Vietnam War
Where can I find information about the Vietnam War?
(Years 11-13)
Image: Vietnam War by [Unknown] on DigitalNZ. Archives New Zealand reference: ABFK 22686 W4312 Box 17 / [4].
Entry last updated: 4/10/23
Introduction
The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, was fought between the United States of America (USA) and the Communist forces in Vietnam. The war began around 1954 and ended in 1975. The war was marked by anti-war protests around the world including in New Zealand.
There are many websites that have information on the Vietnam War. Here are some we recommend that will help you search for causes, timeline, major battles, protests, effects of this war and primary sources such as stories and photographs.
General websites
The websites selected below cover most aspects of the Vietnam war, including America's role, major battles, how the war ended and its impact.
World History (Gale in Context)
World History is one of the EPIC databases — a collection of databases on various subjects, specially put together for New Zealand students. It has sections on cultures, civilisations, religions, economics, important events in world history, and conflicts such as the Vietnam War.
Go up to the Browse Topics tab and look down the list for Vietnam War.
Use this page to find articles, images, videos, audio and more on this war.
You can also enter 'Vietnam war' into the search box and select from options such as the Vietnam War, Vietnam War Memorial, Vietnam War heroes, Vietnam War Protests etc.
Tips: To get to the EPIC resources you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or you can chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians between 1 and 6pm Monday to Friday and they will help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.
Britannica School is another online resource from the EPIC collection of databases.
Enter the keywords 'Vietnam War' and read Vietnam War (1954-75).
This article covers French rule in Vietnam, the Diem regime, Viet Cong, Gulf of Tonkin, and America's role in the war.
Remember to explore the Images & Videos and Related Links.
Tips: Search words, or keywords, are the most important words in our question. You can leave out small words like ‘the’ and ‘of’ and just choose the main ones, eg Vietnam War. We can always change our keywords or add more if we need to.
This website offers self-guided learning resources for all ages on math, science, computers, history, economics etc. History can be found under the tab called Art & humanities. It has good coverage of world, art, US history and ancient civilisations.
A search for the 'Vietnam War' will bring up content on the Vietnam War.
Or you could find out about The student movement and the antiwar movement and the Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Tips: Websites that have .org or .net in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the organisation’s mission and values are.
The Smithsonian Institution is a group of museums, education and research centres in the United States of America. It has great collections of images, videos, articles and primary sources.
Use the keywords 'Vietnam War' to find a range of resources.
The tab Collection Images has images of posters, medals, paintings, stamps etc.
Select Videos to watch The People vs Agent Orange | History Film Forum.
Go to Stories to read A scrapbook from the Vietnam War brings back memories for a young veteran.
Tips: A website’s address (URL) can give you a hint about how reliable it is. Look for addresses in the results that include .gov or .edu in the URL. These are quality sites from overseas government or educational organisations.
This is an educational show for high school and university level students. Each video includes sources for where the information came from.
Search for 'Vietnam War'.
Watch the video The Cold War in Asia: Crash Course US History #38.
This video talks about the Cold War in Asia and United States involvement in the civil wars in Korea and Vietnam.
This video-sharing website allows individuals and organisations to upload videos and make them available to people around the world.
You can search for content using different keywords like 'Vietnam War', 'anti-Vietnam War' or 'Vietnam battles' to look for information.
We recommend videos from reliable organisations such as Khan Academy, BBC or Ted Talks etc.
Documentaries, especially by History Channel are another good source of information.
Tips: YouTube allows people to comment on videos so you might come across different opinions. What’s important is to take what is positive and constructive from these comments.
New Zealand websites
New Zealand joined this war to reflect its strong alliance with the United States and Australia. Even though our involvement in the war was modest, it caused a strong anti-war movement across the country. Here are some websites that will help with the New Zealand perspective.
The Vietnam War website is run by the Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture & Heritage to record New Zealand's records and stories of the war. It has many primary sources such as interviews with veterans, photos, letters and diaries.
You can research this topic by checking out the tabs NZ's Vietnam War and Resources at the top of the page.
Don't forget to explore Key Links and Categories at the end of the page to explore Vietnam Veterans List, Key Battles and The war back home.
You can also use the search box to try words like 'Protests' to find anti-war articles, interviews and photos.
Tips: We like sites that are from government or other reputable organisations, because we can trust the information. You can sometimes tell these sites by their web address – they might have .govt or .edu in their address – or by looking at their About this project or Contact pages.
NZHistory is a great website for information about New Zealand Aotearoa. If we go all the way down the page we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.
You can search this website using the search box at the top of the page.
Or look down the page to New Zealand at war and find Vietnam War under the heading Post Second World War.
This page has a handy list of contents on the right hand side to guide through the events of this war and New Zealand's participation.
Make use of the Links and Related to Vietnam War section found at the end of the page, to expand your knowledge of this topic.
Tips: 'How to cite this page' found at the bottom of this page is a good way of acknowledging the source of this information. You can use this in your bibliography if you need to list the websites you have used to research this topic.
Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Te Ara is another website from the Ministry for Culture & Heritage. You will find information on the many international wars that New Zealand was involved in.
Enter 'Vietnam War' into the search box to find Vietnam War and Withdrawal from Vietnam.
Select Images & media for 'Vietnam war' to find a selection of images on protests against the war.
DigitalNZ is a search site that focuses on New Zealand history and brings together results from lots of different websites such as libraries, museums, universities and government sites all at once, and has lots of primary sources.
A search for the 'Vietnam War' will bring up groups of information, like images, videos, newspapers, articles and research papers.
Go to images to view collections from Archives New Zealand, Alexander Turnbull Library, including the Australian War Memorial.
Select Audio to listen to War time Saigon from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.
Explore the tab called More to access articles, research papers and books on this topic.
NZ On Screen showcases New Zealand television, film and music videos. Funded by NZ On Air, all the content here is free to view.
Use 'Vietnam War' as a search term to bring up related material.
The Shadow of Vietnam and Vietnam - My Father's War are examples of some of the documentaries you will find here.
Tips: Most reliable websites have an About us link on the site. This link tells you more about the mission statement and values of an organisation or company.
Books
There have been many books written on the Vietnam War. Check out your local public or school library to see what they have. Some recommended titles are:
New Zealand's Vietnam War: a history of Combat, Commitment and Controversy by Ian McGibbon.
50 things you should know about the Vietnam War by Chris McNab.
Dreaming the enemy by David Metzenthen.
Who protested against the Vietnam War? by Richard Spilsbury.
Cause & effect: the Vietnam War by Craig E. Blohm.
SCIS no: 1875436
Topics covered
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