The 1954 Geneva Accords temporarily divided Vietnam into Communist-controlled North Vietnam and nationalist-controlled South Vietnam. Three years later South Vietnamese Communists, called Vietcong, began rebelling. To try to halt the spread of Communism, America sent military advisors to Vietnam. In 1964, Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which granted the President the power to escalate American military involvement. In 1965, massive bombing of North Vietnam began and the first U.S. combat troops arrived in Vietnam. Despite the escalation, the war became bogged down in a stalemate. The Tet offensive in 1968 stunned Americans as coordinated attacks by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese regulars swept South Vietnam. Opposition to the war strengthened and in 1973, the United States signed a peace agreement and began withdrawing its forces from Vietnam.
Deaths: 58,204
Wounds: 153,303
[Image caption] Rangers: Vietnam
[Map] "A Tragic Conflict in Southeast Asia"
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