America & Vietnam

Beginning in 1955, the Vietnam War was a long, expensive and divisive war that set up the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and in effect, its' ally, the United States. The war was worsened by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.  3 million people+  (including over 58,000 Americans) died in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians. The war caused major protest and unrest within the United States by citizens and Students for a Democratic Society. This unrest sparked a social movement for change that illuminated much of the 1960s-1970s.