Vietnam

After years of futile efforts to maintain a colonial presence in Viet Nam, the French finally got a tremedous butt-whupping at Dien Bien Phu, I think it was. After being thoroughly trounced by the Vietnamese forces, France finally gave up and went home. This prolonged a centuries-old tradition of the French military being repeatedly clobbered by virtually every enemy they ever fought. Come to think of it, probably the best known French warrior today is a teenage girl. Joan of Arc, they called her.Anyway, France was forced to yield the economic benefits of keeping Vietnam hostage to French economics. So, being totally oblivious of history, and the resolve of the Vietnamese forces, the US sent a few Green Berets to help out as consultants. Thus began the descent into the quagmire of war that the United States became enmeshed in. By the way, I have it on good authority that the rumor that graduates of French Army officer's training are NOT actually issued white flags, with instructions. They must provide their own.

Tonkin - in Vietnam Annam - in Vietnam Cochinchina - in Vietnam Cambodia Laos

French troops landed in Vietnam in 1858. By the 1880's the French had a strong hold over the territories of Vietnam.

Vietnamese is the proper adjective for Vietnam.

Next to Great Britain, France had the largest overseas colony empire. This included what is now Vietnam. By 1955, France saw its grip beginning to slip and anti-French sentiment rose. The dissent resulted in two Vietnams. North & South, one was communist the other a shell of a free government.

yes there is a desert in vietnam. it is in Mui Ne
No. The closest might be some plains areas. Wide open flat places, like large meadows. But vegetation was the character of South Vietnam; the place wasn't necessarily wet everywhere either, there were places that were dry and dusty but heavily forested. This is true

Saigon, the capital of the Republic of South Vietnam was taken over by communism of North Vietnam. More than half a million of Vietnamese people have left the country by boats or by anything that is possible. More than 10 thousand Vietnamese boat people were lost at sea or died. Others became slaves under the hand of pirates. Thousands of Vietnamese civilians in Vietnam were under the hand of Viet Cong government and other became of slaves of communism in communist prisons. After the Vietnam war, Saigon was re-named Ho Chi Minh City.

The dense jungles that encompass most of Vietnam inhibits the mobility of a mechanized force like that of America and the South Vietnamese. They were forced to fight literally in the Vietcong's backyard, which of course was well known by its defenders. Also, the use of ambush and guerrilla tactics are amplified in this terrain, enabling concealment and ease of mobility on foot.

The Tet Offensive (1968) was a military failure for the NVA, but a political success for North Vietnam. The reason is because up to the Tet Offensive, the US Presidential Administration had been proclaiming that the Communists were weak, under-supplied, disorganized, and low in morale. The Tet Offensive completely proved them wrong, you have a near-simultaneous uprising against US and South Vietnamese targets (military barracks, airfields, administration units, even the US embassy in Saigon was overrun and in North Vietnamese hands for a few hours).

While all the NVA/Viet Cong attackers in each case were eventually killed, taken prisoner, or driven off, the incident shook not only the credibility of the US Administration, but also proved to the world that the NVA and Viet Cong still had lots of fight left. Two years later, the Nixon administration decided to start the gradual withdrawal of American troops, eventually the South Vietnamese ARVN (Army, Republic of Vietnam) was unable to withstand the onslaught of NVA and Viet Cong attacks. The war ended in April 1975 with the NVA marching into Saigon and the last helicopter lifting off the roof of the American Embassy.

Approximately 120 US airmen scored aerial victories over North Vietnamese airmen during the war. USN Cunningham & USAF Ritchie earned "Ace" status while flying the F-4 Phantom II's; our last "Ace's" of the 20th Century. Approximately 20 USN F-8 Crusader pilots (see History Channel/Dog-Fights Series: The Last Gunfighter) scored aerial victories against NVAF MiGs. For a fairly accurate list of US Airmen scoring victories against NVAF MiGs see website: US Air to Air Victories in the Vietnam War; Books: "Clashes: Air Combat Over North Vietnam 1965-1972", by Marshall L. Mitchell III (1997); "North American F-100 Supersabre", by David Anderton (Osprey Books 1987)...this book contains information about USAF CPT Donald Kilgus, whom might be the first US Airman to have scored the first US dog-fight victory over a NVAF MIG-17 on 04 April 1965; while flying his F-100 Supersabre. "Journey Into Darkness", by LTC Philip Smith is the only aerial combat account of a USAF F-104 Starfighter in combat, a brief one or two chapter on a Starfighter being engaged by a Red Chinese MIG-19 (J-6 version) when his F-104 strayed to too close to the border while on a mission over North Vietnam. He was released from a Red Chinese prison, after President Nixon's "secret" agenda visit to Red China in 1972.

There were some "civilian" single shot (single barrel) shotguns in South Vietnam...probably brought over by some early US servicemen. In the meantime, the standard pump 12 gauge US military shotgun has always been the Winchester Model 1897 pump shotgun. This model is easily identified as it has an exposed hammer at the receiver end; and companies don't make exposed hammers on rifles and shotguns anymore (unless they are replicas of something). The Remington pump transitioned thru the inventory during the war, and shortly after the war, came the Mossberg.

cars if the road is short and planes if you are going long distances

China dominated Vietnam for a thousand years in what is called the Pre-Dynastic era. A link is provided to the Wikipedia article on Vietnam. Note that all content on that article may not be accessed from Vietnam or China. Which nation was not occupied by the United States? Brazil

The "silent majority" were a group of American people that were supposed to support the USA in the Vietnam War, as compared to a large amount of vocal demonstrators that were protesting the war. After many years of fighting in Vietnam and seeing no end in sight, the vast majority of Americans wanted it to end, and for the the USA to leave the quagmire. Which they did in 1973, and South Vietnam fell to the communists in 1975.

Now, I assume you mean why the Japanese were angry at the Americans during World War II? If so, it was because, at the turn of the 20th century, the Japanese faced rapid modernization and militarization. They had goals of conquering colonies to have a large empire like what the Western world was doing. Because Japan is an island nation, its resources are limited. Prior to WWII, the Japanese needed sufficient fuel for their warships, planes, and transportation, as well as oil and steel. To solve this problem, the Japanese wanted to attack the United States in order to acquire ample resources. This eventually led to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entering WWII.

The media at the time referred to them as "boat people" since they arrived by ships and boats. "Ship People" just didn't come out right.

The 17th parallel division between North and South Vietnam was the result of a Chinese proposal at the Geneva Conference of 1954 which ended the French war in Vietnam. China did not want a strong, unified Vietnam on its southern border and easily convinced the great powers to go along with their proposal. Ho Chi Minh was dependent on Chinese aid and had to go along. Elections were scheduled for 1956, but South Vietnam, which did not sign the Geneva Accord, refused to participate.

HO CHI MINH was the leader of the Viet Minh Resistance to the French Colonizers.

The Tet offensive did occur in 1968.In January of 1968, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong attack various cities in South Vietnam. American and South Vietnamese troops repelled the attack, but they also suffered heavy losses. This conflict lasted for a few months during 1968.

In Vietnam, it's an annual new years celebration taking place in January.

The Vietnamese royal familys last name is Nguyen.

No, it isn't. Ha Noi is the capital of Vietnam.

China

Saigon was the capital of the Republic of Vietnam, or "South Vietnam." It is now Ho Chi Minh City. Hanoi was the capital of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, or "North Vietnam." It is now the capital of the whole nation.

During the cold war the US would support "almost" anyone that resisted communism.