The Vietnam war
1958-1975
The Vietnam war from the beginning
The Vietnam war started in 1958 because early on, south Vietnam refused to hold unification elections with north Vietnam. After north Vietnam attacked south Vietnam, the United states sent in 2,000 military advisers to support south Vietnam and eventually grew to 80,000. The casualties were catastrophic. The U.S. lost nearly 60,000 deaths and the Vietnamese deaths were estimated at about 2 million dead. Before the war ended, president Richard Nixon advocated vietnamizatoin, withdrawing US troops. In the end, south Vietnam surrendered to north Vietnam on April 30, 1975 when Saigon (south Vietnam leader) was captured by north Vietnam's forces.
The United States involvement in the war:
At the end of the TET offensive, both sides had experienced high losses and both said that they won and led to more arguments. After, President Johnson announced that the bombing of north Vietnam would stop above the 20th parallel (5000 mile radius of Vietnam) and also withdrawed US forces out of Vietnam. By helping south Vietnam, the united states economy began to wither because of the war costs.
The Casualties: :(
The Hostile deaths: 47,359
Non-hostile deaths:10,797
Total Deaths:58,156
9,087,000 US military personnel served in the Vietnam war
7,484 women served in the military as nurses
Vietnam War Documentary: Inside the Viet Cong - Tactics, Weapons, Tunnels, Uniform
My sources:
"Digital History." Digital History. N.p., n.d. Web. 4/8/13 Apr. 2013.
"Office of the Historian." N.p., n.d. Web.
"Vietnam War Statistics." Vietnam War Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 4/9/13 Apr. 2013
"Vietnam War." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.