Vietnam War

            Vietnam is a small country in Southeast Asia. The Vietnam War was the longest war in which .
             The war began in 1957 and ended in 1975. At that time, Vietnam .
             was separated into Communist-ruled North Vietnam and noncommunist South Vietnam. .
             North Vietnam wanted to end U.S. support of South Vietnam and to unite the north and south .
             into a single nation. The United States and the South Vietnamese army tried to stop them. The .
             Vietnam War was a second phase of fighting in Vietnam.When the Japanese surrendered to the .
             Allies after the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945, the .
             Vietminh was in a good position to take over the control of the country.In September, 1945, .
             Ho Chi Minh announced the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Unknown to the .
             Vietminh Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin had already decided what .
             would happen to post-war Vietnam at a summit-meeting at Potsdam. They had agreed that the .
             country would be divided into two, the northern half under the control of the Chinese and the .
             southern half under the British.
             After the Second World War France attempted to re-establish control over Vietnam. In January .
             1946, Britain agreed to remove her troops and later that year, China left Vietnam in exchange for .
             a promise from France that she would give up her rights to territory in China. Emperor Bao Dai .
             went into exile in Hong Kong in March, 1946. After signing an accord recognising Vietnamese .
             national unity within the French Union, he was allowed to return in June, 1948. The following year .
             the French installed Bao Dai as Head of State. .
             France refused to recognise the Democratic Republic of Vietnam that had been declared by Ho .
             Chi Minh and fighting soon broke out between the Vietminh and the French troops. At first, the .
             Vietminh under General Vo Nguyen Giap, had great difficulty in coping with the better trained .
             and equipped French forces.