Vietnam War (nov 1, 1955 – apr 30, 1975)

Description:

South Vietnam V North Vietnam
Both sides of Vietnam were at high points of stress. A Democratic election was to be held after a little bit of time to decide the fate of the country. In the North, we had Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader, while in the South we had Ngo Dinh Diem the democratic (and eventually super corrupt) leader. The South was obviously backed by the United States. Eisenhower stated that he believed that if Vietnam became communist, every other Asian country would fall, and eventually a communist world. This was called Domino Theory.
Diem (democratic south Korea guy) was wildly unpopular and corrupt, so Kennedy staged a coup against them.

Full-scale involvement occurred in 1965, after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and the subsequent passing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Johnson sent a few operations attacking the North Vietnamese economy


By 1967, the United States had over 485,000 troops in South Vietnam.

The Tet Offensive was a huge turning point in the war, the Vietcong initiated a surprise attack on a holiday on a bunch of government buildings and it took everyone by surprise. The United States initially lost a bunch of lands, but they recovered it. This was after a HEAVY loss of troops. The way it was received is the important part. The press and population of the United States questioned the point of war after seeing the horrors of the carnage.

My Lai Massacre was a massacre of more than 500 innocent North Vietnamese civilians.

They sent 200,000 more troops to Vietnam.

When Nixon took office they took a stance of "peace with honor" where they tried leaving and settling peace without admitting defeat

Eventually the South fell.

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