Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

attacked by night. The North Vietnamese

army trained and supported the Viet

Cong. Communist fighters from the

north later joined the fighting themselves.

The United States supported Diem

because U.S. leaders hated Communism.

U.S. military advisers trained the

South Vietnamese army. Nevertheless,

the Viet Cong seized control of much of

South Vietnam in the early 1960s.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is in Washington,

D.C. It includes a wall with the

names of U.S. soldiers who died or were

missing because of the Vietnam War.

86 Vietnam War BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

Meanwhile Diem was losing support

among the South Vietnamese people.

One reason was his harsh treatment of

followers of the Buddhist religion. Most

Vietnamese were Buddhist, but Diem

was a Roman Catholic. Diem imprisoned

and killed hundreds of Buddhists.

More and more people turned against

him. In 1963 members of the South

Vietnamese army murdered Diem. A

group of army officers took over the

government.

More U.S. Troops Arrive

The United States continued to help

South Vietnam. In August 1964 the

North Vietnamese attacked a U.S. warship

in a waterway called the Gulf of

Tonkin. Afterward the U.S. Congress

gave President Lyndon B. Johnson the

power to expand the U.S. role in the

VietnamWar.

By 1968 the United States had more

than 500,000 troops in Vietnam. Small

units from South Korea, Australia, New

Zealand, Thailand, and the Philippines

also helped the South Vietnamese. The

Communist governments of the Soviet

Union and China supported North

Vietnam and the Viet Cong.

U.S. warplanes dropped bombs on highways

and bridges in North Vietnam.

The United States also bombed the Ho

Chi Minh Trail, a Viet Cong supply

road in Laos and Cambodia. Soon U.S.

bombers were striking Hanoi and other

North Vietnamese cities.

In February 1968, during a Vietnamese

holiday called Tet, the Communists

attacked about 30 cities in South Vietnam.

The Viet Cong suffered heavy

losses in these battles. But many U.S.

soldiers died, too. Some people in the

United States started to think that the

war could not be won. Other people

protested the war.

U.S. Troops Leave Vietnam

In 1968 President Johnson gradually

ended the bombing of North Vietnam.

Peace talks began. In 1969 Richard M.

Nixon became president. Nixon began

U.S. Marines wade through a marsh during

the Vietnam War.

People march in New York City in 1968 to

protest the Vietnam War. Many Americans

were against the war. They participated in

protests and demonstrations.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Vietnam War 87

 

to remove U.S. troops from Vietnam.

But he also started bombing North Vietnam

again, and he expanded the war to

neighboring countries. U.S. and South

Vietnamese troops attacked North Vietnamese

and Viet Cong hiding places in

Cambodia and Laos.

In January 1973 North and South Vietnam,

the Viet Cong, and the United

States signed an agreement to stop fighting.

The United States then removed

almost all its troops from Vietnam. But

the war did not end. The United States

continued to give money and equipment

to South Vietnam.

TheWar Ends

In August 1974 the United States cut

back its military aid to the south. The

South Vietnamese army fell apart

quickly after that. In 1975 the North

Vietnamese launched a massive invasion

of South Vietnam. North Vietnamese

troops entered Saigon, the capital of

South Vietnam, on April 30, 1975. The

war was over, and the Communists had

won. Thousands of South Vietnamese

people fled the country.

In 1976 the Communists combined

North and South Vietnam into one

country, called Vietnam. They made

Hanoi the capital. They renamed Saigon

as Ho Chi Minh City in honor of Ho,

who had died in 1969.

#More to explore

Communism • Ho Chi Minh

• Johnson, Lyndon B. • Nixon, Richard

M. • Vietnam

Vikings

The Vikings, who are also called Norsemen

or Northmen, were warriors from

northern Europe. They sailed the seas

from the late 700s to the 1000s. They

attacked many countries and took away

much treasure. Their northern European

neighbors gave them the name of

Viking, which means “pirate.”

People

The homeland of the Vikings was in the

region that is now called Scandinavia.

The region now contains the modern

countries of Denmark, Norway, and

Sweden. Vikings also settled peacefully

on Iceland, Greenland, and other islands

in the North Atlantic Ocean. At home

the Vikings were farmers. They belonged

to clans, or large families, and were ruled

by chiefs.

The U.S. government

sometimes

used the

term Vietnam

Conflict

instead of

Vietnam War

because the

United States

never officially

declared war.

A picture from a handwritten

book shows the Vikings in their

ships. They are preparing to

attack the island of Great Britain.

88 Vikings BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

The Vikings were good sailors. They

sailed in ships called longships. Rowers

and sails moved the longships across the

seas. In about 1000 a Viking named Leif

Eriksson sailed all the way to North

America.

The Vikings also were fierce warriors.

The gods they worshipped were warriors,

too. Their chief god was called

Odin. Odin ruled over a warrior heaven

called Valhalla.

The Vikings buried their chiefs with the