✓ WikipediaPower & Policy
The Vietnam War was a civil war, proxy war and war of liberation at once
The Vietnam War combined a civil war, a Cold War proxy fight, and a postcolonial war of liberation in a single conflict.
The Vietnam War was fought across Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia between North and South Vietnam and their backers. The Soviet Union and China supported the North, while the United States and other anti-communist nations supported the South.
It was the second of the Indochina wars and a Cold War proxy contest between Moscow and Washington. Historians describe it simultaneously as a postcolonial war of national liberation, a Cold War theatre, and a civil war marked by internal fighting from the very beginning.
Why it mattersUnderstanding the war's layered nature explains why it was so difficult to end and so contested in memory.
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