The Vietnam War was an aspect of the continuing Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and also part of a regional conflict, the Indochina wars.
North Vietnam had defeated the French colonial power in 1954 and established a communist regime. The South Vietnam government wanted to ally itself with the West. The nation of Vietnam was divided at the 17^th parallel between communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The conflict began as a civil war in Vietnam. The communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, were fighting the government of South Vietnam.
U.S. military advisers were in South Vietnam during the late 1950s. By 1960 about 900 military advisors were in Vietnam. Beginning in 1961, larger numbers of military advisors were sent to South Vietnam. President Kennedy had boosted the number of U.S. forces in South Vietnam to 16,000 by 1963.
The Soviet Union and China sent weapons, supplies, and advisers to North Vietnam.
In August 1964, two American destroyers clashed with North Vietnamese patrol boats in the Gulf of Tonkin, off North Vietnam. President Johnson announced that Americans had been attacked without cause and ordered air strikes. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in August 1964, which authorized American troops to Vietnam.
Early In 1965, Johnson ordered “Operation Rolling Thunder,” continuous bombing of North Vietnam. By March U.S. ground forces were sent to South Vietnam. By the end of 1967, nearly 500,000 U.S. troops were in South Vietnam.
The North Vietnamese army and the Viet Cong used primarily guerrilla tactics and were well supplied. With guerrilla fighting and no large military battles from which to judge the gain and loss of territory, it was difficult for average Americans to determine victories. The American public began to use casualty rates to follow the war’s progress.
In January 1968, North Vietnam and the Viet Cong launched a massive offensive, known as the Tet Offensive. American troops repelled the offensive after about a month of fighting. But, many thousands of Americans were killed and some areas in South Vietnam were breached.
The anti-war movement in the United States increased dramatically. Johnson halted the bombing of North Vietnam in 1968 and announced he would not seek re-election.
U.S. combat units were withdrawn by 1973. In 1975 South Vietnam fell to a full-scale invasion by North Vietnam.
It is estimated that 58,200 Americans died in the Vietnam War. The U.S. military estimates that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war. Other countries also fought for South Vietnam. About 4,000 South Koreans died in the war. Casualty estimates are about 500 casualties for Australia, 350 for Thailand, and about 36 for New Zealand. Approximately 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters died. Estimates are that about 2 million Vietnamese civilians died.

Henderson County and Vietnam War