A UH-1D helicopter piloted by Maj. Bruce P. Crandall climbs skyward after discharging a load of US infantrymen on a search and destroy mission.
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Name | USd&w|group=A}} 1,687 missing; 303,635 wounded
South Korea Republic of Korea 5,099 dead; 10,962 wounded; 4 missing
Australia Australia 521 dead; 3,000 wounded
New Zealand New Zealand 37 dead; 187 wounded
Thailand Thailand 1,351 dead
Laos Kingdom of Laos 30,000 killed, wounded unknown
Total dead: 315,384 � 412,000 Total wounded: ~1,490,000+ | Date | 1 November 1955[ � 30 April 1975 ( )] | Location | South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos | Result | North Vietnamese victory
* Withdrawal of American forces from Indochina
* Dissolution of South Vietnam
* Communist governments take power in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos | Territorial changes | Unification of North and South Vietnam under North Vietnamese rule. | Anti-Communist forces:
South Vietnam
United States
South Korea
Australia
Philippines
New Zealand
Thailand
Cambodia Khmer Republic
Laos Kingdom of Laos
Republic of China
Supported by:
Spain
| Communist forces:
North Vietnam
Republic of South Vietnam NLF
Cambodia Khmer Rouge
Laos Pathet Lao
China People's Republic of China
Soviet Union
North Korea
Supported by:
Czechoslovakia
Cuba | South Vietnam Ngô Đình Diệm South Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Thiệu South Vietnam Nguyễn Cao Kỳ South Vietnam Cao Văn Viên US Lyndon B. Johnson US Richard Nixon US William Westmoreland US Creighton Abrams South Korea Park Chung Hee South Korea Chae Myung Shin Cambodia Lon Nol ...and others | North Vietnam Hồ Chí Minh North Vietnam Lê Duẩn North Vietnam Võ Nguyên Giáp Republic of South Vietnam Hoàng Văn Thái North Vietnam Văn Tiến Dũng Republic of South Vietnam Trần Văn Trà Republic of South Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Linh Republic of South Vietnam Nguyễn Hữu Thọ Cambodia Pol Pot ...and others | ~1,830,000 (1968)
South Vietnam: 850,000
United States: 536,100
Free World Military Forces: 65,000
Republic of Korea: 50,000
Australia: 7,672
Thailand, Philippines: 10,450
New Zealand: 552 | ~461,000
North Vietnam: 287,465 (Jan 1968)
PRC: 170,000 (1969)
Soviet Union: 3,000
DPR Korea: 300 � 600 | South Vietnam South Vietnam 220,357 (low est.) � 316,000 dead (highest est.); 1,170,000 wounded
United States United States 58,220 dead;{{#Tag:Ref|The figures of 58,220 and 303,644 for U.S. deaths and wounded come from the Department of Defense Statistical Information Analysis Division (SIAD), Defense Manpower Data Center, as well as from a Department of Veterans fact sheet dated May 2010 the CRS (Congressional Research Service) Report for Congress, American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics, dated February 26, 2010, and the book Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant. Some other sources give different figures (e.g. the 2005/2006 documentary Heart of Darkness: The Vietnam War Chronicles 1945 � 1975 cited elsewhere in this article gives a figure of 58,159 U.S. deaths, The 2007 book Vietnam Sons: For Some, the War Never Ended gives a figure of 58,226.)|name=USd&w|group=A}} 1,687 missing; 303,635 wounded
South Korea Republic of Korea 5,099 dead; 10,962 wounded; 4 missing
Australia Australia 521 dead; 3,000 wounded
New Zealand New Zealand 37 dead; 187 wounded
Thailand Thailand 1,351 dead
Laos Kingdom of Laos 30,000 killed, wounded unknown
Total dead: 315,384 � 412,000 Total wounded: ~1,490,000+ | North VietnamRepublic of South Vietnam North Vietnam & NLF 1,176,000 dead or missing (highest est.); 600,000+ wounded
China P.R. China 1,446 dead; 4,200 wounded Soviet Union Soviet Union 16 dead
Total dead: ~1,177,462 (highest est.) Total wounded: ~604,200+ |
Vietnamese civilian dead: ~200,000 � 2,000,000
Cambodian civilian dead: 200,000 � 300,000*
Laotian civilian dead: ~20,000 � 200,000*
Total civilian dead: ~420,000 � 2,500,000
Total dead: ~1,912,846 � 3,992,846
* indicates approximations, see Casualties below
For more information see Vietnam War casualties |
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The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The Viet Cong, a lightly armed South Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The Vietnam People's Army (North Vietnamese Army) engaged in a more conventional war, at times committing large units into battle. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery and airstrikes.
The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment. The North Vietnamese government viewed the war as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state. U.S. military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this, U.S. ground forces were withdrawn as part of a policy called Vietnamization. Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued.
U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973 as a result of the Case � Church Amendment passed by the U.S. Congress. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War. North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities (See: Vietnam War casualties). Estimates of the number of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed vary from less than one million to more than three million. Some 200,000 � 300,000 Cambodians, 20,000 � 200,000 Laotians, and 58,220 U.S. service members also died in the conflict.
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