The Vietnam Civil War (Vietnamese: Chiến tranh Việt Nam), also
known as the Second Indochina War,[56] and in Vietnam as the
Resistance War Against America (Vietnamese: Kháng chiến chá»'ng
Mỹ) or simply the American War, was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and
Cambodia from 1 November 1955[A 1] to the fall of Saigon on 30 April
1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially
fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was
supported by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies;
South Vietnam was supported by the United States, South Korea, the
Philippines, Australia, Thailand, and other anti-communist
allies.[57][58] The war, considered a Cold War-era proxy war by
some,[59] lasted 19 years, with direct U.S. involvement ending in
1973, and included the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War,
which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.The
conflict emerged from the First Indochina War against the
communist-led Viet Minh.[60][A 5] Most of the funding for the French
war effort was provided by the U.S.[61] After the French quit
Indochina in 1954, the US assumed financial and military support for
the South Vietnamese state. The Việt Cộng, also known as Front
national de libération du Sud-Viêt Nam or NLF (the National
Liberation Front), a South Vietnamese common front under the direction
of North Vietnam, initiated a guerrilla war in the south. North
Vietnam had also invaded Laos in the mid-1950s in support of
insurgents, establishing the Ho Chi Minh Trail to supply and reinforce
the Việt Cộng.[62]:16 U.S. involvement escalated under President
John F. Kennedy through the MAAG program from just under a thousand
military advisors in 1959 to 16,000 in 1963.[63][32]:131 By 1963, the
North Vietnamese had sent 40,000 soldiers to fight in South
Vietnam.[62]:16 North Vietnam was heavily backed by the USSR and the
People's Republic of China. China also sent hundreds of PLA servicemen
to North Vietnam to serve in air-defense and support
roles.[32]:371â€"4[64] Vietnam War Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter