The Vietnam War involved several key parties and countries:
- North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and its allies, including the Viet Cong insurgents in South Vietnam, were supported by the Soviet Union and China.
- South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) was supported primarily by the United States and other anti-communist nations.
- The United States played a major role with military involvement escalating from 1965 to 1973.
- Other countries involved on the side of South Vietnam included South Korea, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Taiwan.
- Communist support to North Vietnam also came from countries like Czechoslovakia, North Korea, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary.
- Countries like Poland acted as intermediaries in peace talks.
- Spain and Brazil provided limited support primarily in medical roles.
Prominent figures included North Vietnamese General Võ Nguyên Giáp, U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. The war was a complex conflict involving proxy Cold War dynamics, civil war elements, and international alliances.
