Vietnam War Chiến tranh Việt Nam (Vietnamese) Part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War Clockwise, from top left: U.S. combat operations in Ia Đrăng, ARVN Rangers defending Saigon during the 1968 Tết Offensive, two A-4C Skyhawks after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, ARVN recapture Quảng Trị during the 1972 Easter Offensive, civilians fleeing the 1972 Battle of Quảng Trị, and burial of 300 victims of the 1968 Huế Massacre. Date 1 November 1955 -- 30 April 1975 (1975 - 04 - 30) (19 years, 5 months, 4 weeks and 1 day) Location South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand Result North Vietnamese victory Withdrawal of U.S. forces Expulsion of U.S. civilian / military staff from Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam Communist forces take power in South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos Reunification of Vietnam Start of the Cambodian -- Vietnamese War Start of the boat people crisis and Indochina refugee crisis Territorial changes Reunification of North and South Vietnam into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Belligerents South Vietnam United States South Korea Khmer Republic Kingdom of Laos Kingdom of Cambodia (1967 -- 1970) Thailand Australia Philippines New Zealand Military support: Taiwan Other support (show) Brazil Iran Japan Spain Malaysia West Germany United Kingdom North Vietnam Viet Cong and PRG North Korea Cambodia Government - in - Exile Khmer Rouge China Pathet Lao Military support: Soviet Union Cuba Czechoslovakia East Germany Poland Other support (show) Bulgaria Hungary Romania Sweden Commanders and leaders Ngô Đình Diệm † Ngô Đình Nhu † Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Cao Văn Viên Ngô Quang Trưởng Dương Văn Minh Trần Văn Hương Nguyễn Khánh Trần Thiện Khiêm Nguyễn Văn Hiếu † Đỗ Cao Trí † Nguyễn Chánh Thi Lê Minh Đảo John F. Kennedy † Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Robert McNamara William Westmoreland Creighton Abrams Frederick C. Weyand Paul D. Harkins Lon Nol Sisowath Sirik Matak Vang Pao Souvanna Phouma Phoumi Nosavan... and others Hồ Chí Minh † Lê Duẩn Võ Nguyên Giáp Lê Đức Thọ Phạm Văn Đồng Trường Chinh Tôn Đức Thắng Văn Tiến Dũng Nguyễn Hữu An Huỳnh Tấn Phát Nguyễn Hữu Thọ Hoàng Văn Thái Nguyễn Chí Thanh † Trần Văn Trà Nguyễn Văn Linh Lê Trọng Tấn Lê Đức Anh M Nguyễn Thị Định Võ Chí Công M Nguyễn Thị Bình Võ Văn Kiệt Souphanouvong Kaysone Phomvihane Phoumi Vongvichit Norodom Sihanouk Pol Pot Khieu Samphan... and others Strength ≈ 1,420,000 (1968) South Vietnam: 850,000 (1968) 1,500,000 (1974 -- 75) United States: 543,000 (April 1969) South Korea: 50,003 Laos 72,000 Royal Army and Hmong Cambodia 200,000 (1973) Thailand: 32,000 in Vietnam and Laos Australia: 7,672 Philippines: 2,061 New Zealand: 552 ≈ 860,000 (1967) North Vietnam: 690,000 (January 1967, included NVA and Việt Cộng) Việt Cộng: 200,000 (estimated, 1968) China: 170,000 (1967) GRUNK: 70,000 (1972) Pathet Lao: 48,000 (1960) North Korea: 200 Casualties and losses South Vietnam 195,000 -- 430,000 civilian dead 254,256 -- 313,000 military dead 1,170,000 wounded United States 58,318 dead; 303,644 wounded (including 150,341 not requiring hospital care) Laos 15,000 dead Cambodia Unknown South Korea 5,099 dead; 10,962 wounded; 4 missing Australia 521 dead; 3,129 wounded Thailand 351 dead New Zealand 37 dead Taiwan 25 dead Philippines 9 dead; 64 wounded Total military dead: 333,620 -- 392,364 Total wounded: ≈ 1,340,000 + (excluding FARK and FANK) North Vietnam & Việt Cộng 65,000 -- 182,000 civilian dead 849,018 military dead (per Vietnam; 1 / 3 non-combat deaths) 666,000 -- 950,765 dead (per US; 1964 -- 74) 600,000 + wounded China ≈ 1,100 dead and 4,200 wounded North Korea 14 dead Soviet Union 16 dead Total military dead: ≈ 667,130 -- 951,895 Total military wounded: ≈ 604,200 (excluding GRUNK and Pathet Lao) Vietnamese civilian dead: 627,000 -- 2,000,000 Vietnamese total dead: 966,000 -- 3,812,000 Cambodian Civil War dead: 275,000 -- 310,000 Laotian Civil War dead: 20,000 -- 62,000 Non-Indochinese military dead: 65,494 Total dead: 1,326,494 -- 4,249,494 For more information see Vietnam War casualties and Aircraft losses of the Vietnam War Upper figure initial estimate, later thought to be inflated by at least 30 % (lower figure), possibly includes civilians misidentified as combatants, see body count
when did the vietnam war begin and when did it end
1 November 1955 -- 30 April 1975