The Vietnam War is generally considered to have started in 1954 and ended in 1975. More specifically:
- The war began after the French colonial rule ended, with the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954, and the Geneva Accords of July 1954 dividing Vietnam into North and South at the 17th parallel.
- U.S. covert involvement started shortly after June 1954, but direct U.S. military involvement escalated more visibly from 1965.
- The war ended in April 1975, when North Vietnamese troops entered Saigon and the South Vietnamese government surrendered (April 30, 1975 is the commonly accepted date of war's end).
In summary, the Vietnam War spanned from 1954 to 1975, with some specific markers of U.S. involvement beginning in the early 1960s and ending with the fall of Saigon in 1975.
