Vietnam War
Map of Vietnam War Areas
War dominated 30 years of Vietnam's history last century. The struggle that began with communists fighting French colonial power in the 1940s did not end until they seized Saigon and control of the whole country in 1975. The period that Americans refer to as the "Vietnam War" – and the Vietnamese call the "American War"– was the US military intervention from 1965 to 1973.
The Vietnamese had suffered under French colonial rule for nearly six decades when Japan invaded portions of Vietnam in 1940. The French, however, were not willing to give up their colony so easily and fought back. In 1954, after suffering a decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French decided to pull out of Vietnam.
The Vietnam War as we know it escalated shortly after Lyndon Baines Johnson took office after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1964. Between August 1964 and July 1965, America's direct military involvement in the Vietnam War grew dramatically. Prior to this the US had about 20,000 military advisors and by July 1965 the number of US troops increased to appoximately 125,00 troops and took a role change that was to take action against communist forces in South Vietnam. (Proctor)
Three more aspects of the Vietnam war were:
The Vietnamese had suffered under French colonial rule for nearly six decades when Japan invaded portions of Vietnam in 1940. The French, however, were not willing to give up their colony so easily and fought back. In 1954, after suffering a decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French decided to pull out of Vietnam.
The Vietnam War as we know it escalated shortly after Lyndon Baines Johnson took office after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1964. Between August 1964 and July 1965, America's direct military involvement in the Vietnam War grew dramatically. Prior to this the US had about 20,000 military advisors and by July 1965 the number of US troops increased to appoximately 125,00 troops and took a role change that was to take action against communist forces in South Vietnam. (Proctor)
Three more aspects of the Vietnam war were:
- The biggest draft lottery took place on December 1, 1969. This draft lottery afftected men from the ages of 18-26 years old.
- One of the most infamous events of the Vietnam War was the My Lai massacre that took place on March 16, 1968. Hundreds of unarmed women, children and elders lost their lives.
- Men and women of the Vietnam War often wrote letters home and waited for letters from loved ones.