Vietnam War Nathaniel Kostecki

Definition The Vietnam war was fought from 1959 to 1975 in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos The United States allied the South Vietnamese from a communist takeover by North Vietnam and the Vietcong. It became the longest and most unpopular war in American History.

U.S. Gets Involved The U.S. Got involved to support and ally the weak South Vietnamese in a fight against communists in North Vietnam. Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Laos and few other countries allied with the South Vietnam and the U.S. The United States also helped modernize the South Vietnamese military by training soldiers, and providing weapon to help in combat against the conventional North Vietnamese style of warfare and the Vietcong's mostly guerrilla warfare and sneak attacks. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution gave LBJ power to conduct military operations in SE Asia without declaring war. The Domino Theory also played a role, and they tried to contain Communism around the world.

Countries Allied Good Side: South Vietnam United States South Korea Australia New Zealand Laos Bad Side (Communists)‏ North Vietnam Vietcong North Korea Khmer Rouge(Cambodia)‏

The Vietcong The Vietcong, A.K.A. National Liberation Front (NLF). They fought the United States and South Vietnamese Governments. They were closely allied with the North Vietnamese Communists. They mostly fought using guerrilla warfare and sneak attacks against the ant-communists Commonly called “Charlie”

It was the first war with widespread use of Chemical Warfare It is guesstimated that 4 x 10 ^ 6 people have died due to the chemicals. And they still change the landscape of Vietnam and diseases, birth defects, and poison the food chain.

Unpopularity of the War Some Buddhists would burn themselves in public to protest the War. The Hippies were strongly opposed to the Vietnam War. The wanted peace and no bloodshed. People would chant “Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh! The NLF is going to win!” and "Hey, hey, LBJ! How many boys did you kill today?"

Death Toll From both sides 4 million Vietnamese died. 2 Million Laotians and Cambodians 58,169 U.S. Soldiers.

If the U.S. Wasn't involved If the United States wasn't involved in the Vietnam War, I wouldn't really change anything, we ended up losing the war, Vietnam became Communist. There would have been fewer deaths for the U.S. A lot of money would have been saved. Lyndon Johnson may be considered a better president