The Vietnam War: The Cold War’s War (1955-1975)

The Vietnam war, which started two years after the Korean war ended in 1955, with the abandonment of the French in 1954, making Vietnam another country ripe for the taking by either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. And it was essentially the Korean war all over again. It was the northern, communist backed Vietnamese versus the southern Vietnamese, support the the U.S. Each side still used conventional weaponry. New weaponry was also introduced, like inclusion of the helicopter for tactical maneuvers, and napalm, an explosive known for its intense heat and used to burn down large sections of jungle where the enemy was hiding. With both sides knowing the amount of missiles stockpiled by their respective enemy was enormous, nuclear war was out of the question.
    The Vietnamese war lasted 20 years until 1975, when unpopularity of the war from the U.S. citizens grew, and tensions from the cold war lessened. The Vietnamese war was, and I know I’m putting this in an offensive way (I’m not trying to!) a side show to the back and forth that was the Cold War between the Soviets and the U.S. It was like the Vietnam war was a way for each side to release their own aggression. Maybe the Vietnam war was a good thing and that if we didn’t have it, something completely different could have happened elsewhere that would've lead to nuclear doom.