The Vietnam War

A Guerilla War

During the Cold War, the U.S. worked to stop the spread of communism. In the effort to do this, they started a campaign in Indochina largely based on communist fears. What they did not expect, was they would be fighting a war they could not win. The Vietnam War was the second of the Indochina wars and largely involved the communist North, against the allied South of Vietnam. Although the communists had little firepower, their guerrilla tactics and large numbers made them hard to find and kill. America largely relied on our Air Support to bomb northern Vietnam's cities. However much of these attacks were poorly planned, and casualties from both sides ensued. Ho Chi Minh, leader of communist Vietnam enacted the use of underground tunnels to transport people and intelligence behind enemy lines. Americas involvement in the war escalated in the 1960's and later tripled their troops within Vietnam in 1961, and again in 1962, eventually peaking in 1968. Over 3-4 million vietnames troops died form both sides of the war, and 58,169 American soldiers. In the later days of the war, much of Communist Vietnam was on the defensive. However America was losing a war with itself, back at home peace rallies and protests called for an end to the war. Ho-Chi-Minh used this to his advantage to spread Anti-American propaganda to the protesters further spreading the Anti-War attitude. This propaganda largely showed U.S. brutality in the killing of women and children, and the effects of napalm. Mounting resentment against the war forced withdrawal during 1973-1975. After the war, private American groups sent huge amounts of aid to Northern Vietnams largely communist areas. The communists used this to their advantage taking over much of the land they had lost in the south, do to the south's ruined economy. In a matter of years communist's had taken the whole of Vietnam.

By Jason and Marlin