In the Vietnam War -- which lasted
from the mid-1950s until 1975 -- the United States
and the southern-based Republic of Vietnam (RVN)
opposed the southern-based revolutionary movement
known as the Viet Cong and its sponsor, the Communist
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (the DRV, or North
Vietnam). The war was the second of two major
conflicts that spread throughout Indochina, with
Vietnam as its focal point (see Vietnam). The
First Indochina War was a struggle between Vietnamese
nationalists and the French colonial regime aided
by the United States. In the second war, the United
States replaced France as the major contender
against northern-based Communists and southern
insurgents. Communist victory in 1975 had profound
ramifications for the United States; it was not
only a setback to the containment of communism
in Asia but a shock to American self-confidence.
(1998 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia)
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