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9 interesting facts about the Vietnam War
A war that lasted since 1955 and did not end until 1979, the Vietnam War was one of the most famous conflicts in recent years.
There are many interesting facts about the Vietnam War that many are not aware of - let's explore some of the lesser known facts about this historical period.
The war greatly affected civilians.
Although there are many measures and regulations in international law to prevent injury and death for civilians, the sad fact is that innocent civilians pay the price of war.
The Vietnam War was a conflict between North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, South Vietnam and the United States.
However, Vietnamese civilians on both sides of the conflict were killed, both civilians and warriors.
By 1995, Vietnam had fully realized the harm of civilians in the war.
More than 2 million civilians from both South and North were killed, with more than one million soldiers killed among all participating armies.
The Vietnam War left a legacy of unexploded bombs.
The Vietnam War mainly took place between the North and the South of Vietnam, but it didn't end there.
Laos and Cambodia were heavily involved in the war, meaning their civilians also had to pay a heavy price.
Laos is believed to be the most heavily bombed country in the world per capita, with an estimated 30% of the remaining cluster bombs unexploded.
When the United Nations laid out the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals, they included an additional goal for Laos - the elimination of the country of dangerous unexploded items.
The Vietnam War started to unify the country.
Before the Vietnam War, the North of the country was governed by a communist government, while the South was governed exclusively by a government seeking to further align with the West.
Because the Northern government wanted to unify the country, the Vietnam War began as a civil war, seeking to connect the North and South and create a united Vietnam.
However, the North sought help from the Viet Cong from the South, while the South sought help from the United States.
The fall of Saigon in 1975 was an important milestone and finally the North was able to unify the country with Hanoi as the capital.
Vietnam was against French rule.
France had colonized Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, a group of nations known as French Indochina.
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam came to power in 1945 and is seeking to gain independence from France.
Since the North Vietnamese government wanted to unify the country and become a communist state, the West was worried about the prospect of another communist country following in the footsteps of the Soviet Union and China.
Countries including France and Japan are concerned that if one country becomes a communist state, other neighboring and neighboring countries will follow closely behind.
In 1950, the United States supported the French army by sending aid and assisting the South Vietnamese army.
A United Nations conference was held in Geneva to try to bring peace.
In 1954 the nations gathered together at the United Nations in Geneva to learn how the French could peacefully withdraw from the country.
They agreed to hold a general election two years later in 1956, aimed at seeking to unify the country in a more democratic way than through war.
However, the United States will not agree to let Vietnam hold a general election, because they fear that the communist party in the North of the country might win.
The Viet Cong, a party that supported the North from the South, was not formed until 1960, and caused difficulties for the South with guerrilla warfare.
The United States wanted to support South Vietnam's efforts.
In March 1965, after the North Vietnamese shot two US military ships, President Lyndon Johnson decided it was time to step up their efforts to help South Vietnam get past the North.
According to historians, the United States did not want to annex Vietnam, but provided enough support for the South Vietnamese army to fight the North Vietnamese communists, and defeat them.
Consequently, the United States during the late 1960s did not invade the North or seek to inflict additional damage through attacks, but instead focused on South Vietnam and how they could multiply those
The Vietnam War saw a lot of guerrilla warfare.
Although guerrilla warfare was not a new tactic, it was heavily used by the Viet Cong to support the North Vietnamese government.
This made it difficult for their enemies to find them and involved setting up hundreds of bomb traps that inflict injury and death on their opponent.
One of the main tactics of guerrilla warfare is to make it difficult for an enemy to spot an opponent.
This caused anger and frustration for many enemies in the South, who did not know who their enemy was and lost confidence in their neighbors.
President Nixon has another plan for the war.
When Richard Nixon became President of the United States in 1969, he wanted to bring US troops out of Vietnam and hand the war over to the Vietnamese soldiers.
However, many American citizens disapproved of the move to invade Laos and Cambodia, prompting up and down protests in the country.
The North Vietnamese finally won the war.
While many people know about the Vietnam War, not everyone knows how it ended.
After the peace talks in Paris, the war in Vietnam continued, until the South surrendered to the Communist North in 1975.
This was partly due to the withdrawal of the US military two years earlier, leaving the South too weak to continue with any great force or strength to defeat the enemy.
In 1976, the reunified Vietnam was the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Sadly, the Vietnam War caused the destruction and damage of thousands of civilians and soldiers, and continues to be remembered as one of the longest and deadliest wars in the world.
Today, Vietnam attracts a lot of tourists, many come to commemorate the deceased or visit the memorial, but also to see the beauty of the country despite historical conflicts and tragedy.
