Vietnam+War

Vietnam Conflict;
American War in Vietnam;
 * Vietnam had been a colonial possesion of France prior to WW2, upon Japan's rising aggresion Vietnam fell under japanese control
 * France regained control after WW2 but was unable to hold it from the nations strong sense of independance and the group of radicalists formed from this, the Vietminh
 * France pulled out and Vietnam was split into two nations along the 17th paralell following a meeting in Geneva, northern Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho-Chi Minh was communist and theoretically democratic Southron Vietnam under Ngo Dinh Diem
 * This lasted until the north called an article of the Geneva conference calling for free elections to re-unify the original nation into affect, the south resisted knowing that the Democratic Republic was being aided by communist insurgents within South Vietnam know as the vietcong
 * Russia and China were also providing aid to the insurgent group and South Vietnam was forced to call in aid from the U.S.A.
 * For years the two super powers provided their respective mascots aid and tension built as the conflict in Vietnam escalated until the U.S could no longer hold South Vietnam against the North and the vietcong
 * By 1965 the conflict within Vietnam had escalated beyond the capacity of just calling it a foriegn aid project and the U.S. under President Johnson declared war on North Vietnam
 * The major move at this time for the U.S. was bombing raids and an invasion of nearly five-hundred thousand troops
 * The North responded with an offensive in 1968 and the result was stalemate. THe captured ground would flip back and forth between the two powers but the efforts of the vietcong would keep the U.S. from consolidating the territory
 * Support for the war was beginning to fail, both in the government and the people. The cost for the U.S. was rising too high and the fear of total defeat for their forces was very real and President Nixon reduced the ground forces within Vietnam
 * North Vietnam's revolutionary leader Ho-Chi Minh had also passed away but support for the war never flagged within the North
 * Growing instability within South Vietnam's government along with the U.S's gradual withdrawel followed by a major North Vietnamese offensive led to the cease-fire and complete withdrawel of american forces in 1973
 * Soon after South Vietnam fell and the war was declared over in 1975

Aftermath; Vietnam was reunited under the leadership of the north and America had suffered its first major defeat. With the backing of China and the U.S.S.R the war had failed and communsim spread into another asian nation. Veterans of the war were treated harshly or ignored as american pride declared it a false war and a disgrace of military doctrine.