The Vietnam War begins.
Date: 1955
The primary opponents in the Vietnam War are the Communist government of North Vietnam and South Vietnam, along the United States–South Vietnam's principal ally. The conflict takes place within the context of the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
More than three million people are killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead are Vietnamese civilians. For the U.S., the conflict is part of its global opposition to the spread of communism.
Opposition to the war in the United States bitterly divides Americans, even after President Richard Nixon orders the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973.