The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was the commonly used name for the Second Indochina War. It started in 1954 and ended in 1973. More than 3 million people, including 58,000 Americans were killed in the war. Before the war began, the Vietnam War was the longest war. U.S. policy at the time was the domino theory, which believed that the “fall” of North Vietnam to Communism might trigger all of Southeast Asia to fall, setting off a sort of Communist chain reaction. The U.S. did not want that to happen and decided to get involved in the war to stop the possible Communist spread.