Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a long-running conflict that took place in the former French colony of Indochina from 1955 to 1975. It began as an insurgency against the French, but soon became a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The US supported South Vietnam while North Vietnamese forces were backed by China and Russia. Over two million people died during this brutal conflict, which eventually ended with communist victory in April 1975 when Saigon fell to North Vietnamese troops.
The origins of the war can be traced back to France's colonization of Indochina at the end of World War II. After years of fighting for independence, Vietnam was divided into north and south regions following the Geneva Accords in 1954; each region had its own government with different ideologies—communism in the north and democracy in the south—creating tension between them. This escalated further after President John F Kennedy increased American military aid to South Vietnam due to rising concerns about Communist expansionism throughout Southeast Asia, known as 'domino theory'. In 1965, America launched Operation Rolling Thunder, a massive bombing campaign targeting both civilian areas and enemy positions, followed by large scale deployment of ground troops who faced stiff resistance from Viet Cong guerrillas, often operating within population centers, making it difficult to distinguish civilian combatants, leading to the infamous My Lai massacre, among other atrocities committed by US soldiers. By 1973, peace negotiations had concluded, resulting in the Paris Peace Agreement ending direct American involvement, though sporadic fighting continued until the fall of Saigon on 30th April 1975, thus concluding one of the most destructive wars of the 20th century.