The Vietnam War a brief history

The country of Vietnam was split between the communist north and the anticommunist south and in 1956 the south refused to participate in unification attempts. In 1958 the United States began sending military assistance to Southern Vietnam. By 1968 there were 536,000 Americans in Vietnam which turned many at home against the war.  Richard Nixon withdrew troops from Southern Vietnam to let them fight their own war, which Nixon called Vietnamization (possibly the stupidest name on the planet). He destroyed a communist supply base in Cambodia which violated Cambodia’s neutrality and provoked anti-war protests in the United States. The war stretched on from 1958 through 1973 when the United States withdrew completely. And the 15 years we had troops over there obviously worked really well because in 1975 Southern Vietnam surrendered to the North. So we definitely didn’t waste 15 years making absolutely no progress, that definitely is not what happened…at all.

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/vietnam/vietnamwar.htm

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/vietnam/index.cfm