7 THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR

Jem Duducu shares facts about the era-defining conflict in which the US attempted to halt the spread of communism in southeast Asia

- Jem Duducu

1 THE VIETNAM WAR ISN'T CALLED THAT IN VIETNAM

The name itself shows a non-native understanding of the conflict. Instead, the two decades of fighting in Vietnam, from 1954 to 1975, are called "the American War". The Vietnamese made the assumption that the foreign forces who fought in that war were all Americans, but they were not: large numbers of Thais, South Koreans and Australians, to name but a few, fought on the side of South Vietnam.

2 THE CONFLICT HAD ROOTS IN 19TH-CENTURY FRENCH IMPERIALISM

In 1858, Tourane (modern Da Nang) was attacked and captured by the French admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly. After leaving a small garrison in place to hold the city, he then journeyed south and captured Saigon (today's Ho Chi Minh City) in early 1859.

This started a century of French occupation, and most of the southeast Asian peninsula (including Vietnam) was renamed French Indochina. The indigenous population was never completely cowed, so rebellions and guerrilla attacks were regular occurrences. The Vietnamese rebels used the dense jungles and mountainous terrains to their advantage in order to attack French forces and escape detection.

During World War II the region came under the control of pro-Axis Vichy forces and Japan, so the Americans armed and trained local forces to fight against them. After the war France tried to reclaim the area, but the better-trained and better-equipped guerrillas defeated France once and for all at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

3 THE VIETNAM WAR DIDN'T ONLY TAKE PLACE IN VIETNAM