The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a product of the cold war, and occured in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The war began on 1st of November 1955 and was fought between North Vietnam and its communist allies, and South Vietnam supported by the United States and other anti-communist forces such as France. 


The war, which was originally fought between North Vietnam with its communist allies and South Vietnam started out as an independence war. The Viet Minh was a league wich fought for the independence from France and was controlled by the Communist Party of Vietnam. This all happened during World War 2. In January 1946, Viet Minh won elections in central and northern Vietnam, but France still controlled the southern Vietnam (French Indochina). The North Vietnam (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) was now a free republic in the French Indochina.
The disagreement of whom that controlled Vietnam led to other countries supporting north or south to determind who that should controll Vietnam. Among them USA and the Sovjet Union.
The fear of that the country should become a part of the opposite side started this war.


The north Vietnamese side fought two different wars. One conventipnal war and one guerilla war. The conventional war was fought by the Vietnams People's Army, and the guerrilla war was fought by the Viet Cong. The Viet Cong was a lightly armoured communistic force stationed in South Vietnam.


The war caused massive protests in the U.S and Vietnam. In Vietnam some monks even burned themself one the street to show their disgust of the war.



From the beginning of the war in 1st of november 1955 untill the fall of saigon 30 April 1975 (end of the war), the capitalistic side had lost the war and 350 thousand soldiers, while the communistic side had won the war but lost 1,17 million soldiers.










The picture shows american soldiers carrying a dead soldier.