The Vietnam War Quiz

The Vietnam War started in 1954 when Northern forces invaded the South and ended more than two decades later when South Vietnam surrendered in 1975.

France maintained rule over Vietnam for decades until 1945, when Vietnam declared its independence and the pre-war unrest began.

The Geneva Accords, signed in July 1954, divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel and brought temporary peace to the region.

At the start of the war, North Vietnam was controlled by the communists, while the South was ruled by anti-communist leaders.

The Viet Cong was a group of guerilla forces in South Vietnam. By 1964, this group had more than 35,000 fighters in South Vietnam.

After North Vietnamese forces fired on a U.S. ship in the Gulf of Tonkin, Congress authorized full-scale U.S. intervention in Vietnam.

U.S. ground forces peaked in 1969 with more than 543,000 American troops fighting alongside South Vietnamese forces.

Although the U.S. presence in Vietnam started well before this point, the first actual combat troops, the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, were sent in 1965. Lyndon Johnson was president.

Ho Chi Minh is known for leading the North Vietnamese to victory during the war. Anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem ruled South Vietnam from 1955 through 1963.

The last American troops left Vietnam in March 1973. While the North and South kept right on fighting, American involvement in the war had ended for good.

The war ended when North Vietnamese forces seized control of Saigon in 1975, causing the South to surrender.

After the war, Vietnam became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, a unified, independent nation.

On January 31, 1968, the North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive. This event, named for the Lunar New Year, consisted of dozens of coordinated attacks on the South.

After the North seized control of Saigon, it renamed it after the famous communist leader.

Kim Phuc is the name of a young girl captured on film running naked in the streets after she was burned by napalm. Her photo remains one of the most iconic images of the war.

North Vietnam suffered heavy attack from the air during the War, but still managed to push on to victory.

McCain spent more than four years as a POW, where he was tortured regularly before eventually winning his freedom and going on to have a long career in U.S. politics.

Nixon announced a plan to draft 150,000 additional soldiers to send to Cambodia in hopes of cutting off supply chains to North Vietnam.

While Fonda did tour Hanoi in 1972, the rumors that she turned on potential POWs, leading to their deaths, is not supported by any actual evidence.

U.S. troops massacred 400 innocent Vietnamese civilians at My Lai, and only one soldier was ever convicted of a crime for his role in the event.

Nationals Guardsmen shot four student protesters at the Ohio college on May 4, 1970.

Around 3 million people died in Vietnam and roughly half of these were Vietnamese civilians.

A quarter of a million people protested the war on that date in 1969 — the largest anti-war protest in U.S. history.

Agent Orange was a powerful herbicide designed to kill trees and crops. More than 19 million gallons were sprayed over Vietnam between 1961 and 1972.

Oliver Stone won a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts for his efforts in Vietnam. He later went on to direct such films as "Born on the Fourth of July."

While around 1.8 million Americans were drafted into service in Vietnam, this pales in comparison to the 10 million men drafted during WWII.

On his second day in office, Jimmy Carter officially pardoned all Americans who avoided the draft or failed to register for service in the Vietnam War.

The U.S. spent $120 billion on the war. While WWII spending proved to be an economic boom, the Vietnam War was followed by inflation and an oil crisis.

It took $8.4 million in donations from private donors to create the famous D.C. monument.

An unknown student architect designed the famous monument after beating 1,400 other designers for the honor.