Discusses how the war has affected America, Asia and the world and what has become of the principal figures in the conflict.
France's involvement in Vietnam from the end of WW2 to gathering at Dien Bien Phu.
The historic battle that led to the withdrawal of French forces from Vietnam.
The US continues to back the South Vietnamese government against a growing Communist threat.
The American government wavers in its support of President Diem.
President Johnson makes two important decisions that change the course of history.
General Westmoreland and the President commit increasing ground troops in Vietnam.
The sudden presence of 500,000 American troops and their affluence proves culturally overwhelming to the South Vietnamese, causing envy, corruption and a rift in the alliance that is never fully healed.
North Vietnam lived under a state of war for decades.
An expedition down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, examining the jungle and mountain paths that were used as Communist supply routes linking North and South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
The costly US firepower advantage allowed them to win battles, but not decide the war.
Without peasant support, neither side can win the war.
Helicopters, airplanes and bombs played an important role in the Vietnam war.
US forces endure 77 days of siege at Khe Sanh.
An account of the Tet Offensive, a simultaneous North Vietnamese attack on over 100 key locations in the South, staged on Jan. 31, 1968. It dealt a crippling blow to American morale and brought such criticism of President Johnson that he refused to stand for re-election. Among those interviewed is North Vietnamese diplomat Ha Van Lau, who called the offensive a strategic victory.
Follows the growing opposition to the Vietnam War in the U.S. The documentary features the first anti-war march on the Pentagon in October 1967 and recalls the assassinations of anti-war moderates Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., at a time when American combat deaths were exceeding 1000 per month.
For the GI, Vietnam is both a physical and mental jungle. The men who lived in that jungle give first-hand accounts of how a war without recognizable lines or enemy affected discipline and morale, leading to widespread drug use and the "fragging" (battlefield murder) of officers.
After Tet, Vietnamization is escalated and proves to be less than successful.
President Nixon is determined to obtain peace through pressure. Congress condemns his secret bombing, then invasion, of Cambodia. Daniel Ellsberg releases the Pentagon Papers and public wrath over a decade of government deception descends on Nixon.
The Battle of Hanoi matches America's B-52 armada against Soviet SAM missiles in the single most intense air battle in history. Lasting 12 days and nights, the Christmas bombing in 1972 ends 12 years of American military involvement in Vietnam.
Having promised peace, Nixon and Kissinger try public and secret talks to arrive at a peace accord with North Vietnam.
Two American P.O.W.s give contrasting accounts of their treatment and actions at the Hanoi Hilton camp. Is the traditional military code of conduct, requiring that a captive give only his name, rank and serial number valid in an ideological war with some P.O.W.s held captive for eight years?
The readjustment from jungle to Main Street is painful for 2.8 million American soldiers. For the Vietnam veterans, it is a silent homecoming. America wants to forget the war. The soldiers cannot.
The North Vietnamese Army needed only 55 more days to end the 10,000 Day War.
The chronology of battle from the start of the spring 1975 Communist offensive to the domino collapse of South Vietnam's cities within 55 days. The fall of Saigon ends 10,000 days of war.
Five years after the fall of Saigon, the question is asked: What went wrong in Vietnam? The response of policy makers and combatants reveal the deep divisions over Vietnam which still remains.