The war officially began after the USS Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese boats in the area of the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964. One year later, President Johnson launched a three-year Operation Rolling Thunder involving the continuous bombing of various North Vietnam targets.
In 1965, more than 200 Americans were killed during the Battle of la Drang Valley, the first large-scale battle of the Vietnam War. In 1966, the number of American troops in Vietnam reached more than 400,000. In 1968, the North Vietnamese began the Tet Offensive, which involved attacking numerous cities across South Vietnam, Saigon and the U.S. Embassy invaded.
The Tet Offensive became the turning point for the defeat of the United States in the Vietnam War. Over the next years, the U.S. continued to suffer losses and unsuccessful attacks. Eventually, President Nixon signed the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, which ended the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
- The United States’ Loss in the Vietnam War
- America’s Vietnam War and Its French Connection
- Effects of the Vietnam War
- The Vietnam War From 1955 to 1975
- The Vietnam War and the United States Involvement
- American Experience of the Vietnam War
- Vietnam War and Iraq War: US Involvement in the War
- Vietnam War – American Experience Since 1945