Vietnam War

T
he Vietnam War was a military struggle fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975. It was started by the Communist guerrillas (the so-called Vietcong) in the South, whom were backed by Communist North Vietnam, in an attempt to overthrow the South Vietnam government. Unlike conventional wars, the Vietnam War was a turning point in the history of modern conventional warfare. A guerilla war, fought on difficult terrain with no defined front lines, consisting of hit-and-run attacks with guerillas striking at government outposts and retreating into the jungle. The reliance on helicopters afforded mobility in a difficult terrain.

The Vietnam War can be regarded as a people's war, because guerilla fighters were not easily distinguished from noncombatants and most civilians were mobilized into some sort of active participation. The civilian people of Vietnam suffered greatly, in one way or another. The extensive use of napalm by US forces maimed and killed many thousands of civilians, and the use of defoliants destroyed ground cover, devastating the ecology of an essentially agricultural country.

Khe Sanh, a US Marine base, was one of the most remote outposts in Vietnam and was facing a full-scale siege by the North Vietnamese Forces. By 1968, President Lyndon Johnson had become interested in this remote base and a question was asked - whether to abandon the base or whether to defend the base. American officials and the President decided to keep the base. On the morning of 21 January, 1968, at 5:30 am, the Vietnamese Army Forces launched the awaited attack by a barrage of shells, mortars and rockets, and the siege of Khe Sanh began. During the first two days, 18 Marines were killed instantly and 40 were wounded.

The 55 day battle from March 13 to May 7, 1954, was a climatic battle between the French and the Viet Minh (Vietnamese Communist forces) that led to the division of Vietnam into North and South Vietnam. From 1947 until the Dien Bien Phu battle, the French mastered the skies, but were unable to stop the flow of supplies reaching the Vietnamese guerilla.



The battle of Dien Bien Phu, and the International Peace Conference that began in Geneva the day after the battle. Information from Vietnam War.com