The conflict ended on May 7, 1954, when guerrilla fighters led by Ho Chi Minh successfully defeated French forces at Dien Bien Phu.Īlso known as the Second Indochina War, the Vietnam War was a conflict where the U.S – as well as other members of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)–joined with the South Vietnamese forces to contest communist forces in North Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Most of the combat during this war would take place in South Vietnam but the conflict managed to engulf the entire country, as well as the surrounding countries of Laos and Cambodia.

A conflict between French forces and their opponents, the Viet Minh who were asserting their independence. On December 1946, the First Indochina War began in French Indochina. This changed on September 2, 1945, when the Nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam proclaimed the country’s independence. They originally controlled it as a protectorate from 1883 through 1939, then they controlled it as a possession from 1939 through 1945.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the country of Vietnam became more gradually controlled by the French. United States (Observance) History of the Vietnam War

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