Conflict episode
Vietnam War and the Fall of Saigon, 1955-1975
A second, longer conflict between North and South Vietnam, with United States military involvement from the early 1960s, ended with the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975.
What happened
Following the division of Vietnam, a second, longer conflict developed between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Viet Cong on one side and the Republic of Vietnam, backed from the early 1960s by increasing United States military involvement, on the other. Casualty estimates for the war vary substantially by source: United States military deaths are commonly put at approximately 58,220, while estimates of Vietnamese military and civilian deaths from the war range from roughly 966,000 to 3.8 million across different studies; this bundle reports that range as attributed to the cited estimates rather than adjudicating a single total.[1] The war ended when North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces captured Saigon on 30 April 1975.[2]
Sources for this page
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
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1.
Claim: Estimates of deaths in the Vietnam War (1955-1975) vary substantially by source: approximately 58,220 United States military deaths are documented, while estimates of Vietnamese military and civilian deaths from the war range from roughly 966,000 to 3.8 million across different studies. This range is reported as attributed to the cited estimates, not as an adjudicated total.
- Vietnam War casualties (Wikipedia) link, article text. Source record Consulted via a general-reference encyclopedia article summarising multiple scholarly and governmental estimates, not a single primary study.
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2.
Claim: The Vietnam War ended when North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces captured Saigon on 30 April 1975.
- Fall of Saigon (Wikipedia) link, article text. Source record Consulted via a general-reference encyclopedia article, not primary military records.