【明報專訊】The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally (盟友), the United States. The war began in 1954, after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh (胡志明) and his communist Viet Minh party in North Vietnam, and continued against the backdrop (背景) of an intense Cold War between the two global superpowers of the time: the United States and the Soviet Union.