A Summary about the Vietnam War
The Vietnam Era got its name because of the Vietnam War. The Vietnam war was the longest war in American history and was the most unpopular American war of the 20th century. The people of Vietnam waged a war with against France between 1945 and 1954. The war received $2.6 billion in financial support from the United States.
The French were defeated and peace was followed after a conference in Geneva. Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam all received their independence. Vietnam was split in half by anti-Communist South and a Communist North. In 1958 a communist-led guerrillas, called the Viet Cong, began to battle the south Vietnamese government. To help support the South, the United States sent in 2,000. "In 1970 President Nixon withdrew some of the American troops so that South Vietnam would have a greater responsibility fighting their own war. Nixon had American troops attack Communist supply bases in Cambodia. The acts violated the Cambodian neutrality and provoked anti-war protests on the nation’s college campuses. In 1973 Congress enacted the War Powers Act, requiring the president to receive explicit Congressional approval before committing American forces overseas." (Digital History) This era was a very disliked era for both Americans and the Vietnamese. 60,000 Americans died during the war and 2 million Vietnamese deaths. |