The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, spanned from November 1, 1955, to April 30, 1975, and took place in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The conflict was officially between North and South Vietnam and was part of the broader Indochina Wars. North Vietnam received support from the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies, while the US, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Thailand, and other anti-communist nations backed South Vietnam. Lasting over two decades, the war has been characterized by some as a Cold War-era proxy war. It included not only the battle in Vietnam but also the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War, leading to all three countries becoming communist states by 1975.
The roots of the conflict can be traced back to the First Indochina War, which involved the French colonial administration against the Viet Minh, a left-wing revolutionary force. After the French forces' departure from Indochina in 1954, the United States assumed financial and military support for the South Vietnamese government. The Viet Cong (VC), also known as the National Liberation Front (NLF), emerged in South Vietnam as a common front and began a guerrilla campaign, with guidance from North Vietnam. North Vietnam invaded Laos in the mid-1950s to support the insurgents and constructed the Ho Chi Minh Trail for supplying and reinforcing the Viet Cong. Under President John F. Kennedy's Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) program, US involvement escalated from fewer than a thousand military advisors in 1959 to 23,000 in 1964. By 1963, North Vietnam had sent 40,000 troops to fight in South Vietnam.
