.
Vietnam War (1955-1975) (US Entry - 1960-1975)
The Vietnam War was a Cold War military
conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November
1955 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
communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the
U.S. and other anti-communist nations. The Viet Cong, a lightly armed
South Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a
guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The Vietnam
People's Army (North Vietnamese Army) engaged in a more conventional
war, at times committing large units into battle. U.S. and South
Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower
to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces,
artillery and airstrikes.
The U.S.
government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist
takeover of South Vietnam and part of their wider strategy of
containment. The North Vietnamese government viewed the war 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.
U.S. military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement
escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961
and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in
1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed.
Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this,
U.S. ground forces were withdrawn as part of a policy called
Vietnamization. Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties
in January 1973, fighting
continued.
The Case–Church Amendment
passed by the U.S. Congress prohibited use of American military after 15
August 1973, unless the president secured congressional approval in
advance. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April
1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War. 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
to more than three million. Some 200,000–300,000 Cambodians,
20,000–200,000 Laotians, and 58,159 U.S. servicemembers also died in the
conflict.
[Source: Wikipedia - Vietnam
War]
