1. to commit genocide
   to unify the country under communism
2. to steal the South's rice supplies

The North hoped to unify the fractured country under communism. Leaders wanted a system similar to China and the USSR.

1. Cubans
   Soviets
2. French

In 1954, North Vietnam finally expelled French colonial forces. But the U.S., fearing too many Soviet and Chinese influences in the area, stepped into gird South Vietnam's forces.

1. fascist
   democratic
2. communist

As communism took hold in the North, the South was driven by a (mostly) democratic-style government. It was a situation that could not stand, and America wanted to be sure that the democratic side won.

1. It sent six aircraft carriers.
   It sent atomic bombs.
2. It sent advisers.

The U.S. didn't immediately want to jump into the war with troops. Instead, it started by sending thousands of advisers, who showed the South's troops how to use high-powered American weapons.

1. U.S. supply lines in the jungles
   carpet-bombing strategy
2. the spread of communism

U.S. leaders feared that if South Vietnam became communist, the result would be a "domino effect" in which other parts of Southeast Asia also fell to communism. Officials committed that stopping that from happening.

1. about 809,000
   about 1.3 million
2. about 8.7 million

Fought a generation after WWII, Vietnam's troop activation rates may have seemed rather trivial. But the reality is that 8.7 million personnel contributed the the war effort.

1. about 231,000
   about 533,000
2. about 4.3 million

Of the 8.7 million Americans in uniform, it was a coin flip as to whether you'd be sent to Southeast Asia. And many of those were shipped overseas didn't come back.

1. North Vietnamese boats fired on U.S. ships.
   South Vietnam invaded the North's airspace.
2. American troops infiltrated Cambodia.

In August 1964, two North Vietnamese torpedo boats fired at U.S. Navy ships in what's called the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The event -- which may have been fabricated -- gave the U.S. cause to escalate its presence in the war.

1. 1965
   1969
2. 1973

After years of waffling on the matter, in 1965, U.S. leaders finally committed to full-scale troop deployments in Vietnam. They didn't know then how slippery that slope would become.

1. USSR
   China
2. all of the above

China and the USSR, both bastions of communism, heaped supplies and weapons on the North Vietnamese to help them win the war. It's no wonder, then, that America felt so threatened by the events unfolding there.

1. more than 47,000
   about 140,000
2. roughly 321,000

Compared to WWII, casualties were significantly lower in Vietnam. But during this long slog, more than 47,000 troops were killed by the enemy.

1. perhaps 225,000
   about 90,000
2. about 21,000

The Americans lost roughly 50,000 men in combat. The South Vietnamese, on the other hand lost perhaps 225,000 … and perhaps far more.

1. Saigon
   Hanoi
2. Beijing

Hanoi was the capital of North Vietnam. The South's capital was Saigon. In both cities, leaders relentlessly plotted to try and end the war as quickly as possible.

1. far fewer
   about the same
2. far more

It seems impossible, but it's true. The U.S. dropped more bombs on North Vietnam that it did on all of its enemies in WWII … combined. It's no wonder the country was so devastated after the war.

1. to defoliate North Vietnam
   to spy on the North's leaders
2. to shorten American supply lines

American planes sprayed tons of a chemical called Agent Orange on North Vietnam in order to defoliate the country's thick jungles (and to damage crops). It worked to some degree, but it also left many people on both sides with terrible side effects.

1. about 83,000
   about 155,000
2. about 490,000

About 155,000 American troops were wounded. Some by bullets and bombs, others by terrifying booby traps that have become so closely associated with this brutal fight.

1. USSR adviser
   South Vietnamese president
2. North Vietnamese leader

Ho Chi Minh was a clever commander and politican in North Vietnam. He controlled the Vietnamese Communist Party and found ways to make life much, much harder for the South's army.

1. John McCain
   Ho Chi Mihn
2. John Kennedy

John Kennedy called South Vietnam "the cornerstone of the free world in Southeast Asia." There was little doubt that America would invest heavily in the fight … but how much was too much?

1. to create bomb-proof bunkers
   to protect rural areas from Northern troops
2. to increase crop production

The South's Strategic Hamlet Program uprooted many rural people and corralled them into protected hamlets, with the idea being that this would shield them from the bullets (and influence) of Northern invaders. But the program was a massive failure thanks to resentment caused by relocation and the fact few people could tell which people needed protection and which people were infiltrators.

1. about 231,000
   about 560,000
2. about 4 million

When you combine fatalities from the North and South, the cost to civilians was high. About 4 million innocents were killed in the war.

1. artillery fire
   small arms fire
2. many of their own helicopters

In the early war, many North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops were terrified by the power of American helicopters. But they soon realized that concentrated small arms fire could blast the gunships out of the skies.

1. It used heavy American weapons.
   It had never fought before.
2. Its troops wanted to be communists.

The South's Army of the Republic of Vietnam relied on American weapons (many from WWII) for the war. But many of those weapons and vehicles were way too heavy for the mobile style of fighting of Vietnam.

1. President Kennedy
   President Johnson
2. President Ford

Kennedy knew Vietnam was going to be messy, but he was murdered in 1963. President Johnson took the reins, and a year later, got approval from Congress to escalate the war.

1. a massacre
   a surrender
2. a terrible U.S. defeat

In 1968, a U.S. unit went crazy, killing 400 women, children and elderly people in what's called the My Lai Massacre. Only one U.S. soldier was ever punished for the atrocities, and he was freed from prison early.

1. USSR
   Cambodia
2. Australia

In 1970, troops blasted into Cambodia to destroy North Vietnam's supply stockpiles. The attacks drew sharp public criticism in the U.S.

1. 1,600
   7,300
2. 18,200

Since the war ended, American officials have slowly accounted for many missing soldiers. But there are 1,600 troops listed as missing … and their families still wonder what became of them.

1. reduced American's troop levels by 40%
   changed public perception
2. no effect

In 1968, the North launched the Tet Offensive. The offensive failed tactically, but it caused a dramatic shift in America's attitudes toward the war -- now it seemed unwinnable, and people wanted the troops brought home.

1. 1966
   1982
2. 1973

In 1973, the combined forces of the North Vietnamese -- backed by China and the USSR -- proved to be far too much of a challenge for the U.S. That year, it withdrew its combat troops, essentially throwing in the towel on the war.

1. 1975
   1982
2. 1996

The war, which essentially started in 1954 with the French and then transitioned into American hands, lasted until 1975. It's no wonder Vietnam was such a mess by the time it was all over.

1. American sailors
   communist interrogators
2. South Vietnamese refugees

In 1975, the world witnessed the first round of "boat people," South Vietnamese refugees who boarded rickety boats and headed out to sea. They were afraid to live under the new communist regime.