The Vietnam War started because the country was split between communism in the north and capitalism in the south. The Viet Cong rebels who wanted to free the south started a powerful revolution during the Cold War. America continued to support the south, and when a war against the North began in November 1955, they offered assistance.
However, the American public were worried by the escalating crisis and angered by the casualties. Nearly 550,000 troops were in the area when President Nixon decided to withdraw. Eventually, the North Vietnamese Army defeated the unprotected south after all the American troops had returned to America in 1973.
The American soldiers used the Colt M1911 as their main sidearm. The early M16s had serious failures which caused the deaths of many American soldiers who were trying to fix their guns in the middle of the battle. These flaws were fixed by 1968, and most old models were replaced within a few years. The M1918 BAR was also used in the earlier stages of the war, and was seen as an impressive machine gun.
Checkout the rest of the weaponry used below.
