Geog. 388 Project by Joel Albrecht
The Significance of Hills in the Vietnam War
The goal of this website is to look at the war from a military geography aspect to understand how physical geography, in regards to hills, affected the strategy of the North Vietnamese Army and the United States.The Vietnam War lasted from 1959 to 1975 and was a struggle between the nationalist forces in Vietnam, trying to unify the country under the power of Communism, and the South Vietnamese allied with the United States in an attempt to prevent Communist control. Viewed as an unwinnable war, U.S. leaders lost support from the American public as their strategic plan came under heavy scrutiny. Within the context of the war, this website focuses on the significance of hills in Vietnam and what strategic importance they played for both sides during the war. Given the physical geography of Vietnam, hills were unavoidable and became the focus of several major battles in the war. Over 600 hills used throughout the war have been mapped out to illustrate the spatial distribution and determine where hills were most significant. Within the pages of this website can be found information on the physical geography of Vietnam, locations of the significant hills, strategy and tactics affected by hills, and also a look into the prolific hill fights of Hamburger Hill and Khe Sanh.