The war started in the 1940's - it was english controled.. then they turned it over to france.. france left - then the us got involved.
This article primarily concerns the Second Indochina War. For the earlier 1946-1954 conflict between France and the Viet Minh, see First Indochina War.
Vietnam War
Part of the Cold War
Vietnamese village after an attack.
Date 1959[1] – April 30, 1975
Location Southeast Asia
Result Peace treaty providing for U.S. disengagement in 1973
U.S. political and military defeat (failure to protect South Vietnam)
Capitulation of South Vietnam
Military victory by North Vietnam over South Vietnamese forces in 1975
Casus belli Cold War escalation.
Territorial
changes Reunification of Vietnam.
Combatants
Republic of Vietnam
United States
Republic of Korea
Thailand
Australia
New Zealand
The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam
Democratic Republic of Vietnam
People’s Republic of China
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Strength
US 1,000,000
South Korea 300,000
Australia 48,000
New Zealand 3,900 North Vietnam and Viet Cong ~2,000,000
PRC 320,000
Soviet Union 6,000
North Korea unknown
Casualties
South Vietnamese dead: 230,000
South Vietnamese wounded: 300,000
US dead: 58,209
US wounded: 153,303
South Korean dead: 5,000
South Korean wounded: 11,000[2]
Australian dead: 520
Australian wounded: 3,131
New Zealand dead: 38
New Zealand wounded: 187
Philippines dead: 99
Thailand dead: 351 North Vietnamese and NLF dead: 1,100,000
North Vietnamese and NLF wounded: 600,000
Chinese dead: 1,100
Chinese wounded: 4,200
Soviet Union 16 killed
North Korea 36+ killed
Civilian dead (total Vietnamese): 2-4,000,000
Vietnam War
Ap Bac - Binh Gia – Buon Ma Thuot - Ho Chi Minh Trail - Dong Xoai- Barrell Roll - Steel Tiger - Sihanouk Trail - Tiger Hound - Commando Hunt - Ho Chi Minh - Ia Drang – Long Tan – Hills 881 & 861 – Dak To – Khe Sanh - FSB Mary Ann - Phuoc Long – 1st Tet – 1st Saigon – 2nd Tet – Hamburger Hill – Ripcord – Cambodia – Operation Tailwind - Eastertide – Xuan Loc – Secret War - 2nd Saigon
The Vietnam War was a conflict in which communist forces from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV or North Vietnam) and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, also known as the Việt Cộng (or VC) fought against anti-communist forces from the Republic of Vietnam (RVN or South Vietnam) and its allies — most notably the United States — in an effort to unify Vietnam into a single independent state.
It is also known as Vietnam Conflict, the Second Indochina War and in the US colloquially as Vietnam, The ’Nam or simply ’Nam. Vietnamese Communists have often referred to it as the American War or Kháng chiến chống Mỹ, the Resistance War Against America.
The war followed the failure of Vietnamese nationalists, in the form of the Viet Minh, to achieve control of southern Vietnam in their fight for independence from France, in the First Indochina War of 1946-54.
Allies of the Vietnamese communists included the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. South Vietnam's main anti-communist allies were the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand, the Philippines, and New Zealand. The United States, in particular, deployed large numbers of personnel to South Vietnam. US military advisors were involved in Vietnam from 1950, when they began to assist French colonial forces.In 1956, U.S. advisors assumed full responsibility for training the South Vietnamese army. Large numbers of American combat troops began to arrive in 1965. They left the country in 1973..[3]
At various stages the conflict involved fighting around bases in the countryside, clashes between troops patrolling the rainforest, and guerrilla attacks on South Vietnamese towns. U.S. aircraft also conducted substantial aerial bombing campaigns, targeting both Viet Cong camps in the rainforest and the cities of North Vietnam. Large quantities of defoliating chemicals were also dropped from the air in an effort to reduce the cover available to Viet Cong troops.
To some degree the Vietnam War was a "proxy war," one of several that occurred during the Cold War between the United States and its Western allies on the one hand, and the Soviet Union and/or the People's Republic of China on the other. The Korean War is another such war. Proxy wars occurred because the major players — especially the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. — were unwilling to fight each other directly because of the unacceptable costs of global nuclear war.
The Vietnam War finally ended on April 30, 1975, with the surrender of South Vietnam. The war had claimed millions of Vietnamese lives, a large number of them civilians. The casualties suffered by the US and other allies of South Vietnam were also deeply significant, a cause of great pain and suffering in those nations.
There is so much to read.. go to this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War
2006-10-26 07:33:26
·
answer #1
·
answered by sassy 6
·
4⤊
0⤋
The real winners were the Hmongs. I was in service during the conflict. The question you pose arose many of times among the troops.
As usual all were told that we were their to keep South Vietnam from Communist North Vietnam. If one were to look into the very beginnings of it all, some fragments can be assembled.
From what I understand at some point in the early "50"s the French were putzing around the South in search of oil and found a large oil reserve they wanted to tap into. one thing led to another as Vietnam as a whole did not want them there stealing the resourse. The French became overwhelmed with attacks. the United States seen opportunity and joined in the free for all. Yes there was aggression towards the South in that The North was encroaching on and murdering civilians to gain control and Make both countries as one. One large factor in the puzzle was that the North had all the military resourses from the Chinese and this of course brought on all out war. At the same time Pol pot was coming in Cambodia"the Killing Fields" massacuring any resistance. In short it was a mess that The United States with it shortsightedness,the Will of the Military Industrial complex, the Big Banks were enjoying a Monetary windfall from all of this. It was all a barrel of BS for the Americans. We continue to pay for the mistake.
The war in Iraq will be fruitless. With respect to those who serve I commend you. we Were Fooled Again.. When we pull out of there, the Democracy we attempted to install will topple. At best I give Democracy maybe 3 months in an area where wars were fought since BC. There is something very wrong with our government it is being led around by others with bigger interests in mind. We the people are fodder for the latter nothing but meat and are expendable to those who are enjoying the fruits of war.
2006-10-26 08:49:47
·
answer #2
·
answered by BONES 4
·
2⤊
0⤋
Communists rebels from North Vietnam grew to change right into a challenge for South Vietnam, and the South Vietnamese authorities requested for help from the U. S.. This began with the U. S. providing some substances and defense force preparation to the Vietnamese defense force, yet because the rebels were given more effective aggressive it finally further about an extremely large US defense force presence, actively struggling with the rebels. It became more effective of a case of gradually growing to be particularly than having a particular commence, in spite of the indisputable fact that the Gulf of Tomkin incident became the reason of the first large inflow of strive against troops. The warfare ended even as it grew to change into very unpopular interior us of a (partly because human beings were being drafted), and it grew to change into politically not accessible to carry on. although the Viet Cong did not defeat the U. S. militarily, they took over the rustic once the U. S. withdrew, making them the winners.
2016-12-05 06:25:21
·
answer #3
·
answered by louttit 4
·
0⤊
0⤋
No one ever wins a war. If you ever see or read about the death and destruction caused by war, you'd realize there are no winners.
In the Vietnam War, the United States did not really achieve what it set out to do, and got bogged down in a long, messy, ugly war that no one really wanted. And there was no good way to get out of it. But no one in Vietnam actually "won" anything by it either, so you could say it was something of a draw.
2006-10-26 07:37:05
·
answer #4
·
answered by teresathegreat 7
·
2⤊
2⤋
North Vietnam did not defeat the US militarily. The US defeat came from political and spiritual reasons. The unpopularity of the war in the US, the failure to understand that the Vietnamese, like any other people, dislike interlopers in their internal affairs and are, despite political differences, deeply patriotic, led the US to commit blunder after blunder. It should have been a lesson not to do the same mistake again but Bush doesn't seem to have the brains to learn. The war against Saddam should have ended with his capture, and preferably death. To stay in Iraq trying to mould the Iraqis into carbon copies of Americans is a mistake. They may want to have McDonalds but western democracy is totally alien to them. One only needs to look around and see that the only democracy in the Middle East is Israel. All the Muslims understand in monarchy, the amirs, shahs or khans, now vested in a "Presidential" coating.
2006-10-26 07:55:49
·
answer #5
·
answered by Anonymous
·
1⤊
3⤋
america went to war with vietmam as it was in danger of becoming more controlled by the communists russia and china had stong infuences in the region as to wether vietmam won well lets say america entered into a war it could not possibly win if you look at iraq that too may prove to be their second military blunder.
2006-10-28 01:00:04
·
answer #6
·
answered by Anonymous
·
0⤊
1⤋
yes the Americans got their ambitions mixed up with their capabilities it was the same mess as Iraq no plan just big bully approach killing civilians, children and troops on their side.
The French had Vietnam as colony and the people wanted freedom and kicked them out so the so called communist threat had to be put down by the US warmongers
2006-10-27 21:01:22
·
answer #7
·
answered by green man 2
·
0⤊
1⤋
The US lost. They simply couldn't deal with a guerilla war. the same as is happening in Iraq. The US army is set up to fight conventional short term wars and cannot fight long stay wars.
2006-10-26 22:49:34
·
answer #8
·
answered by Anonymous
·
0⤊
1⤋
Why did you put the word America in quotes?
2006-10-26 07:36:06
·
answer #9
·
answered by silvercomet 6
·
0⤊
1⤋
actually, the north vietnam army general said he was ready to surrender years before the end of the war, however, seeing the protests in the USA by people like john kerry, gave them the strength to continue. So you can say the american liberals are responsible for thousands of deaths of american soldiers, and for the loss of the war.
2006-10-26 07:31:23
·
answer #10
·
answered by Anonymous
·
3⤊
6⤋