The Japanese invaded French Indochina in 1940 and, as everywhere, they

claimed the slogan Asia for Asians. This revolutionary idea took hold throughout
Southeast Asia where local people were astounded to find out that their large and
populous territories had been controlled by Europeans (with guns) from relatively
tiny and distant countries.
The Vietnam War was a second phase of fighting in Vietnam. In 1946 Vietnam
was part of the colony of French Indochina and the Vietnamese fought for their
independence. The United States provided military equipment, but the French were
defeated in 1954. Vietnam was then divided into North and South Vietnam. The
Vietnam War occurred in present-day Vietnam, Southeast Asia. It was a longlasting conflict in Southeast Asia. It started after World War II and ended in 1975.
The war in Vietnam occurred during the Cold War, and is generally viewed as an
indirect conflict between the United States and Soviet Union, with each nation and
its allies supporting one side.
The Vietnam War can be separated into different periods based upon the United
States involvement. From 1957 to 1965, the war was mainly a struggle between the
South Vietnamese army and Communist-trained South Vietnamese rebels known as
the Viet Cong.
In 1941 the Vietminh organization was set up as the League for the
Independence of Vietnam. A banished scholar of European Marxist ideas named Ho
Chi Minh returned from exile to join the Vietminh and free Vietnam from imperialist
European control. The Vietminh quickly seized the north and central regions of
Vietnam from postwar Chinese control, while the French re-assumed control only of
the south from British forces.
The first Vietnam war between the French-controlled south and the
Communist-led north began in December 1946. In 1954 the French withdrew,
leaving Vietnam an indepedent but divided nation. The United States sent troops to
fight the Communists throughout the 1960s, bombing also in neighboring
Cambodia.

The Vietnam War first began in 1959, five years after the division of the country
by the Geneva Accords. Vietnam had been split into two, with a communist
government in the north under Ho Chi Minh and a democratic government in the
south under Ngo Dinh Diem.
Ho launched a guerilla campaign in South Vietnam, led by Viet Cong units, with
the goal of uniting the country under communist rule. The United States, seeking to
stop the spread of communism, trained the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)
and provided military advisors to help combat the guerillas.
By 1969, the Vietnam War seemed endless, and the United States slowly began
to withdraw troops. In January 1973, a cease-fire was arranged. North Vietnam,
South Vietnam, the United States and the Vietcong signed a peace agreement.
However it was not kept. The North Vietnamese army and the Vietcong pushed
further to

the

south

but

U.S.

troops

did

not

return.

They

met

little resistance because South Vietnams army was too weak and couldn't fight
alone. Thousands of civilians fled from the oncoming enemies. The United States
ended its part in the Vietnam War in 1975. Saigon quickly fell to the Communists
who united North and South Vietnam.
In

1975

Communist troops entered

Saigon

and

the

South

Vietnamese surrendered.
The war was officially over in 1976. North and South Vietnam were reunited under a
Communist government. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. The war finally
ended on April 30, 1975 when South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam.