Who won the Vietnam War?

What were the major battles of the Vietnam War?

As to be expected, there was no shortage of conflict during a war filled with guerrilla tactics. However, there were a few key battles and operations that influenced changes in warfare and ultimately led to the North's victory. This list of key battles starts with conflict between the France and Vietnam and ends with what became known as the fall of Saigon.

What led to the Vietnam War?

On the heels of gaining independence from colonizers, why did Vietnam fracture and begin its internal battle? Though the war took root during an independence movement against French colonial rule, it evolved into a Cold War confrontation with international support. This article explains six events that led to the conflict between North and South Vietnam.

More than 58,000 American soldiers died in the Vietnam War

Fought to contain communism in Southeast Asia, the Vietnam War became one of the most costly and controversial Cold War conflicts. The US ultimately withdrew in 1973, and South Vietnam fell to communist forces two years later.

Everything you wanted to know about the war in Vietnam

Still have questions about the war? Imagine the answers you'd get if could direct all those questions to a historian who specializes in this. Enter: Historian Mark Atwood Lawrence. Lawrence spends over an hour in this podcast answering audience questions about the Vietnam War.

Tour this virtual museum of important events and letters from the Vietnam War

The Vietnam War lasted about 20 years, killed millions, and ended with half of a divided country engulfing the other. What else do you know about it? Learn more in this virtual exhibit, which includes videos, text blurbs, and audio clips; covers important events from the war; and features handwritten letters from those involved.

The controversy behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

It's now a standard stop for tourists visiting Washington, DC, but before it was built the Vietnam Veterans Memorial triggered an internecine battle between the war's veterans, some of whom believed the planned memorial was offensive. This short documentary recounts the controversy and the ultimate triumph of the memorial, which helped change the country's impression of the war and its soldiers.

How a 2025 Netflix documentary reveals the contested view of the Vietnam War

Brian Knappenberger created a five-part, seven-hour documentary on the war released on the streamer in 2025, the latest in a tradition of hundreds of documentaries covering the event. Expert Thomas Bass, the author of the essay, was invited to be interviewed for the documentary, arguing the conflict's origins are the most crucial aspects to understand. In turn, Bass interviewed Knappenberger—whose father fought in the war—on the Netflix production. Their discussion revealed how streamers mediate historical understanding to a generation that does not have a consensus on what the Vietnam War was.

The US never formally declared war in Vietnam

Instead of formally declaring war, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, granting President Johnson broad authority to use military force. The resolution became the legal basis for escalating US involvement without an official declaration of war.

How the Vietnam War changed rock 'n' roll

This short video essay analyzes how rock music responded to US involvement in Vietnam, from the protest folk of Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan to the popularity of rock and soul records with soldiers stationed abroad.

What happened to the Vietnamese refugees who wanted to return home?

Not all who fled Vietnam at the end of the war wanted to be resettled in the US. But those who returned faced an unwelcoming government. This article follows one man's attempt to reunite with his family.

Being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize is easy—winning one is not

Hundreds of people are nominated yearly, including controversial figures like Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, since nominations can come from professors or politicians worldwide. Le Duc Tho refused the 1973 prize jointly awarded to him and Henry Kissinger, citing ongoing conflict in Vietnam.

The US won every major battle of the Mexican-American War

Despite being outnumbered in key engagements, US forces defeated Mexican armies across every major front. Superior training, leadership, and logistics allowed the US to win decisively—capturing Mexico City without losing a single major battle.

War-making authority is divided between Congress and the president in the Constitution

Article I grants Congress the power to declare war and fund the military, while Article II makes the president commander in chief. However, the Constitution does not clearly delineate where one authority ends and the other begins, creating a tension that has never been fully resolved.

The 1969 moon landing was a defining Cold War victory for the US

When Apollo 11 astronauts stepped onto the moon in July 1969, it marked a dramatic win in the US-Soviet space race. The televised landing—broadcast across the globe—showcased American technological supremacy.

The Nixon administration tried and failed to stop the press from publishing the Pentagon Papers

In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled against the government's attempt to block The New York Times and The Washington Post from publishing classified documents on the Vietnam War, delivering a landmark victory for press freedom.

Was the Civil War really about states' rights?

The Civil War was fought over slavery, and Confederate leaders and supporters admitted as much in the build-up to the war and after. But later on, after the South's defeat, the lie of the Lost Cause was pushed—and it persists to this day. This four-minute video details the story of the Lost Cause, "state's rights", Confederate monuments, and the machinations behind them.

The Union victory at Gettysburg marked a major turning point in the war

Fought July 1-3, 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg ended the Confederate invasion of the North. While the Union lost nearly 23,000 troops, its victory in one of America's most famous battles shifted the war's momentum decisively toward the North.

What would you have done on Armistice Day?

Armistice Day (now known as Veteran's Day in the United States), November 11, 1918, marked the end of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I. This collection of interactive videos and recordings of United Kingdom residents who fought in the war or supported those who did provides perspective on how individuals experienced that great day for themselves.

In a 2012 poll, Brits named Washington as the kingdom's greatest military enemy

The poll by the UK's National Army Museum ranked Washington above Irish independence hero Michael Collins, France's Napoleon Bonaparte, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

270 electoral votes decide the presidency

A presidential candidate is declared the winner once they reach 270 of the Electoral College’s 538 votes. This interactive map from 270 to win shows how winning individual states shifts the path to victory on election night.

The Flying Tigers: American fighter pilots who fought for China in WWII

Read the story of the Flying Tigers, a unit of American pilots, many Chinese-Americans, hired by the Chinese in 1941 to fight the Japanese in the skies. While the US wasn't officially at war with Japan until later on, some of the earliest American "victories" over the Japanese were won by the Flying Tigers. Read more of this amazing bit of aviation history here.

Wikipedia edit wars often reflect a strong commitment to accuracy between editors

Battles over grammar and capitalization, names and nationalities, and British versus American spellings of words have taken place due to the collaborative editing nature of the site. The most seemingly trivial debates are catalogued on the site's "Lamest edit wars" page.

Was WWI really the first world war?

Was World War I the first true international conflict? This article thoroughly explores the meaning of the term world war. It also suggests a few previous conflicts, some of which involved battles in the Americas as well as Europe, that might have been more accurately described as a "world wars."

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

The world rapidly decolonized after World War II

After WWII, weakened European powers faced mounting resistance from colonized peoples. Between 1945 and 1980, dozens of nations across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East gained independence.

How to win a negotiation

Chris Voss, former FBI hostage chief, explains how logic and argument rarely convince someone; instead, he claims emotional intelligence is the most important factor. Watch this brief video where the expert lays out the three most important skills...

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

An Ebola vaccine was developed during the 2018 west African Ebola outbreak, but the 2026 Ebola outbreak is with a different species of the virus, not the one that the vaccine is approved to treat.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

Volcanoes 'die' when their supply of magma runs out, if they are shifted away from their underlying magma reservoir, or if they get clogged by collapsing or their magma cooling back into rock.

Brian Wilson wrote the Beach Boys' 'Don't Worry Baby' for the Ronettes, but the legendary girl group rejected it.