Demma, Vincent H. "The U.S. Army in Vietnam." ''American Military History'' (1989) the official history of the United States Army. Available [http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/history/marshall/military/vietnam/short.history/chap_28.txt online].</ref> The Kennedy administration sought to refocus U.S. efforts on pacification and "winning over the hearts and minds" of the population. The military leadership in Washington, however, was hostile to any role for U.S. advisers other than conventional troop training.<ref>Douglas Blaufarb. ''The Counterinsurgency Era.'' New York, New York. Free Press, 1977, p. 119.</ref> General [[Paul D. Harkins|Paul Harkins]], the commander of U.S. forces in South Vietnam, confidently predicted victory by Christmas 1963.<ref>George C. Herring. ''America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975.'' Boston, Massachusetts McGraw Hill, 1986, p. 103.</ref> The CIA was less optimistic, however, warning that "the Viet Cong by and large retain de facto control of much of the countryside and have steadily increased the overall intensity of the effort".<ref>''Foreign Relation of the United States, Vietnam, 1961–1963.'' Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office, 1991, vol. 4., p. 707.</ref>

Paramilitary officers from the CIA's [[Special Activities Division]] trained and led Hmong tribesmen in Laos and into Vietnam. The indigenous forces numbered in the tens of thousands and they conducted direct action missions, led by paramilitary officers, against the Communist Pathet Lao forces and their North Vietnamese supporters.<ref>U.S. Special Forces: A Guide to America's Special Operations Units : the World's Most Elite Fighting Force, By Samuel A. Southworth, Stephen Tanner, Published by Da Capo Press, 2002, ISBN 9780306811654.</ref> The CIA also ran the [[Phoenix Program]] and participation [[Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group]] (MAC-V SOG), which was originally named the Special Operations Group, but was changed for cover purposes.<ref>Shooting at the Moon by Roger Warner – The history of CIA/IAD'S 15-year involvement in conducting the secret war in Laos, 1960–1975, and the career of CIA PMCO (paramilitary case officer) Bill Lair.</ref>

==Lyndon B. Johnson escalates the war, 1963–1969==
[[File:Bombing in Vietnam.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A U.S. [[Douglas B-66 Destroyer|B-66 Destroyer]] and four [[Republic F-105 Thunderchief|F-105 Thunderchief]]s dropping bombs on [[North Vietnam]]]]
{{main|Joint warfare in South Vietnam 1963–1969}}
{{further2|[[Role of the United States in the Vietnam War#Americanization|Role of United States in the Vietnam War: Americanization]]}}
{{See also|Opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War|Gulf of Tonkin incident|1964 South Vietnamese coup|September 1964 South Vietnamese coup attempt|December 1964 South Vietnamese coup|1965 South Vietnamese coup}}
[[Lyndon B. Johnson]] (LBJ), as he took over the presidency after the [[John F. Kennedy assassination|death of Kennedy]], initially did not consider Vietnam a priority and was more concerned with his "[[Great Society]]" and progressive social programs. Presidential aide [[Jack Valenti]] recalls, "Vietnam at the time was no bigger than a man's fist on the horizon. We hardly discussed it because it was not worth discussing."<ref name="Karnow pp. 336-339">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|pp=336–339}} – Johnson viewed many members whom he inherited from Kennedy's cabinet with distrust because he had never penetrated their circle early in Kennedy's presidency; to Johnson's mind, such as [[W. Averell Harriman]] and [[Dean Acheson]] spoke a different language.</ref><ref>Shortly after the assassination of Kennedy, when [[McGeorge Bundy]] called LBJ on the phone, LBJ responded: "Goddammit, Bundy. I've told you that when I want you I'll call you." Brian VanDeMark, ''Into the Quagmire'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 13.</ref>

On 24 November 1963, Johnson said, "the battle against communism... must be joined... with strength and determination."<ref>Vietnam: ''A History'' (New York: Penguin books, 1983), p. 339. Before a small group, including [[Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.]], the new president also said, "We should stop playing cops and robbers [a reference to Diem's failed leadership] and get back to... winning the war... tell the generals in Saigon that Lyndon Johnson intends to stand by our word...[to] win the contest against the externally directed and supported Communist conspiracy."</ref> The pledge came at a time when Vietnam was deteriorating, especially in places like the Mekong Delta, because of the recent coup against Diem.<ref name="Karnow p. 339">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=339}} – talking about the Mekong Delta, that, "At a place called Hoa Phu, for example, the [[Strategic Hamlet Program|strategic hamlet]] built during the previous summer now looked like it had been hit by a hurricane.... Speaking through an interpreter, a local guard explained to me that a handful of Vietcong agents had entered the hamlet one night and told the peasants to tear it down and return to their native villages. The peasants complied without question."</ref> Johnson had reversed Kennedy's disengagement policy from Vietnam in withdrawing 1,000 troops by the end of 1963 ([[Presidential directive|NSAM]] 263 on 11 October),<ref>[http://www.jfklancer.com/NSAM263.html National Security Action Memorandum NSAM 263 &nbsp; (11 October 1963)].</ref> with his own NSAM 273 (26 November)<ref>[http://www.jfklancer.com/NSAM273.html NSAM 273 &nbsp; (26 November 1963)].</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=NSAM 273: South Vietnam|url=http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/NSAMs/nsam273.asp|accessdate=23 June 2011}}</ref> to expand the war.

The military revolutionary council, meeting in lieu of a strong South Vietnamese leader, was made up of 12 members headed by General [[Duong Van Minh]]—whom [[Stanley Karnow]], a journalist on the ground, later recalled as "a model of lethargy."<ref name="Karnow p. 340">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=340}} – who quote Minh as enjoying playing tennis more than bureaucratic work.</ref> Lodge, frustrated by the end of the year, cabled home about Minh: "Will he be strong enough to get on top of things?" His regime was overthrown in January 1964 by General [[Nguyen Khanh]].<ref name="Karnow p. 341">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=341}}</ref> However, there was persistent instability in the military as several coups—not all successful—occurred in a short space of time.

[[File:Vietconginterrogation.jpg|thumb|upright|An alleged NLF activist, captured during an attack on an American outpost near the Cambodian border, is interrogated.]]

On 2 August 1964, the {{USS|Maddox|DD-731|6}}, on an intelligence mission along North Vietnam's coast, allegedly fired upon and damaged several torpedo boats that had been stalking it in the [[Gulf of Tonkin]].<ref name="Osborn pp. 84-85">{{harvnb|Osborn|2002|pp=84–85}}</ref> A second attack was reported two days later on the {{USS|Turner Joy|DD-951|6}} and ''Maddox'' in the same area. The circumstances of the attack were murky. Lyndon Johnson commented to Undersecretary of State George Ball that "those sailors out there may have been shooting at flying fish."<ref>Gerdes (ed.) ''Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons: The Vietnam War'' p. 26.</ref>

The second attack led to retaliatory air strikes, prompted Congress to approve the [[Gulf of Tonkin Resolution]] on 5 August 1964, signed by Johnson, and gave the President power to conduct military operations in Southeast Asia without declaring war.<ref name="Hp91">{{harvnb|Healy|2009|p=[http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=MRA2jIyejwAC&pg=PA91 91]}}.</ref> Although Congressmen at the time denied that this was a full scale war declaration, the Tonkin Resolution allowed the President unilateral power to launch a full scale war if the President deemed necessary.<ref name="Hp91"/> In the same month, Johnson pledged that he was not "...&nbsp;committing American boys to fighting a war that I think ought to be fought by the boys of Asia to help protect their own land."<ref name="Palmer">{{Cite book|last=Palmer|first=Dave Richard|title=Summons of the Trumpet: U.S.-Vietnam in Perspective|publisher=Presidio Press|year=1978|page=882|isbn=0891415505|ref=harv}}</ref>

An undated [[National Security Agency|NSA]] publication declassified in 2005, however, revealed that there was no attack on 4 August.<ref name="nytimes.com.2005.10.31">{{Cite news|ref=harv|date= 31 October 2005 |url = http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/31/politics/31war.html|title = Vietnam Study, Casting Doubts, Remains Secret|work=The New York Times| accessdate =27 April 2010|last=Shane| first= Scott|quote=}}</ref> It had already been called into question long before this. "[[Gulf of Tonkin incident]]", writes Louise Gerdes, "is an oft-cited example of the way in which Johnson misled the American people to gain support for his foreign policy in Vietnam."<ref>Gerdes (ed.) ''Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons: The Vietnam War'' p. 25.</ref> George C. Herring argues, however, that McNamara and the Pentagon "did not knowingly lie about the alleged attacks, but they were obviously in a mood to retaliate and they seem to have selected from the evidence available to them those parts that confirmed what they wanted to believe."<ref>George C. Herring, ''America's longest war: the United States and Vietnam 1950–1975'' (New York: Wiley, 1979), 121.</ref>

"From a strength of approximately 5,000 at the start of 1959 the Viet Cong's ranks grew to about 100,000 at the end of 1964...Between 1961 and 1964 the Army's strength rose from about 850,000 to nearly a million men."<ref name="Demma"/> The numbers for U.S. troops deployed to Vietnam during the same period were quite different; 2,000 in 1961, rising rapidly to 16,500 in 1964.<ref name="USvietAnalysis">The United States in Vietnam: An analysis in depth of the history of America's involvement in Vietnam by [[George McTurnan Kahin]] and John W. Lewis, Delta Books, 1967.</ref>
[[File:Vietcongsuspect.jpg|right|thumb|A Marine from 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, moves an alleged NLF activist to the rear during a search and clear operation held by the battalion {{convert|15|mi|km|0}} west of [[Da Nang Air Base]].]]
The [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] recommended a three-stage escalation of the bombing of North Vietnam. On 2 March 1965, following an attack on a [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marine]] barracks at [[Pleiku]],<ref name="DennisSimon">{{cite web|last =Simon |first =Dennis M. |title =The War in Vietnam,1965–1968 |date = August 2002|url =http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Viet2.html |accessdate =7 May 2009}}</ref> [[Operation Flaming Dart]] (initiated when Soviet Premier [[Alexei Kosygin]] was at a [[state visit]] to [[North Vietnam]]), [[Operation Rolling Thunder]] and [[Operation Arc Light]] commenced.<ref>Nalty 1998, pp. 97, 261.</ref> The bombing campaign, which ultimately lasted three years, was intended to force North Vietnam to cease its support for the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF) by threatening to destroy North Vietnam's air defenses and industrial infrastructure. As well, it was aimed at bolstering the morale of the South Vietnamese.<ref name = "Tilford 89">Earl L. Tilford, ''Setup: What the Air Force did in Vietnam and Why''. Maxwell Air Force Base AL: Air University Press, 1991, p. 89.</ref> Between March 1965 and November 1968, "Rolling Thunder" deluged the north with a million tons of missiles, rockets and bombs.<ref name="Karnow p. 468">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=468}}</ref>

Bombing was not restricted to North Vietnam. Other aerial campaigns, such as [[Operation Commando Hunt]], targeted different parts of the NLF and VPA infrastructure. These included the [[Ho Chi Minh trail]], which ran through Laos and Cambodia. The objective of forcing North Vietnam to stop its support for the NLF, however, was never reached. As one officer noted "this is a political war and it calls for discriminate killing. The best weapon... would be a knife... The worst is an airplane."<ref name="Courtwright p. 210"/> The [[Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force]] [[Curtis LeMay]], however, had long advocated saturation bombing in Vietnam and wrote of the Communists that "we're going to bomb them back into the Stone Age".<ref>[http://www.giga-usa.com/quotes/authors/curtis_e_lemay_a001.htm Gen. Curtis E LeMay].</ref>

===Escalation and ground war===
[[File:1965-02-08 Showdown in Vietnam.ogv|thumb|[[Universal Newsreel]] film about an attack on U.S. air bases and the U.S. response. 1965]]
[[File:Communistvillagers1966.jpg|thumb|upright|Peasants suspected of being Vietcong under detention of U.S. army, 1966]]
After several attacks upon them, it was decided that [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]] bases needed more protection. The South Vietnamese military seemed incapable of providing security. On 8 March 1965, 3,500 [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marines]] were dispatched to South Vietnam. This marked the beginning of the American ground war. U.S. public opinion overwhelmingly supported the deployment.<ref>{{Cite journal
|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20080202203114rn_1/people-press.org/commentary/display.php3?AnalysisID=57|title=Generations Divide Over Military Action in Iraq|publisher=Pew Research Center|month=October|year=2002
|ref=harv
}} (archived from [http://people-press.org/commentary/?analysisid=57 the original] on 2 February 2008).</ref>

In a statement similar to that made to the French almost two decades earlier, Ho Chi Minh warned that if the Americans "want to make war for twenty years then we shall make war for twenty years. If they want to make peace, we shall make peace and invite them to afternoon tea."<ref>Ho Chi Minh. ''Letter to Martin Niemoeller.'' December 1966. quoted in Marilyn B. Young. ''The Vietnam Wars: 1945–1990.'' New York, New York. Harper, 1991, p. 172.</ref> As former First Deputy Foreign Minister Tran Quang Co has noted, the primary goal of the war was to reunify Vietnam and secure its independence. The policy of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) was not to topple other non-communist governments in South East Asia.<ref>McNamara, ''Argument Without End'' p. 48.</ref>

The Marines' assignment was defensive. The initial deployment of 3,500 in March was increased to nearly 200,000 by December.<ref name="McNamara 349">McNamara, ''Argument Without End'' pp. 349–51.</ref> The U.S. military had long been schooled in offensive warfare. Regardless of political policies, U.S. commanders were institutionally and psychologically unsuited to a defensive mission.<ref name="McNamara 349"/> In December, ARVN forces suffered heavy losses at the [[Battle of Bình Giã]],<ref>{{Cite book
|title=Triumph forsaken: the Vietnam War, 1954–1965
|author=Mark Moyar
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|year=2006
|isbn=9780521869119
|url=http://books.google.com/?id=phJrZ87RwuAC
|page=[http://books.google.com/books?id=phJrZ87RwuAC&pg=PA339 339]
|ref=harv
}}</ref> in a battle that both sides viewed as a watershed. Previously communist forces had utilized hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, however at Binh Gia they had defeated a strong ARVN force in conventional warfare.<ref>McNeill 1993, p. 58.</ref> Tellingly, South Vietnamese forces were again defeated in June, at the [[Battle of Đồng Xoài]].<ref>McNeill 1993, p. 94.</ref>

[[File:Checking house during patrol.jpg|right|thumb|U.S. soldiers searching a village for [[Viet Cong|NLF]]]]

Desertion rates were increasing, and [[morale]] plummeted. General [[William Westmoreland]] informed Admiral [[U.S. Grant Sharp, Jr.]], commander of U.S. Pacific forces, that the situation was critical.<ref name="McNamara 349"/> He said, "I am convinced that U.S. troops with their energy, mobility, and firepower can successfully take the fight to the NLF [National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam]."<ref>U.S. Department of Defense, ''U.S.-Vietnam Relations'' vol. 4, p. 7.</ref> With this recommendation, Westmoreland was advocating an aggressive departure from America's defensive posture and the sidelining of the South Vietnamese. By ignoring ARVN units, the U.S. commitment became open-ended.<ref>McNamara ''Argument Without End'' p. 353.</ref> Westmoreland outlined a three-point plan to win the war:

*Phase 1. Commitment of U.S. (and other free world) forces necessary to halt the losing trend by the end of 1965.
*Phase 2. U.S. and allied forces mount major offensive actions to seize the initiative to destroy guerrilla and organized enemy forces. This phase would end when the enemy had been worn down, thrown on the defensive, and driven back from major populated areas.
*Phase 3. If the enemy persisted, a period of twelve to eighteen months following Phase 2 would be required for the final destruction of enemy forces remaining in remote base areas.<ref>U.S. Department of Defense, ''U.S.-Vietnam Relations'' vol. 5, pp. 8–9.</ref>

The plan was approved by Johnson and marked a profound departure from the previous administration's insistence that the government of South Vietnam was responsible for defeating the guerrillas. Westmoreland predicted victory by the end of 1967.<ref>U.S. Department of Defense, ''U.S.-Vietnam Relations'' vol. 4, pp 117–119. and vol. 5, pp. 8–12.</ref> Johnson did not, however, communicate this change in strategy to the media. Instead he emphasized continuity.<ref>''Public Papers of the Presidents, 1965.'' Washington, D.C. Government Printing Office, 1966, vol. 2, pp. 794–799.</ref> The change in U.S. policy depended on matching the North Vietnamese and the NLF in a contest of [[attrition warfare|attrition]] and [[morale]]. The opponents were locked in a cycle of [[escalation]].<ref name="McNamara 353">McNamara ''Argument Without End'' pp. 353–354.</ref> The idea that the government of South Vietnam could manage its own affairs was shelved.<ref name="McNamara 353"/>
[[Image:Glassboro-meeting1967.jpg|thumb|right|Soviet Premier [[Alexei Kosygin]] with U.S. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] at the [[Glassboro Summit Conference]] where the two representatives discussed the possibilities of a peace settlement.]]
The one-year [[tour of duty]] deprived units of experienced leadership. As one observer noted "we were not in Vietnam for 10 years, but for one year 10 times."<ref name="Courtwright p. 210">{{harvnb|Courtwright|2005|p=210}}</ref> As a result, training programs were shortened.

South Vietnam was inundated with manufactured goods. As Stanley Karnow writes, "the main PX [Post Exchange], located in the Saigon suburb of [[Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City|Cholon]], was only slightly smaller than the New York [[Bloomingdale's]]..."<ref name="Karnow p. 453">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=453}}</ref> The American buildup transformed the economy and had a profound effect on South Vietnamese society. A huge surge in corruption was witnessed.

[[File:HoCMT.png|thumb|left|The Ho Chi Minh Trail running through Laos, 1967]]

Washington encouraged its [[Southeast Asia Treaty Organization|SEATO]] allies to contribute troops. Australia, New Zealand, the [[South Korea|Republic of Korea]], [[Thailand]], and the [[Philippines]]<ref name="Karnow p. 556">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=556}}</ref> all agreed to send troops. Major allies, however, notably [[NATO]] nations Canada and the United Kingdom, declined Washington's troop requests.<ref>Peter Church. ed. ''A Short History of South-East Asia.'' Singapore, John Wiley & Sons, 2006, p. 193.</ref> The U.S. and its allies mounted complex operations, such as operations [[Operation Masher|Masher]], [[Operation Attleboro|Attleboro]], [[Operation Cedar Falls|Cedar Falls]], and [[Operation Junction City|Junction City]]. However, the communist insurgents remained elusive and demonstrated great [[Military tactics|tactical]] flexibility.

Meanwhile, the political situation in South Vietnam began to stabilize with the coming to power of Prime Minister Air Marshal [[Nguyen Cao Ky|Nguyễn Cao Kỳ]] and figurehead Chief of State, General [[Nguyen Van Thieu|Nguyễn Văn Thiệu]], in mid 1965 at the head of a military junta. This ended a series of coups that had happened more than once a year. In 1967, Thieu became president with Ky as his deputy, after rigged elections. Although they were nominally a civilian government, Ky was supposed to maintain real power through a behind-the-scenes military body. However, Thieu outmanoevred and sidelined Ky by filling the ranks with generals from his faction. Thieu was also accused of murdering Ky loyalists through contrived military accidents. Thieu, mistrustful and indecisive, remained president until 1975, having won a one-man election in 1971.<ref name="Karnow p. 706">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=706}}</ref>

The Johnson administration employed a "policy of minimum candor"<ref name="Karnow p. 18">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=18}}</ref> in its dealings with the media. Military information officers sought to manage media coverage by emphasizing stories that portrayed progress in the war. Over time, this policy damaged the public trust in official pronouncements. As the media's coverage of the war and that of the Pentagon diverged, a so-called [[credibility gap]] developed.<ref name="Karnow p. 18"/>

===Tet Offensive===
{{Main|Tet Offensive}}

Having lured General Westmoreland's forces into the hinterland at [[Battle of Khe Sanh|Khe Sanh]] in [[Quảng Trị Province]],<ref>McNamara ''Argument Without End'' pp. 363–365.</ref> in January 1968, the NVA and NLF broke the truce that had traditionally accompanied the [[Tết]] (Lunar New Year) holiday. They launched the surprise Tet Offensive in the hope of sparking a national uprising. Over 100 cities were attacked, with assaults on General Westmoreland's headquarters and the [[United States Embassy, Saigon|U.S. Embassy, Saigon]].

Although the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces were initially taken aback by the scale of the urban offensive, they responded quickly and effectively, decimating the ranks of the NLF. In the former capital city of [[Huế]], the combined NLF and VPA troops captured the Imperial Citadel and much of the city, which led to the [[Battle of Huế]]. Throughout the offensive, the American forces employed massive firepower; in Huế where the battle was the fiercest, that firepower left 80% of the city in ruins.<ref>''Anatomy of a War'' by [[Gabriel Kolko]] ISBN 1-56584-218-9 pp. 308–309.</ref> During the interim between the capture of the Citadel and end of the "Battle of Huế", the communist insurgent occupying forces [[Massacre at Huế|massacred several thousand unarmed Huế]] civilians (estimates vary up to a high of 6,000). After the war, North Vietnamese officials acknowledged that the Tet Offensive had, indeed, caused grave damage to NLF forces. But the offensive had another, unintended consequence.

General Westmoreland had become the public face of the war. He was featured on the cover of ''Time'' magazine three times and was named 1965's Man of the Year.<ref name="Time">"The Guardians at the Gate", ''Time'' 7 January 1966, vol. 87, no.1.</ref> ''Time'' described him as "the sinewy personification of the American fighting man... (who) directed the historic buildup, drew up the battle plans, and infused the... men under him with his own idealistic view of U.S. aims and responsibilities."<ref name="Time"/>
[[File:Hue1968.jpg|thumb|U.S. Marines fighting in [[Huế]]]]
In November 1967 Westmoreland spearheaded a public relations drive for the Johnson administration to bolster flagging public support.<ref name="Witz">Witz ''The Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure in War'' pp. 1–2.</ref> In a speech before the [[National Press Club (USA)|National Press Club]] he said that a point in the war had been reached "where the end comes into view."<ref>Larry Berman. ''Lyndon Johnson's War.'' New York, W.W. Norton, 1991, p. 116.</ref> Thus, the public was shocked and confused when Westmoreland's predictions were trumped by Tet.<ref name="Witz"/> The American media, which had been largely supportive of U.S. efforts, rounded on the Johnson administration for what had become an increasing credibility gap. Despite its military failure, the Tet Offensive became a political victory and ended the career of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who declined to run for re-election. Johnson's approval rating slumped from 48 to 36 percent.<ref name="Witz"/>

As James Witz noted, Tet "contradicted the claims of progress... made by the Johnson administration and the military."<ref name="Witz"/> The Tet Offensive was the turning point in America's involvement in the Vietnam War. It had a profound impact on domestic support for the conflict. The offensive constituted an [[Failure in the intelligence cycle|intelligence failure]] on the scale of [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]].<ref name="Karnow p. 556" /><ref>Harold P. Ford. ''CIA and the Vietnam Policymakers'' pp. 104–123.</ref> Journalist [[Peter Arnett]] quoted an unnamed officer, saying of [[Bến Tre]] (laid to rubble by U.S. firepower)<ref>[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0D1FFA3F541B7B93CAA91789D85F4C8685F9 Survivors Hunt Dead of Bentre, Turned to Rubble in Allied Raids] nytimes.com.</ref> that "it became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it" (though the authenticity of this quote is disputed).<ref>[http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/charen040103.asp "Peter Arnett: Whose Man in Baghdad?"], [[Mona Charen]], ''Jewish World Review'', 1 April 2003.</ref> According to one source, this quote was attributed to Major Booris of 9th Infantry Division.<ref>[http://www.nhe.net/BenTreVietnam/ Saving Ben Tre].</ref>

[[File:Deadvietcong2.jpg|thumb|right|NLF/NVA killed by U.S. air force personnel during an attack on the perimeter of Tan Son Nhut Air Base during the Tet Offensive]]

Westmoreland became Chief of Staff of the Army in March, just as all resistance was finally subdued. The move was technically a promotion. However, his position had become untenable because of the offensive and because his request for 200,000 additional troops had been leaked to the media. Westmoreland was succeeded by his deputy [[Creighton Abrams]], a commander less inclined to public media pronouncements.<ref>Sorely 1999, pp. 11–16.</ref>

On 10 May 1968, despite low expectations, [[Paris Peace Accords|peace talks]] began between the United States and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Negotiations stagnated for five months, until Johnson gave orders to halt the bombing of North Vietnam. The [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] candidate, Vice President [[Hubert Humphrey]], was running against [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] former vice president [[Richard Nixon]].

As historian Robert Dallek writes, "Lyndon Johnson's escalation of the war in Vietnam divided Americans into warring camps... cost 30,000 American lives by the time he left office, (and) destroyed Johnson's presidency..."<ref>Gerdes (ed.) ''Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons: The Vietnam War'' p. 27.</ref> His refusal to send more U.S. troops to Vietnam was seen as Johnson's admission that the war was lost.<ref name="Command Magazine Issue 18, page 15">Command Magazine Issue 18, p. 15.</ref> It can be seen that the refusal was a tacit admission that the war could not be won by escalation, at least not at a cost acceptable to the American people.<ref name="Command Magazine Issue 18, page 15"/> As Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara noted, "the dangerous illusion of victory by the United States was therefore dead."<ref>McNamara ''Argument Without End'' pp. 366–367.</ref>

==Vietnamization, 1969–1972==
===Nixon Doctrine / Vietnamization===
[[File:Vietnampropaganda.png|thumb|Propaganda leaflet urging the defection of NLF and North Vietnamese to the side of the Republic of Vietnam]]
{{For|more details on this topic|Role of the United States in the Vietnam War#Vietnamization,_1969–1975 |#Vietnamization, 1969–1974}}
Severe communist losses during the Tet Offensive allowed U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]] to begin troop withdrawals. His plan, called the [[Nixon Doctrine]], was to build up the ARVN, so that they could take over the defense of South Vietnam. The policy became known as "[[Vietnamization]]". Vietnamization had much in common with the policies of the Kennedy administration. One important difference, however, remained. While Kennedy insisted that the South Vietnamese fight the war themselves, he attempted to limit the scope of the conflict.

Nixon said in an announcement, "I am tonight announcing plans for the withdrawal of an additional 150,000 American troops to be completed during the spring of next year. This will bring a total reduction of 265,500 men in our armed forces in Vietnam below the level that existed when we took office 15 months ago."<ref name=upi1970>{{cite web|url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1970/Apollo-13/12303235577467-2/#title |title=Vietnamization: 1970 Year in Review |publisher=Upi.com |date=27 October 2011 |accessdate=31 October 2011}}</ref>

On 10 October 1969, Nixon ordered a squadron of 18 [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]]s loaded with nuclear weapons [[Operation Giant Lance|to race to the border of Soviet airspace]] to convince the Soviet Union that he was capable of anything to end the Vietnam War.

Nixon also pursued negotiations. Theater commander [[Creighton Abrams]] shifted to smaller operations, aimed at communist logistics, with better use of firepower and more cooperation with the ARVN. Nixon also began to pursue [[détente]] with the Soviet Union and [[Sino-American relations#Rapprochement|rapprochement with the People's Republic of China]]. This policy helped to decrease global tensions. Détente led to nuclear arms reduction on the part of both [[superpower]]s. But Nixon was disappointed that the PRC and the Soviet Union continued to supply the North Vietnamese with aid. In September 1969, Ho Chi Minh died at age seventy-nine.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Ho Chi Minh Dies of Heart Attack in Hanoi |work=The Times |page =1 |date =4 September 1969}}</ref>

The anti-war movement was gaining strength in the United States. Nixon appealed to the "[[silent majority]]" of Americans to support the war. But revelations of the [[My Lai Massacre]], in which a U.S. Army [[My Lai Massacre#1st Platoon|platoon]] raped and killed civilians, and the 1969 "[[Green Beret Affair]]" where eight Special Forces soldiers, including the 5th Special Forces Group Commander were arrested for the murder<ref>Jeff Stein, Murder in Wartime: The Untold Spy Story that Changed the Course of the Vietnam War. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992) 60–62.</ref> of a suspected double agent<ref>Seals, Bob (2007) [http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/20thCentury/articles/greenberets.aspx The "Green Beret Affair": A Brief Introduction].</ref> provoked national and international outrage.

Beginning in 1970, American troops were being taken away from border areas where much more killing took place, and instead put along the coast and interior, which is one reason why casualties in 1970 were less than half of 1969's totals.<ref name=upi1970 />

===The secret bombing of Cambodia and Laos===
{{Main|Operation Menu}}
Prince [[Norodom Sihanouk]] had proclaimed Cambodia neutral since 1955,<ref>Prince Norodom Sihanouk. "Cambodia Neutral: The Dictates of Necessity." ''Foreign Affairs'' 1958, pp. 582–583.</ref> but the communists used Cambodian soil as a base and Sihanouk tolerated their presence, because he wished to avoid being drawn into a wider regional conflict. Under pressure from Washington, however, he changed this policy in 1969. The Vietnamese communists were no longer welcome. President Nixon took the opportunity to launch a massive secret bombing campaign, called Operation Menu, against their sanctuaries along the Cambodia/Vietnam border.

This violated a long succession of pronouncements from Washington supporting Cambodian neutrality. Richard Nixon wrote to Prince Sihanouk in April 1969 assuring him that the United States respected "the sovereignty, neutrality and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia..."<ref>quoted in {{Cite book
|editor-last=Ross
|editor-first=Russell R.
|chapter-url=http://www.countrystudies.us/cambodia/18.htm
|chapter=Nonaligned Foreign Policy
|url=http://countrystudies.us/cambodia/
|title=Cambodia: A Country Study
|publication-place=Washington
|publisher=GPO for the Library of Congress
|year=1987
|ref=harv
|isbn=0739723286
}}</ref> In 1970, Prince [[Cambodian coup of 1970|Sihanouk was deposed]] by his pro-American prime minister [[Lon Nol]]. The country's borders were closed, while U.S. forces and ARVN launched [[Cambodian Campaign|incursions into Cambodia]] to attack VPA/NLF bases and buy time for South Vietnam.

The invasion of Cambodia sparked [[protests against the Vietnam War|nationwide U.S. protests]]. [[Kent State shootings|Four students were killed by National Guardsmen]] at [[Kent State University]] during a protest in [[Ohio]], which provoked public outrage in the United States. The reaction to the incident by the Nixon administration was seen as callous and indifferent, providing additional impetus for the anti-war movement.<ref>Joe Angio. ''Nixon a Presidency Revealed.'' Television Documentary, The History Channel, 15 February 2007.</ref>

In 1971 the [[Pentagon Papers]] were leaked to ''[[The New York Times]]''. The top-secret history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, commissioned by the Department of Defense, detailed a long series of public deceptions. The [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] ruled that its publication was legal.<ref name="eJournal.USA">{{Cite journal|last=[[USA.gov]]|year=1997|month=February|title=The Pentagon Papers Case|journal= EJournal USA|volume= 2|issue= 1 |url=http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itdhr/0297/ijde/goodsb1.htm |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080112095748/http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itdhr/0297/ijde/goodsb1.htm |archivedate=12 January 2008 |accessdate=27 April 2010 |ref=harv}}</ref>

The ARVN launched [[Operation Lam Son 719]] in February 1971, aimed at cutting the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos.<ref name=laos35k /> The ostensibly neutral Laos had long been the scene of a secret war. After meeting resistance, ARVN forces retreated in a confused rout. They fled along roads littered with their own dead. When they ran out of fuel, soldiers abandoned their vehicles and attempted to barge their way on to American helicopters sent to evacuate the wounded. Many ARVN soldiers clung to helicopter skids in a desperate attempt to save themselves. U.S. aircraft had to destroy abandoned equipment, including tanks, to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. Half of the invading ARVN troops were either captured or killed. The operation was a fiasco and represented a clear failure of Vietnamization. As Karnow noted "the blunders were monumental... The (South Vietnamese) government's top officers had been tutored by the Americans for ten or fifteen years, many at training schools in the United States, yet they had learned little."<ref name="Karnow pp. 644-645">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|pp=644–645}}</ref>

In 1971 Australia and New Zealand withdrew their soldiers. The U.S. troop count was further reduced to 196,700, with a deadline to remove another 45,000 troops by February 1972. As [[protests against the Vietnam War|peace protests]] spread across the United States, disillusionment and ill-discipline grew in the ranks.<ref>{{Cite book
|chapter=11. The U.S. Army in Vietnam from Tet to the Final Withdrawal, 1968–1975
|chapter-url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/AMH%20V2/chapter11.htm
|title=American Military History, Volume II, The United states Army in a Global Era, 1917–2003
|url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH-V2/AMH%20V2/
|publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]]
|pages=349–350
|ref=harv
}}</ref>

<!--[[File:EASTER.jpg|thumb|right||The Nguyen Hue Offensive, 1972, part of the [[Easter Offensive]]]]-->
Vietnamization was again tested by the [[Easter Offensive]] of 1972, a massive conventional invasion of South Vietnam. The VPA and NLF quickly overran the northern provinces and in coordination with other forces attacked from Cambodia, threatening to cut the country in half. U.S. troop withdrawals continued. But American airpower came to the rescue with [[Operation Linebacker]], and the offensive was halted. However, it became clear that without American airpower South Vietnam could not survive. The last remaining American ground troops were withdrawn in August.

===1972 election and Paris Peace Accords===
The war was the central issue of the [[United States presidential election, 1972|1972 presidential election]]. Nixon's opponent, [[George McGovern]], campaigned on a platform of withdrawal from Vietnam. Nixon's National Security Adviser, [[Henry Kissinger]], continued secret negotiations with North Vietnam's [[Lê Ðức Thọ]]. In October 1972, they reached an agreement.

However, South Vietnamese President Thieu demanded massive changes to the peace accord. When North Vietnam went public with the agreement's details, the Nixon administration claimed that the North was attempting to embarrass the President. The negotiations became deadlocked. Hanoi demanded new changes.

[[File:B-52D(061127-F-1234S-017).jpg|thumb|left|[[Operation Linebacker II]], December 1972]]
To show his support for South Vietnam and force Hanoi back to the negotiating table, Nixon ordered [[Operation Linebacker II]], a massive bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong 18–29 December 1972. The offensive destroyed much of the remaining economic and industrial capacity of North Vietnam. Simultaneously Nixon pressured Thieu to accept the terms of the agreement, threatening to conclude a bilateral peace deal and cut off American aid.

On 15 January 1973, Nixon announced the suspension of offensive action against North Vietnam. The [[Paris Peace Accords]] on "Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam" were signed on 27 January 1973, officially ending direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. A cease-fire was declared across North and South Vietnam. U.S. [[prisoner of war|POW]]s were released. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Conference]] of 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. The Paris Peace Accords stipulated a sixty-day period for the total withdrawal of U.S. forces. "This article", noted Peter Church, "proved... to be the only one of the Paris Agreements which was fully carried out."<ref>Peter Church, ed. ''A Short History of South-East Asia.'' Singapore. John Wiley & Sons, 2006, pp. 193–194.</ref>

==Opposition to the Vietnam War: 1962–1975==
{{Globalize|date=April 2010}}
[[File:Vietnam War protest in Washington DC April 1971.jpg|thumb|[[Opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War|Protests against the war]] in Washington DC on 24 April 1971]]
[[File:Dead man and child from the My Lai massacre.jpg|thumb|Victims of the [[My Lai Massacre]]]]

{{Main|Opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War}}
Some advocates within the peace movement advocated a unilateral withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam. One reason given for the withdrawal is that it would contribute to a lessening of tensions in the region and thus less human bloodshed. Early opposition to U.S. involvement in Vietnam was centered around the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva conference of 1954]]. American support of Diem in refusing elections was thought to be thwarting the very democracy that America claimed to be supporting. John Kennedy, while Senator, opposed involvement in Vietnam.<ref name="USvietAnalysis"/>

Opposition to the Vietnam War tended to unite groups opposed to U.S. anti-communism, [[imperialism]] and [[colonialism]] and, for those involved with the [[New Left]] such as the [[Catholic Worker Movement]], capitalism itself. Others, such as [[Stephen Spiro]] opposed the war based on the theory of [[Just War]]. Some wanted to show solidarity with the people of Vietnam, such as [[Norman Morrison]] emulating the actions of [[Thích Quảng Đức]]. Some critics of U.S. withdrawal predicted that it would not contribute to peace but rather vastly increase bloodshed. These critics advocated U.S. forces remain until all threats from the [[Viet Cong]] and North Vietnamese Army had been eliminated. Advocates of U.S. withdrawal were generally known as "doves", and they called their opponents "[[War Hawk|hawks]]", following nomenclature dating back to the [[War of 1812]].

High-profile opposition to the Vietnam War turned to street protests in an effort to turn U.S. political opinion. On 15 October 1969, the [[Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam|Vietnam Moratorium]] attracted millions of Americans.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/15/newsid_2533000/2533131.stm 1969: Millions march in US Vietnam Moratorium]. BBC On This Day.</ref> The [[Kent State shootings|fatal shooting]] of four students at [[Kent State University]] led to nation-wide university protests.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.greenwych.ca/vietnam.htm|title=Vietnam – A View from the Walls: a History of the Vietnam Anti-War Movement|author=Bob Fink|publisher=Greenwich Publishing
|ref=harv}}</ref> Riots broke out at the [[1968 Democratic National Convention]].<ref>Jennings & Brewster 1998: 413.</ref> After explosive news reports of American [[military abuses]], such as the 1968 [[My Lai Massacre]], brought new attention and support to the anti-war movement, some veterans joined [[Vietnam Veterans Against the War]]. Anti-war protests ended with the final withdrawal of troops after the [[Paris Peace Accords]] were signed in 1973. South Vietnam was left to defend itself alone when the fighting resumed. Many South Vietnamese subsequently fled to the United States.<ref>{{Citation|title=Immigration in US history |url=http://crfimmigrationed.org/index.php/immigration-in-us-history |chapter=History Lesson 8: Refugees From Vietnam and Cambodia |chapter-url=http://crfimmigrationed.org/index.php/lessons-for-teachers/147-hl8 |publisher=Constitutional Rights Foundation}}</ref>

==Exit of the Americans: 1973–1975==
The United States began drastically reducing their troop support in South Vietnam during the final years of "[[Role of the United States in the Vietnam War#Vietnamization, 1969–1975|Vietnamization]]". Many U.S. troops were removed from the region, and on 5 March 1971, the United States returned the [[5th Special Forces Group (United States)|5th Special Forces Group]], which was the first American unit deployed to [[South Vietnam]], to its former base in [[Fort Bragg (North Carolina)|Fort Bragg]], [[North Carolina]].<ref name="Stanton p. 240">{{harvnb|Stanton|2003|p=240}}</ref> {{#tag:ref|On 8 March 1965 the first American combat troops the, [[3rd Marine Division (United States)#Vietnam War|Third Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division]], began landing in Vietnam to protect the [[Da Nang International Airport|Da Nang airport]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Willbanks|2009| p = [http://books.google.com/books?id=X5WWklFB5O4C&pg=PA110 110]}}</ref><ref name="nps.gov">{{cite web|ref=harv|year= 2010 |url = http://www.nps.gov/mrc/reader/vvmcr.htm|title = Facts about the Vietnam Veterans memorial collection| publisher = [[National Park Service|NPS.gov]]| accessdate =26 April 2010}}</ref> |group="A"}}

Under the [[Paris Peace Accords]], between North Vietnamese Foreign Minister [[Lê Ðức Thọ]] and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and reluctantly signed by South Vietnamese President [[Nguyen Van Thieu|Thiệu]], U.S. military forces withdrew from South Vietnam and prisoners were exchanged. North Vietnam was allowed to continue supplying communist troops in the South, but only to the extent of replacing materials that were consumed. Later that year the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] was awarded to Kissinger and Thọ, but the Vietnamese negotiator declined it saying that a true peace did not yet exist.

The communist leaders had expected that the ceasefire terms would favor their side. But Saigon, bolstered by a surge of U.S. aid received just before the ceasefire went into effect, began to roll back the Vietcong. The communists responded with a new strategy hammered out in a series of meetings in Hanoi in March 1973, according to the memoirs of [[Tran Van Tra|Trần Văn Trà]].<ref name = "Karnow pp. 672-74">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|pp=672–74}}</ref>

As the Vietcong's top commander, Trà participated in several of these meetings. With U.S. bombings suspended, work on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and other logistical structures could proceed unimpeded. Logistics would be upgraded until the North was in a position to launch a massive invasion of the South, projected for the 1975–76 dry season. Trà calculated that this date would be Hanoi's last opportunity to strike before Saigon's army could be fully trained.<ref name="Karnow pp. 672-74"/>
[[Image:ElectoralCollege1972.svg|thumb|right|300px|alt=Map of the United States, showing Nixon's victories in 49 states (red) over McGovern.|Calling for immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam, George McGovern's 1972 Presidential Campaign lost 49 of 50 states to Richard Nixon.]]

In the November 1972 Election, McGovern lost 49 of 50 states to Richard Nixon, who was re-elected U.S. president. Despite supporting Nixon over McGovern, many American voters [[split ticket|split their ticket]]s, returning a Democratic majority to both houses of Congress.

On 15 March 1973, U.S. President [[Richard Nixon]] implied that the United States would intervene militarily if the communist side violated the ceasefire. Public and congressional reaction to Nixon's trial balloon was unfavorable and in April Nixon appointed [[Graham Martin]] as U.S. ambassador to Vietnam. Martin was a second stringer compared to previous U.S. ambassadors and his appointment was an early signal that Washington had given up on Vietnam. During his confirmation hearings in June 1973, [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[James R. Schlesinger]] stated that he would recommend resumption of U.S. bombing in North Vietnam if North Vietnam launched a major offensive against South Vietnam. On 4 June 1973, the U.S. Senate passed the [[Case–Church Amendment|Case-Church Amendment]] to prohibit such intervention.<ref name = "Karnow pp. 670-72">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|pp=670–72}}</ref>

[[Image:93 us house membership.png|thumb|left|300px|
{| style="background:none;"
|-
! style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| In the 1972 Congressional Election, the majority of Americans voted for Democratic Congressmen. This map shows the House seats by party holding plurality in state
|-
| {{Legend|#f00|80.1–100% Republican}}
| {{Legend|#00f|80.1–100% Democratic}}
|-
| {{Legend|#f66|60.1–80% Republican}}
| {{Legend|#09f|60.1–80% Democratic}}
|-
| {{Legend|#f99|up to 60% Republican}}
| {{Legend|#0ff|up to 60% Democratic}}
|}]]
The oil price shock of October 1973 caused significant damage to the South Vietnamese economy. The Vietcong resumed offensive operations when dry season began and by January 1974 it had recaptured the territory it lost during the previous dry season. After two clashes that left 55 South Vietnamese soldiers dead, President Thiệu announced on 4 January that the war had restarted and that the Paris Peace Accord was no longer in effect. There had been over 25,000 South Vietnamese casualties during the ceasefire period.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/thieu-announces-war-has-resumed |title=This Day in History 1974: Thieu announces war has resumed |publisher=History.com |accessdate=17 October 2009}}</ref>

[[Gerald Ford]] took over as U.S. president on 9 August 1974 after President Nixon resigned due to the [[Watergate scandal]]. At this time, Congress cut financial aid to South Vietnam from $1 billion a year to $700 million. The U.S. midterm elections in 1974 brought in a new Congress dominated by Democrats who were even more determined to confront the president on the war. Congress immediately voted in restrictions on funding and military activities to be phased in through 1975 and to culminate in a total cutoff of funding in 1976.

The success of the 1973–74 dry season offensive inspired Trà to return to Hanoi in October 1974 and plead for a larger offensive in the next dry season. This time, Trà could travel on a drivable highway with regular fueling stops, a vast change from the days when the Ho Chi Minh Trail was a dangerous mountain trek.<ref name="Karnow p. 676">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=676}}</ref> Giáp, the North Vietnamese defense minister, was reluctant to approve Trà's plan. A larger offensive might provoke a U.S. reaction and interfere with the big push planned for 1976. Trà appealed over Giáp's head to first secretary [[Le Duan|Lê Duẩn]], who approved of the operation.

Trà's plan called for a limited offensive from Cambodia into [[Phuoc Long Province]]. The strike was designed to solve local logistical problems, gauge the reaction of South Vietnamese forces, and determine whether U.S. would return to the fray.

On 13 December 1974, North Vietnamese forces attacked Route 14 in Phuoc Long Province. Phuoc Binh, the provincial capital, fell on 6 January 1975. Ford desperately asked Congress for funds to assist and re-supply the South before it was overrun. Congress refused. The fall of Phuoc Binh and the lack of an American response left the South Vietnamese elite demoralized.

The speed of this success led the Politburo to reassess its strategy. It was decided that operations in the Central Highlands would be turned over to General [[Van Tien Dung|Văn Tiến Dũng]] and that Pleiku should be seized, if possible. Before he left for the South, Dũng was addressed by Lê Duẩn: "Never have we had military and political conditions so perfect or a strategic advantage as great as we have now."<ref>Clark Dougan, David Fulgham et al., ''The Fall of the South.'' Boston: Boston Publishing Company, 1985, p. 22.</ref>

At the start of 1975, the South Vietnamese had three times as much artillery and twice the number of tanks and armoured cars as the opposition. They also had 1,400 aircraft and a two-to-one numerical superiority in combat troops over their Communist enemies.<ref>[http://www.counterpunch.org/kolko04292005.html The End of the Vietnam War, 30 Years Ago] by [[Gabriel Kolko]], [[CounterPunch]] 30 April / 1 May 2005.</ref> However, the rising oil prices meant that much of this could not be used. They faced a well-organized, highly determined and well-funded North Vietnam. Much of the North's material and financial support came from the communist bloc. Within South Vietnam, there was increasing chaos. Their abandonment by the American military had compromised an economy dependent on U.S. financial support and the presence of a large number of U.S. troops. South Vietnam suffered from the global recession that followed the [[1973 oil crisis|Arab oil embargo]].

===Campaign 275===
{{Refimprove section|date=May 2008}}
On 10 March 1975, General Dung launched Campaign 275, a limited offensive into the Central Highlands, supported by tanks and heavy artillery. The target was [[Buôn Ma Thuột]], in [[Đắk Lắk Province]]. If the town could be taken, the provincial capital of [[Pleiku]] and the road to the coast would be exposed for a planned campaign in 1976. The ARVN proved incapable of resisting the onslaught, and its forces collapsed on 11 March. Once again, Hanoi was surprised by the speed of their success. Dung now urged the Politburo to allow him to seize Pleiku immediately and then turn his attention to [[Kon Tum]]. He argued that with two months of good weather remaining until the onset of the monsoon, it would be irresponsible to not take advantage of the situation.

President [[Nguyen Van Thieu|Nguyễn Văn Thiệu]], a former general, was fearful that his forces would be cut off in the north by the attacking communists; Thieu ordered a retreat. The president declared this to be a "lighten the top and keep the bottom" strategy. But in what appeared to be a repeat of [[Operation Lam Son 719]], the withdrawal soon turned into a bloody rout. While the bulk of ARVN forces attempted to flee, isolated units fought desperately. ARVN General Phu abandoned Pleiku and Kon Tum and retreated toward the coast, in what became known as the "column of tears".

As the ARVN tried to disengage from the enemy, refugees mixed in with the line of retreat. The poor condition of roads and bridges, damaged by years of conflict and neglect, slowed Phu's column. As the North Vietnamese forces approached, panic set in. Often abandoned by the officers, the soldiers and civilians were shelled incessantly. The retreat degenerated into a desperate scramble for the coast. By 1 April the "column of tears" was all but annihilated.

On 20 March, Thieu reversed himself and ordered Huế, Vietnam's third-largest city, be held at all costs, and then changed his policy several times. Thieu's contradictory orders confused and demoralized his officer corps. As the North Vietnamese launched their attack, panic set in, and ARVN resistance withered. On 22 March, the VPA opened the siege of Huế. Civilians flooded the airport and the docks hoping for any mode of escape. Some even swam out to sea to reach boats and barges anchored offshore. In the confusion, routed ARVN soldiers fired on civilians to make way for their retreat.

On 25 March, after a three-day battle, Huế fell. As resistance in Huế collapsed, North Vietnamese rockets rained down on [[Da Nang]] and its airport. By 28 March 35,000 VPA troops were poised to attack the suburbs. By 30 March 100,000 leaderless ARVN troops surrendered as the VPA marched victoriously through Da Nang. With the fall of the city, the defense of the Central Highlands and Northern provinces came to an end.

===Final North Vietnamese offensive===
{{details|Ho Chi Minh Campaign|the final North Vietnamese offensive}}
With the northern half of the country under their control, the Politburo ordered General Dung to launch the final offensive against Saigon. The operational plan for the [[Ho Chi Minh Campaign]] called for the capture of Saigon before 1 May. Hanoi wished to avoid the coming monsoon and prevent any redeployment of ARVN forces defending the capital. Northern forces, their morale boosted by their recent victories, rolled on, taking Nha Trang, Cam Ranh, and Da Lat.

On 7 April, three North Vietnamese divisions attacked [[Battle of Xuân Lộc|Xuan Loc]], 40 miles (64&nbsp;km) east of Saigon. The North Vietnamese met fierce resistance at Xuan Loc from the [[18th Division (South Vietnam)|ARVN 18th Division]], who were outnumbered six to one. For two bloody weeks, severe fighting raged as the ARVN defenders made a [[last stand]] to try to block the North Vietnamese advance. By 21 April, however, the exhausted garrison were ordered to withdraw towards Saigon.

An embittered and tearful President Thieu resigned on the same day, declaring that the United States had betrayed South Vietnam. In a scathing attack, he suggested U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had tricked him into signing the Paris peace agreement two years ago, promising military aid that failed to materialise.
Having transferred power to [[Tran Van Huong]], he left for [[Taiwan]] on 25 April. At the same time, North Vietnamese tanks had reached [[Bien Hoa]] and turned toward Saigon, brushing aside isolated ARVN units along the way.

By the end of April, the ARVN had collapsed on all fronts except in the [[Mekong Delta]]. Thousand of refugees streamed southward, ahead of the main communist onslaught. On 27 April 100,000 North Vietnamese troops encircled Saigon. The city was defended by about 30,000 ARVN troops. To hasten a collapse and foment panic, the VPA shelled the airport and forced its closure. With the air exit closed, large numbers of civilians found that they had no way out.

===Fall of Saigon===
[[File:Saigon-hubert-van-es.jpg|thumb|Evacuation of [[CIA]] station personnel by [[Air America (airline)|Air America]] on 29 April 1975. <sub>Photo: [[Hubert van Es]] / UPI</sub>]]
{{Main|Fall of Saigon|Operation Frequent Wind}}
Chaos, unrest, and panic broke out as hysterical South Vietnamese officials and civilians scrambled to leave Saigon. [[Martial law]] was declared. American helicopters began evacuating South Vietnamese, U.S., and foreign nationals from various parts of the city and from the U.S. embassy compound. [[Operation Frequent Wind]] had been delayed until the last possible moment, because of U.S. Ambassador [[Graham Martin]]'s belief that Saigon could be held and that a political settlement could be reached.

Schlesinger announced early in the morning of 29 April 1975 the evacuation from [[Ho Chi Minh City|Saigon]] by helicopter of the last U.S. diplomatic, military, and civilian personnel. Frequent Wind was arguably the largest helicopter evacuation in history. It began on 29 April, in an atmosphere of desperation, as hysterical crowds of Vietnamese vied for limited space. Martin pleaded with Washington to dispatch $700 million in emergency aid to bolster the regime and help it mobilize fresh military reserves. But American public opinion had soured on this conflict.

In the United States, South Vietnam was perceived as doomed. President [[Gerald Ford]] had given a televised speech on 23 April, declaring an end to the Vietnam War and all U.S. aid. Frequent Wind continued around the clock, as North Vietnamese tanks breached defenses on the outskirts of Saigon. In the early morning hours of 30 April, the last U.S. Marines evacuated the embassy by helicopter, as civilians swamped the perimeter and poured into the grounds. Many of them had been employed by the Americans and were left to their fate.

[[File:NVA pose for picture in Presidential Palace at end of Vietnam war.jpg‎|thumb|upright|Victorious NVA troops at the Presidential Palace, Saigon.]]

On 30 April 1975, VPA troops overcame all resistance, quickly capturing key buildings and installations. A tank crashed through the gates of the [[Reunification Palace|Independence Palace]], and at 11:30&nbsp;am local time the NLF flag was raised above it. President [[Duong Van Minh]], who had succeeded Huong two days earlier, surrendered. His surrender marked the end of 116 years of Vietnamese involvement in conflict either alongside or against various countries, primarily France, China, Japan, Britain, and America.<ref name="tucker29">{{Cite book|last=Tucker |first=Spencer C. |title=Vietnam |page=29 |url=http://books.google.com/?id=WZry2NaH2_sC&pg=PA29|format=[[Google Book Search]]|year=1999 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0813109663 |ref=harv}}</ref>

==Other countries' involvement==
===Pro-Hanoi===
====People's Republic of China====
In 1950, the People's Republic of China extended [[diplomatic recognition]] to the [[Viet Minh]]'s [[North Vietnam|Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] and sent weapons, as well as military advisors led by [[Politics of Shanxi#List of Governors of Shanxi|Luo Guibo]] to assist the Viet Minh in its [[First Indochina War|war]] with the French. The first draft of the 1954 [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Accords]] was negotiated by French Prime Minister [[Pierre Mendès France]] and Chinese Premier [[Zhou Enlai]] who, fearing U.S. intervention, urged the Viet Minh to accept a partition at the [[17th parallel north|17th parallel]].<ref>Qiang Zhai, ''China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950–1975'', pp. 54–55.</ref>

China's ability to aid the Viet Minh declined when Soviet aid to China was reduced following the end of the [[Korean War]] in 1953. Moreover, a divided Vietnam posed less of a threat to China. China provided material and technical support to the Vietnamese communists worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Chinese-supplied rice allowed North Vietnam to pull military-age men from the paddies and to impose a universal draft beginning in 1960.

In the summer of 1962, [[Mao Zedong]] agreed to supply Hanoi with 90,000 rifles and guns free of charge. Starting in 1965, China sent [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft]] units and [[engineering]] [[battalion]]s to North Vietnam to repair the damage caused by American bombing, rebuild roads and railroads, and to perform other engineering works. This freed North Vietnamese army units for combat in the South.

[[Sino-Soviet relations]] soured after the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia]] in August 1968. In October, the Chinese demanded North Vietnam cut relations with Moscow, but Hanoi refused.<ref>Ang, Cheng Guan, ''Ending the Vietnam War: The Vietnamese Communists' Perspective'', p. 27.</ref> The Chinese began to withdraw in November 1968 in preparation for a clash with the Soviets, which occurred at [[Zhenbao Island]] in March 1969. The Chinese also began financing the [[Khmer Rouge]] as a counterweight to the Vietnamese communists at this time. China's withdrawal from Vietnam was completed in July 1970.<ref name="Li p. 206">{{harvnb|Li|2007|p=206}}</ref>

The Khmer Rouge launched ferocious raids into Vietnam in 1975–1978. Vietnam responded with an invasion that toppled the Khmer Rouge. In response, China launched a brief, punitive [[Sino-Vietnamese War|invasion of Vietnam in 1979]].

====Soviet Union====
[[File:Leonid Brežněv (Bundesarchiv).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Leonid Brezhnev]] was the [[leader of the Soviet Union]] during the second half of the Vietnam War]]
[[Soviet Union|Soviet]] ships in the South China Sea gave vital early warnings to [[Viet Cong|NLF]] forces in South Vietnam. The Soviet intelligence ships would pick up American [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52]] bombers flying from [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]] and [[Guam]]. Their airspeed and direction would be noted and then relayed to [[COSVN]] headquarters. COSVN using airspeed and direction would calculate the bombing target and tell any assets to move "perpendicularly to the attack trajectory." These advance warning gave them time to move out of the way of the bombers and while the bombing runs caused extensive damage, because of the early warnings from 1968–1970 they did not kill a single military or civilian leader in the headquarter complexes.<ref name="Truong p. 168">{{harvnb|Truong|1985|p=168}}</ref>

The Soviet Union supplied North Vietnam with medical supplies, arms, tanks, planes, helicopters, artillery, anti-aircraft missiles and other military equipment. Soviet crews fired USSR-made [[surface-to-air missile]]s at the [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress|B-52 bombers]], which were the first raiders shot down over Hanoi. Fewer than a dozen Soviet citizens lost their lives in this conflict. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian officials acknowledged that the Soviet Union had stationed up to 3,000 troops in Vietnam during the war.<ref name="historicaltextarchive.com.Soviet">{{Cite news|ref=harv|year= 2010 |url = http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?action=read&artid=180|title = Soviet Involvement in the Vietnam War| agency = Associated Press |publisher = historicaltextarchive.com| accessdate =27 March 2010|last=AP}}</ref>

Some Russian sources give more specific numbers: the hardware donated by the USSR included 2,000 tanks, 7,000 artillery guns, over 5,000 anti-aircraft guns, 158 surface-to-air rocket launchers. Over the course of the war the Soviet money donated to the Vietnamese cause was equal to 2 million dollars a day. From July 1965 to the end of 1974, fighting in Vietnam was attended by some 6,500 officers and generals, as well as more than 4,500 soldiers and sergeants of the Soviet Armed Forces. In addition, military schools and academies of the USSR began training Vietnamese soldiers – more than 10 thousand people.<ref name="rus.ruvr.ru">{{cite web|ref=harv|date= 29 January 2010 |url = http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/01/29/3985810.html | title = Soviet rocketeer: After our arrival in Vietnam, American pilots refused to fly|publisher = rus.ruvr | location = RU | language = Russian | accessdate =26 May 2010}}</ref>

====North Korea====
As a result of a decision of the [[Workers' Party of Korea|Korean Workers' Party]] in October 1966, in early 1967 [[North Korea]] sent a fighter squadron to North Vietnam to back up the North Vietnamese 921st and 923rd fighter squadrons defending Hanoi. They stayed through 1968, and 200 pilots were reported to have served.<ref>Asia Times, 18 August 2006, Richard M Bennett [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/HH18Dg02.html Missiles and madness].</ref>

In addition, at least two anti-aircraft artillery regiments were sent as well. North Korea also sent weapons, ammunition and two million sets of uniforms to their comrades in North Vietnam.<ref>Merle Pribbenow, 'The 'Ology War: technology and ideology in the defense of Hanoi, 1967' ''Journal of Military History'' 67:1 (2003) p. 183.</ref> [[Kim Il-sung]] is reported to have told his pilots to "fight in the war as if the Vietnamese sky were their own".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1427367.stm |date= 7 July 2001 |title=N Korea admits Vietnam war role |first= Caroline |last= Gluck |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=19 October 2006}}; also see {{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/696970.stm |date=31 March 2000 |title=North Korea fought in Vietnam War |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=19 October 2006}}; also see {{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1435540.stm| date= 12 July 2001 |title=North Korea honours Vietnam war dead|publisher=BBC News| accessdate=19 October 2006}}</ref>

====Cuba====
The extent of manpower contributions to North Vietnam by the communist [[Cuba|Republic of Cuba]], under [[Fidel Castro]], is still a matter of debate. Then and since, the communist Vietnamese and Cuban governments have not divulged any information on this matter. There are numerous reports by former U.S. [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] that Cuban military personnel were present at North Vietnamese prison facilities during the war, and that they participated in torture activities, in what is known as the "Cuba Program".<ref>[http://www.aiipowmia.com/testimony/cubanews1.html AII POW-MIA Cuban Torture]. Aiipowmia.com (8 November 1999). Retrieved 6 August 2010.</ref><ref>[http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/espionage/vecino2.htm Cuban General Lies Repeatedly About Torturing U.S. POWs]. Latinamericanstudies.org (11 December 1978). Retrieved 6 August 2010.</ref><ref>[http://www.autentico.org/oa09872.php Former U.S. POWs detail torture by Cubans in Vietnam]. Autentico.org (22 August 1999). Retrieved 6 August 2010.</ref><ref>[http://www.miafacts.org/rjd_cuban.htm Facts of the Cuban Program]. Miafacts.org. Retrieved 6 August 2010.</ref><ref>[http://www.vvof.org/cuba_res.htm Cuba Program Research Paper]. Vvof.org. Retrieved 6 August 2010.</ref> Witnesses to this include [[John McCain|Senator John McCain]], 2008 [[United States presidential election|U.S. Presidential candidate]] and former Vietnam prisoner of war, according to his 1999 book ''[[Faith of My Fathers]]''.<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23114586/ Castro denies McCain's torture claim – World news – Americas – Focus on Cuba – msnbc.com]. MSNBC (19 April 1959). Retrieved 6 August 2010.</ref> That there was at least a small contingent of Cuban [[military advisor]]s present in North Vietnam during the war is without question. Some, notably [[Vietnam War POW/MIA issue]] advocates, claim evidence that Cuba's military and non-military involvement may have run into the "thousands" of personnel.<ref>[http://www.nationalalliance.org/cuba/benge1.htm Testimony of Michael D. Benge before the House International Relations Committee Chaired by the Honorable Benjamin A. Gilman], 4 November 1999</ref>

===Pro-Saigon===
====South Korea====
{{Further|Republic of Korea Marine Corps#Vietnam War|Tiger Division|Blue Dragon (military unit)|White Horse (military)}}

On the [[anti-communism|anti-communist]] side, [[South Korea]] had the second-largest contingent of foreign troops in South Vietnam after the United States. In November 1961, [[Park Chung Hee]] proposed South Korean participation in the war to John F. Kennedy, but Kennedy disagreed.<ref name=ParkChungHeeEra/> On 1 May 1964 [[Lyndon Johnson]] requested South Korean participation.<ref name=ParkChungHeeEra>{{cite book |last= Chang |first= Jae Baik |title= The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea |publisher= Harvard University Press |year=2011|page=409 |ISBN= 0674058208}}</ref> The first South Korean troops began arriving in 1964 and large combat battalions began arriving a year later, with the South Koreans soon developing a reputation for effectiveness. Indeed arguably, they conducted counterinsurgency operations so well that American commanders felt that Korean area of responsibility was the safest.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.talkingproud.us/International061406WhiteHorse.html |title=ROK Army and Marines prove to be rock-solid fighters and allies in Vietnam War |accessdate=3 February 2008 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070928035417/http://www.talkingproud.us/International061406WhiteHorse.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 28 September 2007}}</ref>

Approximately 320,000 South Korean soldiers were sent to Vietnam,<ref name=donga20080702>{{cite web|url=http://www.donga.com/fbin/output?n=200807020125 |title=1965년 전투병 베트남 파병 의결|publisher=[[Donga Ilbo]] |accessdate=17 July 2011 |date=2 July 2008}}</ref> each serving a one year tour of duty. Maximum troop levels peaked at 50,000 in 1968, however all were withdrawn by 1973.<ref>Leepson 1999, p. 209.</ref> About 5,000 South Koreans were killed and 11,000 were injured during the war. South Korea killed 41,000 Viet Congs.<ref name=donga20080702/> United States paid South Korean soldiers 235,560,000 dollars for their service in Vietnam,<ref name=donga20080702/> and South Korean [[GNP]] increased five times during the war.<ref name=donga20080702/>

====Australia and New Zealand====
[[File:RAR Vietnam.jpg|thumb|upright|An Australian soldier in Vietnam]]
{{Main|Military history of Australia during the Vietnam War|New Zealand in the Vietnam War}}
Australia and New Zealand, close allies of the United States and members of the [[Southeast Asia Treaty Organization]] (SEATO) and the [[ANZUS]] military co-operation treaty, sent ground troops to Vietnam. Both nations had gained experience in counterinsurgency and jungle warfare during the [[Malayan Emergency]] and World War II. Their governments subscribed to the [[Domino theory]]. Australia began by sending advisors to Vietnam in 1962, and combat troops were committed in 1965.<ref name=Dennis>Dennis et al 2008, pp. 555–558.</ref> New Zealand began by sending a detachment of engineers and an artillery battery, and then started sending special forces and regular infantry which were attached to Australian formations.<ref>McGibbon 2000, pp. 561–566.</ref> Australia's peak commitment was 7,672 combat troops and New Zealand's 552. More than 60,000 Australian personnel were involved during the course of the war, of which 521 were killed and more than 3,000 wounded.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/vietnam.htm| title = Vietnam War 1962–1972 | work = Encyclopaedia | publisher = [[Australian War Memorial]] | accessdate =1 July 2006}}</ref> Approximately 3,000 New Zealanders served in Vietnam, losing 37 killed and 187 wounded.<ref>McGibbon 2000, p. 539.</ref> Most Australians and New Zealanders served in the [[1st Australian Task Force]] in [[Phước Tuy Province|Phước Tuy]] province.<ref name=Dennis/>

====Philippines====
Some 10,450 [[Philippines|Filipino]] troops were dispatched to South Vietnam. They were primarily engaged in medical and other civilian pacification projects. These forces operated under the designation PHLCAG-V or Philippine Civic Action Group-Vietnam.

====Thailand====
[[Thailand|Thai]] Army formations, including the "Queen's Cobra" battalion, saw action in South Vietnam between 1965 and 1971. Thai forces saw much more action in the covert war in Laos between 1964 and 1972, though Thai regular formations there were heavily outnumbered by the irregular "volunteers" of the CIA-sponsored Police Aerial Reconnaissance Units or PARU, who carried out reconnaissance activities on the western side of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

====Nationalist China====
{{Main|Republic of China in the Vietnam War}}
Since November 1967, the Chinese Nationalists on [[Taiwan]] secretly operated a cargo transport detachment to assist the United States and the ROV. Taiwan also provided military training units for the South Vietnamese diving units, later known as the Lien Doi Nguoi Nhai (LDMN) or ''Frogman unit'' in English.<ref name="Moïse pp. 3-4"/> In addition to the diving trainers there were several hundred military personnel.<ref name="Moïse pp. 3-4">{{harvnb|Moïse|1996|pp=3–4}}</ref> Military commandos from Taiwan were captured by communist forces three times trying to infiltrate North Vietnam.<ref name="Moïse pp. 3-4"/>

===Canada and the ICC===
{{Main|Canada and the Vietnam War}}
[[Canada]], [[India]] and [[Poland]] constituted the [[International Control Commission]], which was supposed to monitor the 1954 ceasefire agreement.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Edelgard Elsbeth Mahant|author2=Graeme S. Mount|title=Invisible and inaudible in Washington: American policies toward Canada|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=RNdDi0cvn3YC|year=1999|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=9780774807036|pages=[http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=RNdDi0cvn3YC&pg=PA50 50]}}</ref> Officially, Canada did not have partisan involvement in the Vietnam War and diplomatically it was "[[non-belligerent]]". [[Victor Levant]] suggested otherwise in his book ''"Quiet Complicity: Canadian Involvement in the Vietnam War" (1986)''.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008367 |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070930170925/http://www.canadianencyclopedia.ca/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008367 |archivedate=30 September 2007|title = ''Quiet Complicity: Canadian Involvement in the Vietnam War'', by Victor Levant (1986). |publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia |accessdate=15 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/16/canadainvietnamwar.shtml |title = ''Quiet Complicity: Canadian Involvement in the Vietnam War'' |publisher=Review by The Manitoba Historical Society |accessdate=15 July 2010}}</ref>

==Women in Vietnam==
===American nurses===
[[File:Da Nang, South Vietnam...United States Navy nurse Lieutenant Commander Joan Brouilette checks the condition of Pfc.... - NARA - 558531.tif|thumb|Da Nang, South Vietnam, 1968]]
During the Vietnam War, women served on active duty doing a variety of jobs. Early in 1963, the [[Army Nurse Corps (United States)|Army Nurse Corps]] (ANC) launched Operation Nightingale, an intensive effort to recruit nurses to serve in Vietnam. Most nurses who volunteered to serve in Vietnam came from predominantly working or middle class families with histories of military service. The majority of these women were white Catholics and Protestants.<ref>Norman, Elizabeth M. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=esg7mGs6nQMC&lpg=PP1&dq=Women%20at%20War%3A%20the%20Story%20of%20Fifty%20Military%20Nurses%20Who%20Served%20in%20Vietnam&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false Women at War: the Story of Fifty Military Nurses Who Served in Vietnam]''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1990. ISBN 978-0812213171 p. 7.</ref> Because the need for medical aid was great, many nurses underwent a concentrated four-month training program before being deployed to Vietnam in the ANC<ref>Vuic, Kara Dixon. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=E0nypXTQ_C4C&lpg=PP1&dq=Officer%2C%20nurse%2C%20woman%3A%20the%20Army%20Nurse%20Corps%20in%20the%20Vietnam%20War&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false Officer, Nurse, Woman: the Army Nurse Corps in the Vietnam War]''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 2010. ISBN 978-0801893919 p. 5.</ref> Due to the shortage of staff, nurses usually worked twelve-hour shifts, six days per week and often suffered from exhaustion. [[First Lieutenant]] Sharon Lane was the only female military nurse to be killed by enemy gunfire during the war on 8 June 1969.<ref>Norman, p. 57.</ref>

At the start of the Vietnam War, it was commonly thought that American women had no place in the military. Their traditional place had been in the domestic sphere, but with the war came opportunity for the expansion of gender roles. In Vietnam, women held a variety of jobs which included operating complex data processing equipment and serving as stenographers.<ref>Holm, Jeanne. ''Women in the Military: an Unfinished Revolution''. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1992. ISBN 978-0891415138 p. 214.</ref> Although a small number of women were assigned to combat zones, they were never allowed directly in the field of battle. The women who served in the military were solely volunteers. They faced a plethora of challenges, one of which was the relatively small number of female soldiers. Living in a male-dominated environment created tensions between the sexes. While this high male to female ratio was often uncomfortable for women, many men reported that having women in the field with them boosted their morale.<ref>Holm, p. 213.</ref> Although this was not the women's purpose, it was one positive result of the their service. By 1973, approximately 7,500 women had served in Vietnam in the Southeast Asian theater.<ref>Holm, p. 206.</ref> In that same year, the military lifted the prohibition on women entering the armed forces.

American women serving in Vietnam were subject to societal stereotypes. Many Americans either considered female in Vietnam mannish for living under the army discipline, or judged them to be women of questionable moral character who enlisted for the sole purpose of seducing men.<ref>Vuic, p. 8.</ref> To address this problem, the ANC released advertisements portraying women in the ANC as "proper, professional and well protected." (26) This effort to highlight the positive aspects of a nursing career reflected the ideas of second-wave feminism that occurred during the 1960s–1970s in the United States. Although female military nurses lived in a heavily male environment, very few cases of sexual harassment were ever reported.<ref>Norman, p. 71.</ref> In 2008, by contrast, approximately one-third of women in the military felt that they had been sexually harassed compared with one-third of men.

===Vietnamese women===

Unlike the American women who went to Vietnam, Vietnamese women fought in the combat zone as well as provided manual labor to keep the [[Ho Chi Minh Trail]] open; they also worked in the rice fields to provide food for their families and the war effort. Women were enlisted in both the North Vietnamese Army ([[NVA]]) and the [[VietCong]] guerrilla force in South Vietnam.

Nguyen Thi Dinh was an example of a woman who had fought most of her adult life against foreign forces in her country. She was a member of the Vietminh fighting against the French and was imprisoned in the 1940s but on her release continued to fight and led a revolt in 1945 in Ben Tre and also in 1960 against Diems government. In the mid 1960s, she became a deputy commander of the Viet Cong, the highest ranking combat position held by a woman during the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/WhoWasNguyenThiDinh.html |title=Who Was Nguyen Thi Dinh? |publisher=Facultystaff.richmond.edu |accessdate=31 October 2011}}</ref>

Nguyen Thi Duc Hoan, who would later go on to be an actress-director, also joined the fight at a young age and would later become a guerrilla fighter against the Americans, at the time her own daughter was training in the militia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/VietnameseWomenInTheWar.html |title=Vietnamese Women in the War: A Review |publisher=Facultystaff.richmond.edu |accessdate=31 October 2011}}</ref>

==Weapons==
[[File:My Tho, Vietnam. A Viet Cong base camp being. In the foreground is Private First Class Raymond Rumpa, St Paul, Minnesota - NARA - 530621 edit.jpg|thumb|U.S. soldier carries a [[M67 recoilless rifle|M67]] recoilless rifle past a burning Viet Cong base camp in [[My Tho]], South Vietnam, 1968]]
Communist forces were principally armed with Chinese<ref>[http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/20thcentury/articles/chinesesupport.aspx Chinese Support for North Vietnam during the Vietnam War: The Decisive Edge], Bob Seals, Military History Online, 23 Sept 2008</ref> and Soviet weaponry<ref>Albert Parray, Military Review, [http://calldp.leavenworth.army.mil/eng_mr/txts/VOL47/00000006/art2.pdf Soviet aid to Vietnam], June 1967</ref> though some Viet Cong guerrilla units were equipped with Western infantry weapons either captured from French stocks during the first Indochina war or from ARVN units or requisitioned through illicit purchase.<ref>Gordon L. Rottman, Viet Cong Fighter, Osprey Publishing (2007) p. 20-30 ISBN 9781846031267</ref> The ubiquitous Soviet AK-47 was widely regarded as the best assault rifle of the war and it was not uncommon to see U.S. [[special forces]] with captured AK-47s. The American M16, which replaced the M14, was considered more accurate and was lighter than the AK-47 but was prone to jamming. Oftentimes the gun suffered from a jamming flaw known as "failure to extract," which meant that a spent cartridge case remained lodged in the chamber after a bullet flew out the muzzle.<ref name=Reliable>{{cite journal|author=C.H. Chivers|title= How Reliable is the M16 Rifle?|journal=[[New York Times]]|date=2 November 2009|url=http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/how-reliable-is-the-m-16-rifle/}}</ref> According to a congressional report, the jamming was caused primarily by a change in gunpowder which was done without adequate testing and reflected a decision for which the safety of soldiers was a secondary consideration.<ref>{{cite book|author=David Maraniss|title=They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=qftwHKSnmpkC|year=2003|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9780743262552|page=[http://books.google.com/books?id=qftwHKSnmpkC&pg=PA410 410]}}</ref> The heavily armored, 90&nbsp;mm [[M48 Patton|M48A3 Patton tank]] saw extensive action during the Vietnam War and over 600 were deployed with US Forces. They played an important role in infantry support though there were few actual tank versus tank battles. The M67A1 [[flamethrower]] tank (nicknamed the [[Zippo]]) was an M48 variant used in Vietnam. Artillery was used extensively by both sides but the Americans were able to ferry the lightweight 105&nbsp;mm [[M102 howitzer]] by helicopter to remote locations on quick notice.<ref>Bart Hagerman, USA Airborne: 50th Anniversary, Turner Publishing Company, p.237</ref><ref name = 'Tolsonarmy'>{{cite book |url = http://www.history.army.mil/books/vietnam/airmobility/airmobility-fm.html |title = Vietnam Studies: Airmobility 1961–71 |work = Department of the Army |author = Lieutenant General John J. Tolson |year = 1989 |publisher = US Government Printing Office| id = CMH Pub 90-4}}</ref> With its {{convert|17|mi|km|adj=on}} range, the Soviet [[130 mm towed field gun M1954 (M-46)|130 mm M-46]] towed field gun was a highly regarded weapon and used to good effect by the NVA. It was countered by the long-range, American 175&nbsp;mm [[M107 Self-Propelled Gun]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWCNfR50jsc# |title=ITN news reel |work=''Youtube'' |date=16 July 2007 |accessdate=29 April 2011}}</ref> The United States had air superiority though many aircraft were lost to surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery. U.S. air power was credited with breaking the siege of [[Battle of Khe Sanh|Khe Sanh]] and blunting the 1972 [[Easter Offensive|Communist offensive]] against South Vietnam. At sea, the U.S. Navy had the run of the coastline, using aircraft carriers as platforms for offshore strikes and other naval vessels for offshore artillery support. Offshore naval fire played a pivotal role in the Battle for the city of Hue, providing accurate fire in support of the U.S. counter-offensive to retake the city.<ref>George W. Smith, The siege at Hue, Lynne Reinner Publishers(1999) p. 142-143</ref> The Vietnam War was the first conflict that saw wide scale tactical deployment of helicopters.<ref>Dwayne A. Day, [http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Rotary/Heli_at_War/HE14.htm Helicopters at War] U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission</ref> The [[Bell UH-1 Iroquois]] was used extensively in [[counter-guerilla]] operations both as a troop carrier and a gunship.<ref name = 'Tolsonarmy'/> In the latter role, the "Huey" as it became affectionately known, was outfitted with a variety of armaments including M60 machineguns, multi-barreled 7.62&nbsp;mm [[Minigun|Gatling guns]] and unguided air-to-surface rockets.<ref name = 'Tolsonarmy'/> The Hueys were also successfully used in [[MEDEVAC]] and search and rescue roles.<ref name = 'Tolsonarmy'/>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!width=10% | Type
!width=40% | North Vietnam, Viet Cong
!width=40% | U.S., South Vietnam, Australia
|-
! [[Armoured fighting vehicle|AFVs]]
| [[T-34/85]], [[T-54]], [[T-55]], and [[PT-76]] tanks.
|| [[M48 Patton|M48A3 Patton tank]], [[M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle]], [[M551 Sheridan]], [[M50 Ontos]], [[Centurion tank|Centurion]] (Australian Army), [[M41 Walker Bulldog]] (ARVN), [[V-100 Commando]] (Army Military Police / USAF Security Police)
|-
! [[Armoured personnel carrier|APCs]]/[[infantry fighting vehicle|IFVs]]
| [[BTR-40]], [[BTR-152]], [[BTR-50]], [[BTR-60]] APC's & [[BMP-1|BMP 1]] IFV's
|| [[M113 Armored Personnel Carrier|M113]]
|-
! Artillery
| [[M1937 Howitzer]], [[BM-21 Grad|BM-21]], [[122 mm howitzer 2A18 (D-30)|D-30 (2A18) Howitzer]], [[130 mm towed field gun M1954 (M-46)|M1954 field gun]]
|| [[M109 howitzer|M109 self-propelled howitzer]], [[M107 Self-Propelled Gun]], [[M110 howitzer|M110 self-propelled howitzer]], [[M102 howitzer|M102 105 mm howitzer]], [[M114 155 mm howitzer]]
|-
! Aircraft
| [[MiG-21]], [[MiG-19]], [[MiG-17]]
|| [[A-4 Skyhawk]], [[A-6 Intruder]], [[F-4 Phantom II]], [[F-100 Super Sabre]], [[F-105 Thunderchief]], [[A-7 Corsair]], [[Boeing B-52 Stratofortress]], [[Lockheed AC-130]], [[Douglas AC-47 Spooky]], [[Martin B-57 Canberra|B-57]] [[English Electric Canberra|Canberra]] [[Royal Australian Air Force|(RAAF)]], [[A-37 Dragonfly]] (U.S. & ARVN) [[Douglas A-1 Skyraider]] (U.S. & ARVN)
|-
! Helicopters
| [[Mil Mi-6|Mi-6]], [[Mil Mi-8|Mi-8]]
|| [[CH-47 Chinook]], [[CH-53]], [[Bell UH-1 Iroquois]], [[Bell AH-1 Cobra]], [[CH-54 Skycrane]]
|-
! [[Anti-aircraft warfare|AAW]]
| [[S-125|SA-3 Goa]], [[S-75 Dvina|SA-2 Guideline]], [[Strela 2]], [[37 mm automatic air defense gun M1939 (61-K)|M1939 (61-K) 37 mm]], [[ZSU-57-2|ZSU-57-2, twin 57 mm]], [[ZPU]] 14.5&nbsp;mm models 1,2 and 4 (numbers corresponding to single, double and quad barreled variants)
|| [[MIM-23 Hawk]], M55 Quad 50 (dual use weapon for AA as well as for engaging ground targets)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.olive-drab.com/od_other_firearms_mg_m2_quad50.php |title=Quad-50 M2 .50 cal. Machine Gun |publisher=Olive-drab.com |accessdate=29 April 2011}}</ref>
|-
! Infantry weapons
| [[MAT-49]], [[SKS]], [[AK-47]], [[RPK]], [[RPD (weapon)|RPD]], [[DShK]] HMG, [[RPG-7]], [[RPG-2]], [[B-10 recoilless rifle]] and [[B-11 recoilless rifle]]
|| [[M14 rifle|M14]], [[M16 rifle|M16]], [[M79 grenade launcher]], [[M60 machine gun]], [[M2 Browning machine gun|M2 Browning]], [[M72 LAW|LAW]], [[M18 Claymore anti-personnel mine]]s, [[Tow missile|TOW]], and [[M40 recoilless rifle]], [[L1A1 SLR]] [[Australian Army|(ADF)]], [[Owen submachine gun|Owen Gun]] (ADF)
|-
! Air-to-Air Missiles
| [[Vympel K-13]]
|| [[AIM-9 Sidewinder]], [[AIM-7 Sparrow]]
|-
! Air-to-Surface Missiles
|
|| [[AGM-45 Shrike]] anti radiation missile, [[AGM-12 Bullpup]], [[AGM-78 Standard ARM]], [[AGM-62 Walleye]], [[Zuni rocket]]
|-
! Specialized weapons
| [[IEDs]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/vietnam/minesouthviet.htm |title=Mine Warfare in South Vietnam |publisher=History.navy.mil |accessdate=18 October 2009}}</ref>
|| [[BLU-82|BLU-82 Daisy Cutter]], [[Laser-guided bomb]]s, [[Napalm]]
|}

==Aftermath==
===Events in Southeast Asia===
{{Main|Mayaguez incident|Vietnam|Democratic Kampuchea|Sino-Vietnamese War|Reeducation camp|boat people}}
[[Phnom Penh]], the capital of Cambodia, fell to followers of the [[Communist Party of Kampuchea]], commonly known as the Khmer Rouge, on 17 April 1975. Over the next four years, the Khmer Rouge enacted a genocidal policy that killed over one-fifth of all Cambodians, or more than a million people.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7321560.stm 'Killing Fields' journalist dies ]. BBC News. 30 March 2008.</ref> After repeated border clashes in 1978, Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) and ousted the Khmer Rouge in the [[Cambodian–Vietnamese War]].

In response, China invaded Vietnam in 1979. The two countries fought a brief border war, known as the Third Indochina War or the [[Sino-Vietnamese War]]. From 1978 to 1979, some 450,000 ethnic [[Hoa|Chinese]] left Vietnam by boat as refugees or were expelled across the land border with China.<ref>[http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4130.htm Vietnam (03/09)]. U.S. Department of State.</ref>

The [[Pathet Lao]] overthrew the royalist government of Laos in December 1975. They established the Lao People's Democratic Republic.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/la.html#history |title = CIA – The World Factbook – Laos |accessdate =11 June 2008}}</ref> From 1975 to 1996, the United States resettled some 250,000 Lao refugees from Thailand, including 130,000 [[Hmong people|Hmong]].<ref>[http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2770.htm Laos (04/09)]. U.S. Department of State.</ref>

More than 3 million people fled from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, many as "[[boat people]]". Most Asian countries were unwilling to accept refugees.<ref>"[http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=733&feed=rss Migration in the Asia-Pacific Region]". Stephen Castles, University of Oxford. Mark J. Miller, University of Delaware. July 2009.</ref> Since 1975, an estimated 1.4 million [[refugee]]s from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries have been resettled to the United States,<ref>[http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=585 Refugee Resettlement in Metropolitan America]. Migration Information Source.</ref> while Canada, Australia, and France resettled over 500,000.<ref>{{Cite book
| first = William Courtland
| last = Robinson
| title = Terms of refuge: the Indochinese exodus & the international response
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=_rjiOXMRd4sC&pg=PA127&dq#v=onepage&q=&f=false
| publisher = Zed Books
| year = 1998
| page = 127
| isbn = 1856496104}}
</ref>

===Effect on the United States===
[[Image:Pentagon vietnam protests.jpg|thumb|Vietnam War protests at the Pentagon, October 1967]]
In the post-war era, Americans struggled to absorb the lessons of the military intervention.<ref>Gerdes (ed). ''Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons: The Vietnam War'' pp. 14–15.</ref> As General [[Maxwell D. Taylor|Maxwell Taylor]], one of the principal architects of the war, noted "first, we didn't know ourselves. We thought that we were going into another [[Korean War]], but this was a different country. Secondly, we didn't know our South Vietnamese allies... And we knew less about North Vietnam. Who was [[Ho Chi Minh]]? Nobody really knew. So, until we know the enemy and know our allies and know ourselves, we'd better keep out of this kind of dirty business. It's very dangerous."<ref name="Karnow p. 23">{{harvnb |Karnow|1991|p =23}}</ref><ref>Taylor paraphrases Sun Tzu, ''[[The Art of War]]'', Samuel B. Griffith, trans. Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press, 1963.</ref>

Some have suggested that "the responsibility for the ultimate failure of this policy [America's withdrawal from Vietnam] lies not with the men who fought, but with those in Congress..."<ref>{{cite web | archiveurl = http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20090331152606/http://www.vietnamwar.com/presidentnixonsrole.htm | archivedate = 31 March 2009 | url= http://www.vietnamwar.com/presidentnixonsrole.htm |title= President Richard Nixon's Role in the Vietnam War |publisher= Vietnam War | accessdate =17 October 2009}}</ref> Alternatively, the official history of the [[United States Army]] noted that "[[military tactics|tactics]] have often seemed to exist apart from larger issues, strategies, and objectives. Yet in Vietnam the Army experienced tactical success and strategic failure... The...Vietnam War...legacy may be the lesson that unique historical, political, cultural, and social factors always impinge on the military...Success rests not only on military progress but on correctly analyzing the nature of the particular conflict, understanding the enemy's strategy, and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of allies. A new humility and a new sophistication may form the best parts of a complex heritage left to the Army by the long, bitter war in Vietnam."<ref>{{citation | publisher = iBiblio | chapter = 28 | url = http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/history/marshall/military/vietnam/short.history/chap_28.txt | last = Demma | title = The U.S. Army in Vietnam}}</ref>
[[File:Marine da nang.jpg|left|thumbnail|160px|A young [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]] private waits on the beach during the Marine landing, [[Da Nang]] 3 August 1965.]]
U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wrote in a secret memo to President Gerald Ford that "in terms of military tactics, we cannot help draw the conclusion that our armed forces are not suited to this kind of war. Even the Special Forces who had been designed for it could not prevail."<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/exhibits/vietnam/750512a.htm | title = Lessons of Vietnam – Secret Memoranda to The President of the United States by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger | date = ca. May&nbsp;12, 1975 | page = 3 |accessdate =11 June 2008}}</ref> Even Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara concluded that "the achievement of a military victory by U.S. forces in Vietnam was indeed a dangerous illusion."<ref>McNamara ''Argument Without End'' p. 368.</ref>

Doubts surfaced as to the effectiveness of large-scale, sustained bombing. As [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army|Army Chief of Staff]] [[Harold Keith Johnson]] noted, "if anything came out of Vietnam, it was that air power couldn't do the job."<ref name="Buzzano">Quoted in Bob Buzzano. {{cite web|url = http://www.commondreams.org/views/041700-106.htm |title = 25 Years After End of Vietnam War, Myths Keep Us from Coming to Terms with Vietnam |accessdate=11 June 2008 |publisher= The Baltimore Sun Times | date = 17 April 2000}}</ref> Even General William Westmoreland admitted that the bombing had been ineffective. As he remarked, "I still doubt that the North Vietnamese would have relented."<ref name="Buzzano"/>

The inability to bomb Hanoi to the bargaining table also illustrated another U.S. miscalculation. The North's leadership was composed of hardened communists who had been fighting for independence for thirty years. They had defeated the French, and their tenacity as both nationalists and communists was formidable. Ho Chi Minh is quoted as saying, "You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours...But even at these odds you will lose and I will win."<ref name="Karnow p. 17">{{harvnb|Karnow|1991|p=17}}</ref>
[[File:OperationHueCity1967wounded.jpg|thumb|2/5 Marine gets his wounds treated during operations in Hue City, 1968]]
The Vietnam War called into question the U.S. Army doctrine. Marine Corps General [[Victor H. Krulak]] heavily criticised Westmoreland's [[attrition warfare|attrition]] strategy, calling it "wasteful of American lives... with small likelihood of a successful outcome."<ref name="Buzzano"/> As well, doubts surfaced about the ability of the military to train foreign forces.

Between 1965 and 1975, the United States spent $111 billion on the war ($686 billion in FY2008 dollars).<ref>{{Cite journal
|url=http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/108054.pdf
|title=CRS Report to Congress : Costs of Major U.S. Wars
|author=Stephen Daggett
|date=24 July 2008
|publisher=Foreign press center, US Department of State
|ref=harv
}} (Order Code RS22926, see table on page 2/5).</ref> This resulted in a large federal [[United States public debt|budget deficit]].

More than 3 million Americans served in the Vietnam War, some 1.5 million of whom actually saw combat in Vietnam.<ref>"[http://www.stanford.edu/group/fredturner/cgi-bin/drupal/?q=node/7 Echoes of Combat: The Vietnam War in American Memory]". Stanford University.</ref> James E. Westheider wrote that "At the height of American involvement in 1968, for example, there were 543,000 American military personnel in Vietnam, but only 80,000 were considered combat troops."<ref>James E. Westheider (2007). "''The Vietnam War''". Greenwood Publishing Group. p.78. ISBN 0313337551</ref> [[Conscription in the United States]] had been controlled by the President since World War II, but ended in 1973."

By war's end, 58,220 soldiers were killed,<ref group=A name=USd&w /> more than 150,000 were wounded, and at least 21,000 were permanently disabled.<ref>[http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=513 The War's Costs]. Digital History.</ref> According to Dale Kueter, "Sixty-one percent of those killed were age 21 or younger. Of those killed in combat, 86.3 percent were white, 12.5 percent were black and the remainder from other races."<ref name=Kueter2007>{{Cite book
| first = Dale
| last = Kueter
| title = Vietnam Sons: For Some, the War Never Ended
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=wAXvYWx5QxUC&pg=PR8&dq#v=onepage&q=&f=false
| publisher = AuthorHouse
| year = 2007
| isbn = 1425969313}}
</ref> The youngest American KIA in the war was PFC [[Dan Bullock]], who had falsified his birth certificate and enlisted in the US Marines at age 14 and who was killed in combat at age 15.<ref name=DanBullock>{{cite web|url=http://thewashingtonsyndicate.wordpress.com/tag/marines/ |title=Rest in Peace USMC PFC Dan Bullock; youngest Vietnam KIA at age 15 |date=29 May 2010 |work=The Washington Syndicate |publisher=wordpress.com}}</ref> Approximately 830,000 Vietnam veterans suffered symptoms of [[posttraumatic stress disorder]]. An estimated 125,000 Americans fled to Canada to avoid the Vietnam draft,<ref>{{Cite news|url= http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1325339 |title = War Resisters Remain in Canada with No Regrets |work = ABC News|date = 19 November 2005|accessdate =26 February 2010}}</ref> and approximately 50,000 American servicemen deserted.<ref>[http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=24009b4dc8fe8dadcfa96c37bce9dea6 Vietnam War Resisters in Canada Open Arms to U.S. Military Deserters]. Pacific News Service. 28 June 2005.</ref> In 1977, United States President [[Jimmy Carter]] granted a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all Vietnam-era [[Draft dodger]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.usdoj.gov/pardon/carter_proclamation.htm |title = Proclamation 4483: Granting Pardon for Violations of the Selective Service Act |accessdate =11 June 2008}} By The President Of The United States Of America, ''A Proclamation Granting Pardon For Violations Of The Selective Services Act, 4 August 1964 To 28 March 1973.'' 21 January 1977.</ref> The [[Vietnam War POW/MIA issue]], concerning the fate of U.S. service personnel listed as [[missing in action]], persisted for many years after the war's conclusion.

===Chemical defoliation===
One of the most controversial aspects of the U.S. military effort in Southeast Asia was the widespread use of chemical [[defoliant]]s between 1961 and 1971. They were used to [[Wikt:defoliate|defoliate]] large parts of the countryside. These chemicals continue to change the landscape, cause diseases and birth defects, and poison the food chain.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www1.va.gov/Agentorange/ |title = Agent Orange Home |accessdate =11 June 2008}}</ref>

Early in the American military effort it was decided that since the enemy were hiding their activities under triple-canopy jungle, a useful first step might be to defoliate certain areas. This was especially true of growth surrounding bases (both large and small) in what became known as [[Operation Ranch Hand]]. Corporations like [[Dow Chemical Company]] and [[Monsanto]] were given the task of developing herbicides for this purpose.

The defoliants, which were distributed in drums marked with color-coded bands, included the "[[Rainbow Herbicides]]"—[[Agent Pink]], [[Agent Green]], [[Agent Purple]], [[Agent Blue]], [[Agent White]], and, most famously, [[Agent Orange]], which included [[Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins|dioxin]] as a by-product of its manufacture. About 12 million gallons (45,000,000&nbsp;L) of Agent Orange were sprayed over Southeast Asia during the American involvement. A prime area of Ranch Hand operations was in the [[Mekong Delta]], where the U.S. Navy patrol boats were vulnerable to attack from the undergrowth at the water's edge.

[[File:Defoliation agent spraying.jpg|thumb|right|U.S. helicopter spraying chemical [[defoliant]]s in the [[Mekong Delta]], South Vietnam]]
In 1961 and 1962, the Kennedy administration authorized the use of chemicals to destroy rice crops. Between 1961 and 1967, the U.S. Air Force sprayed 20 million U.S. gallons (75,700,000&nbsp;L) of concentrated herbicides over 6 million acres (24,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of crops and trees, affecting an estimated 13% of South Vietnam's land. In 1965, 42% of all herbicide was sprayed over food crops. Another purpose of herbicide use was to drive civilian populations into RVN-controlled areas.<ref>''Anatomy of a War'' by [[Gabriel Kolko]], ISBN 1-56584-218-9 pp. 144–145.</ref>

As of 2006, the Vietnamese government estimates that there are over 4,000,000 victims of dioxin poisoning in Vietnam, although the United States government denies any conclusive scientific links between Agent Orange and the Vietnamese victims of dioxin poisoning. In some areas of southern Vietnam dioxin levels remain at over 100 times the accepted international standard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/12/AR2006111201065.html |first=Anthony|last= Failoa|title='&#39;In Vietnam, Old Foes Take Aim at War's Toxic Legacy'&#39;|work=The Washington Post |date=13 November 2006 |accessdate=31 October 2011}}</ref>

The U.S. Veterans Administration has listed [[prostate cancer]], [[lung cancer|respiratory cancers]], [[multiple myeloma]], [[Diabetes mellitus type 2]], [[B-cell lymphomas]], [[soft-tissue sarcoma]], [[chloracne]], [[porphyria cutanea tarda]], [[peripheral neuropathy]], and [[spina bifida]] in children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange. Although there has been much discussion over whether the use of these defoliants constituted a violation of the laws of war, the defoliants were not considered weapons, since exposure to them did not lead to immediate death or incapacitation.

===Casualties===
{{Main|Vietnam War casualties}}
[[File:TrangBang.jpg|thumb|left|[[Phan Thị Kim Phúc]], center, running down a road near [[Trảng Bàng District|Trảng Bàng]], [[Vietnam]], on 8 June 1972, after a [[napalm]] bomb was dropped on the village of Trảng Bàng by a plane of the [[Vietnam Air Force]] <sub>Photo: [[Nick Ut]] / The Associated Press</sup>]]
<!--Please let the above credits remain, image is allowed by AP with these credits, see the discussion page-->
[[File:OperationBaker1967Vietcongaceofspades.ogg|thumb|Selection from a U.S. Army footage from 'Operation Baker' action by the 3rd BDE, 25th Infantry Division, selection shows U.S. soldiers putting 'ace of spades' playing cards into mouths of dead Viet Cong]]
The number of military and civilian deaths from 1955 to 1975 is debated. Some reports fail to include the members of South Vietnamese forces killed in the final campaign, or the Royal Lao Armed Forces, thousands of Laotian and Thai irregulars, or Laotian civilians who all perished in the conflict. They do not include the tens of thousands of Cambodians killed during the civil war or the estimated one and one-half to two million that perished in the [[genocide]] that followed Khmer Rouge victory, or the fate of Laotian Royals and civilians after the [[Pathet Lao]] assumed complete power in Laos.

In 1995, the Vietnamese government reported that its military forces, including the NLF, suffered 1.1 million dead and 600,000 wounded during Hanoi's conflict with the United States. Civilian deaths were put at two million in the North and South, and economic [[War reparations|reparations]] were demanded.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} Hanoi concealed the figures during the war to avoid demoralizing the population.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1995/vp950404/04040331.htm
|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20071222122211/http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1995/vp950404/04040331.htm
|archivedate=22 December 2007
|title=Vietnam says 1.1 Million died Fighting for North
|date=4 April 1995
|work=The Virginian-Pilot quoting the Ledger-Star
|ref=harv}}</ref> Estimates of civilian deaths caused by American bombing in [[Operation Rolling Thunder]] range from 52,000<ref>[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.TAB6.1A.GIF Vietnam Democide : Estimates, Sources, Calculations] in [http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/ Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War], University of Hawaii.</ref> to 182,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index2.html |title=Battlefield:Vietnam Timeline |publisher=Pbs.org |accessdate=31 October 2011}}</ref> The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/628478/Vietnam-War |title=Vietnam War (1955–75) |publisher=Britannica.com |accessdate=31 October 2011}}</ref>

==Popular culture==
{{See also|Vietnam War in film|Vietnam War in games|War in popular culture}}
The Vietnam War has been featured heavily in television, film, video games, and literature in the participant countries. The war also influenced a generation of musicians and songwriters in Vietnam and the United States, both anti-war and pro/anti-communist. The band [[Country Joe and the Fish]] recorded [[The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag|"I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" / The "Fish" Cheer]] in 1965, and it became one of the most influential anti-Vietnam protest anthems.

[[Trinh Cong Son]] was a South Vietnamese songwriter famous for his anti-war songs.

==See also==
{{Main|Outline of the Vietnam War}}
{{Portal|Vietnam|United States|War}}
<div>{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
*[[Aircraft losses of the Vietnam War]]
*[[Awards and decorations of the Vietnam War]]
*[[Củ Chi tunnels]]
*[[Dak Son Massacre]]
*[[Draft lottery (1969)]]
*[[Kit Carson Scouts]]
*[[List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Vietnam War]]
*Major General [[Michael D. Healy]]
*[[Operation Wheeler/Wallowa]]
*[[Patrol Craft Fast]]
{{col-break}}
*[[Protests of 1968]]
*''[[The Sixties Unplugged]]''
*[[Tiger Force]]
*[[United States Air Force in South Vietnam]]
*[[United States Air Force in Thailand]]
*[[United States Army Special Forces in popular culture]]
*[[U.S. news media and the Vietnam War]]
*[[Vietnam War Crimes Working Group Files]]
*[[Weapons of the Cambodian Civil War]]
*[[Weapons of the Vietnam War]]
*[[Winter Soldier Investigation]]
{{col-end}}</div>

'''Regional:'''
*[[Cambodian Civil War]]
*[[Indochina Wars]]
*[[Laotian Civil War]]
*[[North Vietnamese invasion of Laos]]

'''General:'''
*[[History of Cambodia]]
*[[History of Laos]]
*[[List of conflicts in Asia]]

==Annotations==
{{Reflist|group="A"|30em}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
===Secondary sources===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
*Anderson, David L. ''Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War'' (2004).
*Baker, Kevin. "Stabbed in the Back! The past and future of a right-wing myth", ''Harper's Magazine'' (June 2006) {{cite web|url = http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/06/0081080 |title = Stabbed in the back! The past and future of a right-wing myth (Harper's Magazine) |accessdate =11 June 2008}}
*Angio, Joe. ''Nixon a Presidency Revealed'' (2007) The History Channel television documentary
*Berman, Larry. ''Lyndon Johnson's War: The Road to Stalemate'' (1991).
*Blaufarb, Douglas. ''The Counterinsurgency Era'' (1977) a history of the Kennedy Administration's involvement in South Vietnam.
*Brigham, Robert K. ''Battlefield Vietnam: A Brief History'' a PBS interactive website
*{{Cite book|last=Brocheux|first=Pierre |title=Ho Chi Minh: a biography|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521850629|pages=[http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=fJtqjYiVbUAC&pg=PA198 198]|ref=harv}}
*Buckley, Kevin. [http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/Vietnam/buckley.html "Pacification's Deadly Price"], ''Newsweek'', 19 June 1972. <!--accessed 7, 5 August 2008-->
*Buzzanco, Bob. "25 Years After End of Vietnam War: Myths Keep Us From Coming To Terms With Vietnam", ''The Baltimore Sun'' (17 April 2000) {{cite web|url = http://www.commondreams.org/views/041700-106.htm |title = 25 Years After End Of Vietnam War Myths Keep Us From Coming To Terms With Vietnam |accessdate =11 June 2008}}
*Church, Peter ed. ''A Short History of South-East Asia'' (2006).
*Cooper, Chester L. ''The Lost Crusade: America in Vietnam'' (1970) a Washington insider's memoir of events.
*{{Cite book|ref=harv|last=Courtwright|first=David T.| title = Sky as frontier: adventure, aviation, and empire|edition=2005|year=2005| publisher = [[Texas A&M University Press]]| isbn= 1585444197}}
*Demma, Vincent H. "The U.S. Army in Vietnam." ''American Military History'' (1989) the official history of the United States Army. Available [http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/history/marshall/military/vietnam/short.history/chap_28.txt online]
*{{cite book |last=Dennis |first=Peter |coauthors=et al |title=The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History |publisher=Oxford University Press Australia & New Zealand |location=Melbourne |year=2008 |edition=Second |isbn=9780195517842}}
*{{cite web|ref=harv|last=DoD|date= 6 November 1998|url = http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=1902|title = Name of Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon to be added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial|publisher = [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense (DoD)]]| accessdate =31 March 2010 |quote=}}
*Duiker, William J. ''The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam'' (1996).
*Duncanson, Dennis J. ''Government and Revolution in Vietnam'' (1968).
*Fincher, Ernest Barksdale, ''The Vietnam War'' (1980).
*Ford, Harold P. ''CIA and the Vietnam Policymakers: Three Episodes, 1962–1968.'' (1998).
*Gerdes, Louise I. ed. ''Examining Issues Through Political Cartoons: The Vietnam War'' (2005).
*Gettleman, Marvin E.; Franklin, Jane; Young, Marilyn ''Vietnam and America: A Documented History.'' (1995).
*Hammond, William. ''Public Affairs: The Military and the Media, 1962–1968'' (1987); ''Public Affairs: The Military and the Media, 1068–1973'' (1995). full-scale history of the war by U.S. Army; much broader than title suggests.
*{{cite book|last=Healy|first=Gene |title=The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MRA2jIyejwAC|year=2009|publisher=Cato Institute|isbn=978-1-933995-19-9|ref=harv}}
*Herring, George C''. America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975'' (4th ed 2001), most widely used short history.
*Hitchens, Christopher. ''The Vietnam Syndrome''.
*{{Cite book|ref=harv|last=Karnow|first=Stanley|authorlink = Stanley Karnow| title = Vietnam: A History|edition=1991|year=1991| publisher = [[Penguin Books|Viking Press]]| isbn= 0670842184}}; popular history by a former foreign correspondent; strong on Saigon's plans.
*Kutler, Stanley ed. ''Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War'' (1996).
*{{Cite book|ref=harv|last=Lawrence|first=A. T.|title = Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant|edition=2009|year=2009| publisher = McFarland| isbn= 0786445173}}
*Leepson, Marc ed. ''Dictionary of the Vietnam War'' (1999) New York: Webster's New World.
*Lewy, Guenter. ''America in Vietnam'' (1978), defends U.S. actions.
*Logevall, Fredrik. ''The Origins of the Vietnam War'' (Longman [Seminar Studies in History] 2001).
*McMahon, Robert J. ''Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War: Documents and Essays'' (1995) textbook.
*McNamara, Robert, James Blight, Robert Brigham, Thomas Biersteker, Herbert Schandler, ''Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy'', (Public Affairs, 1999).
*{{cite book |last=McGibbon|first=Ian|coauthors=ed |title=The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Auckland |year=2000 |edition= |isbn=0195583760}}
*{{Cite book|last=McNeill |first=Ian |title=To Long Tan: The Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950–1966 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=St Leonards |year=1993 |isbn=1863732829|ref=harv}}
*Milne, David. ''America's Rasputin: Walt Rostow and the Vietnam War'' (Hill & Wang, 2008).
*Moise, Edwin E. ''Historical Dictionary of the Vietnam War'' (2002).
*{{Cite book|ref=harv|last=Moïse|first=Edwin E.| title = Tonkin Gulf and the escalation of the Vietnam War|edition=1996|year=1996| publisher = UNC Press| isbn= 0807823007}}
*Moss, George D. ''Vietnam'' (4th ed 2002) textbook.
*Moyar, Mark. ''Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954–1965'', (Cambridge University Press; 412 pages; 2006). A revisionist history that challenges the notion that U.S. involvement in Vietnam was misguided; defends the validity of the domino theory and disputes the notion that Ho Chi Minh was, at heart, a nationalist who would eventually turn against his Communist Chinese allies.
*Major General [[Spurgeon Neel]]. ''Medical Support of the U.S. Army in Vietnam 1965–1970'' (Department of the Army 1991) official medical history
*Nulty, Bernard.''The Vietnam War'' (1998) New York: Barnes and Noble.
*{{Cite book|ref=harv|last=Osborn|first=Terry A.| title = The future of foreign language education in the United States|edition=2002|year=2002| publisher = [[Greenwood Publishing Group]]| isbn= 9780897897198}}
*Palmer, Bruce, Jr. ''The Twenty-Five Year War'' (1984), narrative military history by a senior U.S. general.
*Schell, Jonathan. ''The Time of Illusion'' (1976).
*Schulzinger, Robert D. ''A Time for War: The United States and Vietnam, 1941–1975'' (1997).
*Sorley, Lewis, ''A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam'' (1999), based upon still classified tape-recorded meetings of top level US commanders in Vietnam, ISBN 0-15-601309-6
*Spector, Ronald. ''After Tet: The Bloodiest Year in Vietnam'' (1992), very broad coverage of 1968.
*{{Cite book|ref=harv|last=Stanton|first=Shelby L.| title = Vietnam order of battle|edition=2003|year=2003| publisher = Stackpole Books| isbn= 0811700712}}
*Summers, Harry G. [http://books.google.com/books?id=-Z4l-ZySVWwC ''On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War''], Presidio press (1982), ISBN 0-89141-563-7 (225 pages)
*Tucker, Spencer. ed. ''Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War'' (1998) 3 vol. reference set; also one-volume abridgement (2001).
*{{cite book|last=Willbanks|first=James H. |title=Vietnam War almanac|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=X5WWklFB5O4C|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9780816071029|ref=harv}}
*Witz, James J. ''The Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure in War'' (1991).
*Young, Marilyn, B. ''The Vietnam Wars: 1945–1990.'' (1991).
*Xiaoming, Zhang. "China's 1979 War With Vietnam: A Reassessment", ''China Quarterly.'' Issue no. 184, (December 2005) {{cite web|url = http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=358806 |title = CJO – Abstract – China's 1979 War with Vietnam: A Reassessment |accessdate =11 June 2008}}
{{Refend}}

===Primary sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
*Carter, Jimmy. ''[http://www.usdoj.gov/pardon/carter_proclamation.htm By The President Of The United States Of America, A Proclamation Granting Pardon For Violations Of The Selective Service Act], 4 August 1964 To 28 March 1973'' (21 January 1977)
*Central Intelligence Agency. "[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/la.html#history Laos]", ''CIA World Factbook''
*Kolko, Gabriel [http://www.counterpunch.org/kolko04292005.html The End of the Vietnam War, 30 Years Later]
*Eisenhower, Dwight D. ''Mandate for Change.'' (1963) a presidential political memoir
*Ho, Chi Minh. "Vietnam Declaration of Independence", ''Selected Works.'' (1960–1962) selected writings
*LeMay, General Curtis E. and Kantor, MacKinlay. ''Mission with LeMay'' (1965) autobiography of controversial former Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
*Kissinger, United States Secretary of State Henry A. [http://www.ford.utexas.edu/library/exhibits/vietnam/750512a.htm "Lessons on Vietnam", (1975) secret memoranda to U.S. President Ford]
*Kim A. O'Connell, ed. ''Primary Source Accounts of the Vietnam War'' (2006)
*McCain, John. ''[[Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir]]'' (1999) *Marshall, Kathryn. ''In the Combat Zone: An Oral History of American Women in Vietnam, 1966–1975'' (1987)
*[[John Bartlow Martin|Martin, John Bartlow]]. ''Was Kennedy Planning to Pull out of Vietnam?'' (1964) oral history for the John F. Kennedy Library, tape V, reel 1.
*Myers, Thomas. ''Walking Point: American Narratives of Vietnam'' (1988)
*''Public Papers of the Presidents, 1965'' (1966) official documents of U.S. presidents.
*Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr. ''Robert Kennedy and His Times.'' (1978) a first-hand account of the Kennedy administration by one of his principal advisors
*Sinhanouk, Prince Norodom. "Cambodia Neutral: The Dictates of Necessity." ''Foreign Affairs.'' (1958) describes the geopolitical situation of Cambodia
*Tang, Truong Nhu. ''A Vietcong Memoir'' (1985), revealing account by senior NLF official
*Terry, Wallace, ed. ''Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans'' (1984)
*{{Cite book|ref=harv| last =Truong|first= Như Tảng; David Chanoff, Van Toai Doan| authorlink = Trương Như Tạng| title = A Vietcong memoir|edition=1985|year=1985| publisher = [[Harcourt Brace Jovanovich]]| isbn= 9780151936366}}<small>- Total pages: 350 </small>
*The landmark series Vietnam: A Television History, first broadcast in 1983, is a special presentation of the award-winning PBS history series, American Experience.
*''The Pentagon Papers'' (Gravel ed. 5 vol 1971); combination of narrative and secret documents compiled by Pentagon. [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent1.html excerpts]
*U.S. Department of State. ''Foreign Relations of the United States'' (multivolume collection of official secret documents) [http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/vol_i/index.html vol 1: 1964]; [http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/vol_ii/index.html vol 2: 1965]; [http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/vol_ii/index.html vol 3: 1965]; [http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/vol_iv/index.html vol 4: 1966];
*U.S. Department of Defense and the House Committee on Armed Services. ''U.S.-Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967.'' Washington, D.C. Department of Defense and the House Committee on Armed Services, 1971, 12 volumes.
*Vann, John Paul [http://www.answers.com/topix/john-paul-vann-44k ''Quotes from Answers.com''] Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army, DFC, DSC, advisor to the ARVN 7th Division, early critic of the conduct of the war.
{{Refend}}

===Historiography===
*Hall, Simon, "Scholarly Battles over the Vietnam War," ''Historical Journal'' 52 (Sept. 2009), 813–29.

==External links==
{{Sister project links}}
*[http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552505 Fallout of the War] from the [http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494 Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives]
*[http://www.americanethnography.com/article.php?id=63 American Ethnography – On collecting engraved Zippos from the Vietnam War]
*[http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/history/index.html Battlefield Vietnam] PBS interactive site
*[http://www.rjsmith.com/kia_tbl.html Casualties – U.S. vs NVA/VC]
*[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent1.html Complete text of the Gravel Edition of the Pentagon Papers] with supporting documents, maps, and photos
*[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/vietnam.htm Documents Relating to American Foreign Policy-Vietnam] primary sources on U.S. involvement
*[http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/vietnam/vietnamization/default.aspx The Effects of Vietnamization on the Republic of Vietnam's Armed Forces, 1969–1972]
*[http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Resources/Glossary/Sixties_Term_Gloss_K_P.html Glossary of Military Terms & Slang from the Vietnam War]
*[http://www.historycommons.org/project.jsp?project=US_interventions_project History of US Interventions], by Derek, Mitchell
*[http://content.library.ccsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/VHP&CISOPTR=5558&CISOBOX=1&REC=1 Impressions of Vietnam and descriptions of the daily life of a soldier from the oral history of Elliott Gardner, U.S. Army]
*[http://www.vietfederation.ca/30-4-00/TonThatThien.htm Sober thoughts on 30 April : The South Vietnam Liberation Front and Hanoi, Myth and Reality] Speech by the former Minister of Information of the Republic of Vietnam.
*[http://www.gettysburg.edu/special_collections/collections/manuscripts/collections/ms044.dot Stephen H. Warner Southeast Asia Photograph Collection at Gettysburg College]
*[http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=vietnam Timeline US – Vietnam (1947–2001)] in Open-Content project
*[http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/history/marshall/military/vietnam/short.history/chap_28.txt The U.S. Army in Vietnam] the official history of the United States Army
*[http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/pacificaviet/ UC Berkeley Library Social Activism Sound Recording Project: Anti-Vietnam War Protests]
*[http://www.gisearch.com/ Vietnam Casualties database searchable by first name, last name and location]
*[http://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/vietnam.html Vietnam War Bibliography] covers online and published resources
*[http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war The Vietnam War] at The History Channel
*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/timeline/ Vietnam war timeline] comprehensive timeline of the Vietnam War
*[http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/ Virtual Vietnam Archive] – Texas Tech University
*[http://www.globalissues.org/article/402/media-propaganda-and-vietnam War, propaganda, and the media: Vietnam]
{{American conflicts}}
{{Cold War}}
{{PRC conflicts}}
{{Russian Conflicts}}
{{United States topics}}
{{Vietnam in the 20th century}}
{{Vietnam War graphical timeline}}

[[Category:Vietnam War| ]]
[[Category:Cambodian Civil War]]
[[Category:History of Vietnam]]
[[Category:Laotian Civil War]]
[[Category:Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower]]
[[Category:Presidency of Gerald Ford]]
[[Category:Presidency of John F. Kennedy]]
[[Category:Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson]]
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[[Category:Revolution-based civil wars]]
[[Category:United States Army in the Vietnam War|*]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps in the Vietnam War|*]]
[[Category:Wars involving Australia]]
[[Category:Wars involving Cambodia]]
[[Category:Wars involving Canada]]
[[Category:Wars involving Germany]]
[[Category:Wars involving Laos]]
[[Category:Wars involving New Zealand]]
[[Category:Wars involving Nicaragua]]
[[Category:Wars involving North Korea]]
[[Category:Wars involving the People's Republic of China]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Philippines]]
[[Category:Wars involving South Korea]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Wars involving Spain]]
[[Category:Wars involving Thailand]]
[[Category:Wars involving Vietnam]]

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[[af:Viëtnamoorlog]]
[[ar:حرب فيتنام]]
[[an:Guerra de Vietnam]]
[[ast:Guerra de Vietnam]]
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[[bn:ভিয়েতনাম যুদ্ধ]]
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[[el:Πόλεμος του Βιετνάμ]]
[[es:Guerra de Vietnam]]
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[[eu:Vietnamgo Gerra]]
[[fa:جنگ ویتنام]]
[[hif:Vietnam War]]
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[[fy:Fietnamkriich]]
[[ga:Cogadh Vítneam]]
[[gl:Guerra do Vietnam]]
[[ko:베트남 전쟁]]
[[hy:Վիետնամի պատերազմ]]
[[hi:वियतनाम युद्ध]]
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[[he:מלחמת וייטנאם]]
[[jv:Perang Vietnam]]
[[ka:ინდოჩინეთის მეორე ომი]]
[[sw:Vita ya Vietnam]]
[[la:Bellum Indosinense II]]
[[lv:Vjetnamas karš]]
[[lt:Vietnamo karas]]
[[hu:Vietnami háború]]
[[mk:Виетнамска војна]]
[[ml:വിയറ്റ്നാം യുദ്ധം]]
[[mr:व्हियेतनाम युद्ध]]
[[arz:حرب فييتنام]]
[[ms:Perang Vietnam]]
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[[nl:Vietnamoorlog]]
[[ja:ベトナム戦争]]
[[no:Vietnamkrigen]]
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[[oc:Guèrra de Vietnam]]
[[pnb:ویت نام دی لڑائی]]
[[nds:Vietnamkrieg]]
[[pl:Wojna wietnamska]]
[[pt:Guerra do Vietnã]]
[[ro:Războiul din Vietnam]]
[[rue:Вєтнамска война]]
[[ru:Война во Вьетнаме]]
[[sq:Lufta e Vietnamit]]
[[scn:Guerra dû Vietnam]]
[[simple:Vietnam War]]
[[sk:Vietnamská vojna]]
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[[ckb:جەنگی ڤێتنام]]
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[[tr:Vietnam Savaşı]]
[[uk:Війна у В'єтнамі]]
[[ur:جنگ ویت نام]]
[[za:Yiednamz cancwngh]]
[[vi:Chiến tranh Việt Nam]]
[[fiu-vro:Vietnami sõda]]
[[war:Gera Vietnam]]
[[wuu:越南战争]]
[[yi:וויעטנאם קריג]]
[[zh-yue:越戰]]
[[bat-smg:Vietnama vaina]]
[[zh:越南战争]]

Revision as of 12:55, 30 April 2012

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