Vietnam was a French colony until it was captured by Japanese, The French tried to obtain Their territory but were defeated by Viet Minh.
Vietnam was divided into South and North Vietnam. South Vietnam was capitalist, its leader was the Ngo Dinh Diem,. However, the communist north was ruled by Ho Chi Minh.
Peasants supported Vietcong since they wanted to overthrow Diem for its corruptionist actions. However, the U.S supported Diem because they both were communism.
The U.S would assist the South with military equipment. While China and the Soviet Union would assist the North. It resulted that Vietcong was winning this caused the U.S to do the operation Rolling Stone which was bombing the North. It was unsuccessful, American troops were sent back to Vietnam.