History of the French and American wars in Vietnam

This chronological video presentation by the History Channel provides a reasonably accurate narrative of the war in Vietnam between Communism and Capitalism. It picks up with the French re-assuming control of their Southeast Asia colonial empire in 1945 after World War II and ends with the North Vietnamese Communist victory over South Vietnam after the American army withdrew.



"You fools! Don't you realize what it means if the Chinese remain? Don't you remember your history? The last time the Chinese came, they stayed a thousand years. The French are foreigners. They are weak. Colonialism is dying. The white man is finished in Asia. But if the Chinese stay now, they will never go. As for me, I prefer to sniff French shit for five years than to eat Chinese shit for the rest of my life." -- Ho Chi Minh

Vietnam DMZ Firebases - 2008

As more veterans return to a Vietnam that is becoming a major tourist destination, it has become obvious that very little remains of the old firebases which are hardly recognizable. The DMZ area, however, continues to be the most impoverished part of the country. This clip has been around a few years but is one of the better ones posted by returning veterans.



“Being over seventy is like being engaged in a war. All our friends are going or gone and we survive amongst the dead and the dying as on a battlefield.” -- St. Jerome