History By: Shannon Faith

Separation of South and North Vietnam

Resources the-ho-chi-minh-trail/ the-ho-chi-minh-trail/ w.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/268322/Ho-Chi-Minh-Trail the-35th-anniversary-of-the-fall-of-Saigon.html?image=4

The Vietnam War was the longest war in history. The United States wanted to stop the spread of communist. In August 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin attack Congress passed the Southeast Asia Resolution which allowed President Lyndon Johnson to conduct military operations in the region without a declaration of war.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail was used by the North to move men and supplies to the South. In fact, the Ho Chi Minh Trail was made up of many trails. Ho Chi Minh Trail, elaborate system of mountain and jungle paths and trails used by North Vietnam to infiltrate troops and supplies into South Vietnam

Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the decisive engagement in the first Indochina War. It consisted of a struggle between French and Viet Minh forces for control of a small mountain outpost on the Vietnamese border near Laos. It was also the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries

From 1964 to 1973, the U.S. dropped over 2 million tons of ordnance over Laos in 580,000 bombing missions. The bombings were part of the U.S. Secret War in Laos to support the Royal Lao Government. Each year there continue to be over 100 new casualties in Laos. Close to 60% of the accidents result in death, and 40% of the victims are children.

The Cambodian Civil War was a conflict that pitted the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. The war began with isolated clashes along the land and maritime boundaries of Vietnam. The communist movement in Cambodia and Vietnam began before WW2.

Saigon, capital city of South Vietnam, fell to North Vietnamese forces on April 30 th The fall of Saigon (now Ho Chin Minh City) effectively marked the end of the Vietnam War. By 1975, what remained of the South Vietnamese Army was not capable of withstanding the advance of the North and it was an inevitability that Saigon would fall to communist forces.1975Vietnam War