How Much Do You Know About the Vietnam War?

Jane Fonda already had a long history with activism when she became one of the most public faces of protest against the United States’ war with Vietnam. In the 1960s and ’70s, Fonda worked on behalf of Native Americans and with the Black Panthers, and in 1972 she and fellow actor Donald Sutherland formed the “Free Army Tour.” The anti-war show toured military bases, performing for and talking to soldiers before they left for Vietnam.

Approximately 2,700,000 American soldiers fought in Vietnam, and they were joined by 320,000 South Korean allies. In return, the United States provided South Korea economic support. The U.S. received support from 60,000 Australians, 37,000 soldiers from Thailand, and 3,000 from New Zealand.

When President John F. Kennedy selected Robert McNamara to be the U.S. secretary of defense, he left his post as president of the Ford Motor Company. McNamara successfully helped restructure Ford after World War II, then led the U.S. Department of Defense from 1961 to 1968. McNamara’s disagreement with President Lyndon Johnson about Vietnam led to his resignation, at which point he became president of the World Bank.

At a meeting of the National Security Council in 1969, President Richard Nixon approved a mission for B-52 bombers to attack suspected communist camps in Cambodia. Nicknamed “Operation Breakfast,” this was the first attack on the officially neutral nation of Cambodia, and Nixon attempted to hide the attack from the American public.

Around 7,000 Bell UH-1H Iroquois helicopters served in Vietnam, and the vehicle was nicknamed the “Huey.” The Huey was a single-engine, twin-blade helicopter that was key for troop transport, able to quickly navigate tight spaces in the Vietnam jungle. It was also one of the very first helicopters used for attack in any kind of war.

At the end of World War II, Ho Chi Minh declared independence from French rule, borrowing American terms: “All men are created equal,” he said. “They are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Long before the U.S. entered into direct conflict with Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh reached out to President Herbert Hoover for support in a letter. He received no response.

The Mayaguez Incident, the last battle of the Vietnam War, took place from May 12-15, 1975. U.S. Marines fought against the Khmer Rouge on Koh Tang, a Cambodian island, after the Khmer Rouge seized a U.S. container ship and its crew off the coast of the island. The crew was finally rescued by a chaotic and confused battalion of Marines.

Officially known as "An Agreement Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam," the Paris Peace Accords were signed by North Vietnam and the United States in an effort to end the war. Both sides agreed to a ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops from their respective areas. Despite the paperwork, the provisions of the accord were immediately and frequently broken, and the war didn't end for two more years.

William Westmoreland led the buildup of American troops in Vietnam and directed U.S. military strategy there. His time at the helm didn't last, however, as costly losses and the surprise Tet Offensive led to calls for his replacement back home. That, paired with the general antiwar sentiment growing in the U.S., led President Johnson to replace Westmoreland with General Creighton Abrams in 1968.

The American war in Vietnam was not a battle just between those two countries. Vietnam received support from other communist nations, including the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea. The United States was allied with Australia, the Philippines, Spain, and Taiwan.

On August 5, 1964, Congress received information that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked two destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin off the northeastern coast of Vietnam. According to the government report, the attacks were unprovoked, which led Congress to nearly unanimously vote for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution — a major expansion of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.

“The Pentagon Papers” is the name given to a classified government study that analyzed relations between the U.S. and Vietnam. The document revealed how the U.S. government deceived American people regarding its involvement in the war, and it changed public perception of the conflict. The documents were leaked to and published in “The New York Times” in segments beginning in 1971.

From the late 1800s to around 1950, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia were part of an area known as French Indochina, and were generally under French colonial rule. During World War II, Japan invaded Vietnam and Hồ Chí Minh took the opportunity to fight for Vietnamese independence.

During the Cold War, the so-called "Domino Theory" suggested that one nation becoming Communist would quickly lead to Communist takeovers in neighboring nations. This idea led to the United States' entry into the Vietnam War, in an attempt to block the North Vietnamese from aligning Vietnam with the USSR.

Richard Nixon finally brought an end to the Vietnam War for the U.S. in January 1973. While Nixon initially stated that a silent majority supported the war, he ultimately pulled troops out via a peace agreement with the North Vietnamese Army. After more than $120 billion in costs and the loss of more than 50,000 American lives, the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War came to an end.

The United States government spent much of the second half of the 20th century concerned with stopping the perceived spread of communism, from the Soviet Union to Cuba to Vietnam. After North Vietnam liberated itself from French rule, its goal was to unify all of Vietnam under communist rule.

Officially, the Viet Cong was the military arm of the National Liberation Front, which supported the North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam and the U.S. One of the group's best-known actions was the Tet Offensive, during which they attacked more than 100 South Vietnamese cities and the U.S. embassy in Saigon. The group's guerrilla tactics helped the North win the war.

In 1965, the U.S. Congress passed the Draft Card Mutilation Act, which made burning one's draft card a criminal offense. Men had been destroying their cards in an act of protest against the conscription, which many saw as a way to force Americans to fight in a war they did not support.

On April 30, 1975, the People's Army of Vietnam captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, which led to the end of the Vietnam War. In the North, this event was known as the Liberation of Saigon, and it began a years-long transition period to the formal reunification of the country.

Following the end of World War II, Hồ Chí Minh, a cofounder of the Indochinese Communist Party, led forces to seize the northern Vietnamese city of Hanoi. After capturing the modern capital, the forces declared a Democratic State of Vietnam with Ho as president. He went on to hold the role for the next 25 years, serving as a symbol of Vietnam's struggle for unification during the war.