Vietnam War
The Vietnam War pitted communist North Vietnam and the Viet Cong against South Vietnam and the United States. The war ended when U.S. forces withdrew in 1973 and Vietnam unified under Communist control two years later.
Start Here
A guide to the complex political and military issues involved in a war that would ultimately claim millions of lives.
The conflict in Vietnam took root during an independence movement against French colonial rule and evolved into a Cold War confrontation.
Gifted photographers and reporters captured images that conveyed the agony and violence of the Vietnam war, and the deep divisions it drove in American society.
The hippie counterculture reached its height during the escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and subsided as the conflict drew to a close.
3 Controversial Moments
My Lai Massacre
My Lai Massacre
In 1968, Ron Ridenhour, an infantryman in Vietnam, wrote a letter to President Nixon detailing the murder of 500 civillians by the U.S. Army in what would come to be known as the My Lai Massacre.
Explore All Related Topics
Air America flew passenger flights out of Taiwan in the mid-20th century. At the time, hardly anyone knew its true owner was the CIA.
During the Vietnam War, the U.S military engaged in an aggressive program of chemical warfare codenamed Operation Ranch Hand.
The U.S. military is now an all-volunteer force, but for most of the nation’s history, it relied on conscription to fill its ranks.
The Chicago Seven (originally eight) were political radicals accused of conspiring to incite the riots that occurred at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. During the five-month trial, the prosecution stressed the defendants’ provocative...
The Vietnam War was a divisive conflict that pitted North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States.
It took 20 months for the war crime to come to light.
The Flying Ace symbolized hope and, ultimately, exasperation.
