Vietnam War

The Vietnam War pitted communist North Vietnam and the Viet Cong against South Vietnam and the United States. The war ended when U.S. forces withdrew in 1973 and Vietnam unified under Communist control two years later.

Featured Overview

Illustration by Eduardo Ramón Trejo. Photos from Getty Images.

Start Here

A guide to the complex political and military issues involved in a war that would ultimately claim millions of lives.

The conflict in Vietnam took root during an independence movement against French colonial rule and evolved into a Cold War confrontation.

Gifted photographers and reporters captured images that conveyed the agony and violence of the Vietnam war, and the deep divisions it drove in American society.

The hippie counterculture reached its height during the escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and subsided as the conflict drew to a close.

My Lai Massacre

My Lai Massacre

In 1968, Ron Ridenhour, an infantryman in Vietnam, wrote a letter to President Nixon detailing the murder of 500 civillians by the U.S. Army in what would come to be known as the My Lai Massacre.

5:14m watch

Explore All Related Topics

Vietnam War
Vietnam War

How Helicopters Changed Battlefield Tactics

Join Vietnam veterans Pete Henry and Jim Harris as they reunite to revisit rare footage from their groundbreaking artillery airlift mission.

Vietnam War

Leading a Tank Platoon Lessons from a Vietnam Veteran

Join Stacy Houston as she uncovers her Vietnam veteran father’s legacy by watching her tank platoon’s films for the first time.

Vietnam War

Vietnam Green Beret Inside the Secret Missions of Americas Elite Warriors

Join two daughters as they uncover their father Brett Watson’s Vietnam War experiences through his powerful home movies.

Vietnam War

Honoring a Vietnam F-4 Phantom Pilot Through Film Preservation

Steve Conley seeks to honor his father’s legacy by preserving the films he left behind from his time as an F-4 Phantom pilot in Vietnam.

Advertisement
Vietnam War

Inside the World of War Zone Filmmaking Through Frank Lee's Vietnam Footage

Explore a son’s journey as he uncovers the realities of war through his father, Frank Lee’s, powerful Vietnam combat footage.

Vietnam War

Vietnam Homecoming Family Reunion After Years Apart

Experience the heartfelt homecoming of Vietnam veteran Sonny Silva, as his family’s embrace and his father’s film capture a powerful story of reunion.

Vietnam War

Seawolves Veterans Reunite Through Lost War Films

A surprise phone call reunites two Vietnam War veterans, George Heady and Al Billings, with films of their service in the Navy Seawolves helicopter unit.

The U.S. military is now an all-volunteer force, but for most of the nation’s history, it relied on conscription to fill its ranks.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Vietnam War

Vietnam Dogfight at Midway

Vietnam Dogfight at Midway.

6:42m watch
Vietnam War

Bold Breakout from Vietnam POW Camp

A German American pilot, Dieter Dengler, uses survival skills honed as a child to escape a secret prison in Laos in the early years of the Vietnam war.

10:37m watch

The Chicago Seven (originally eight) were political radicals accused of conspiring to incite the riots that occurred at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. During the five-month trial, the prosecution stressed the defendants’ provocative...

The Vietnam War was a divisive conflict that pitted North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States.

Advertisement

It took 20 months for the war crime to come to light.

The Flying Ace symbolized hope and, ultimately, exasperation.

U.S. Army Women in Vietnam The great majority of the military women who served in Vietnam were nurses. All were volunteers, and they ranged from recent college graduates in their early 20s to seasoned career women in their 40s. Members of the Army Nurse...

Vietnam War

Women in the Vietnam War

Psychiatric nurse Elizabeth Allen volunteered for the Army and requested frontline duty in Vietnam.

3:11m watch
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement