The Vietnam war was a long war that was forced between North and South Vietnam. In the past, Vietnam has been ruled by the Chinese and the French. The Vietnamese didn't want to be ruled, they wanted to become a independent country. In a world conference meeting ,that was held in Geneva, Switzerland, to figure out how to unify Vietnam and how to solve issues in Korea. In the conference, the decision was to split Vietnam into two, a communist North government and a french influenced South Viet. The North and South parts of Vietnam weren't strong, but the south was just weaker. After the retreating of troops and protection in South Viet, in 1956 the Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Cong (or North communist Viets) try to take over South Vietnam and force it's communist ideals on them. And here comes the U.S.! Again, the U.S. interferes because they feared the influence of communism spreading. In the end, the battle helped reunite Vietnam into one country.