Vietnam War

====North Vietnamese involvement====
{{See also|North Vietnamese invasion of Laos|Ho Chi Minh trail}}

In March 1956, southern communist leader [[Lê Duẩn]] presented a plan to revive the insurgency entitled "The Road to the South" to the other members of the Politburo in Hanoi; however, as both China and the Soviets opposed confrontation at this time, Lê Duẩn's plan was rejected.<ref name=Ang/>{{Rp|58}} Despite this, the North Vietnamese leadership approved tentative measures to revive the southern insurgency in December 1956.{{Sfn|Olson|Roberts |2008|p=67}} This decision was made at the 11th Plenary Session of the Lao Dong Central Committee. Communist forces were under a single command structure set up in 1958.{{Sfn|Military History Institute of Vietnam|2002|p=68}} In May 1958, North Vietnamese forces seized the transportation hub at [[Tchepone]] in Southern Laos near the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam.<ref name="Prados-1999">{{Cite book |last=Prados |first=John |title=The Blood Road: The Ho Chi Minh Trail and the Vietnam War |date=1999 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=9780471254652}}</ref>{{RP|24}}

The North Vietnamese Communist Party approved a "people's war" on the South at a session in January 1959,<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|119–120}} and, in May, [[Group 559]] was established to maintain and upgrade the [[Ho Chi Minh trail]], at this time a six-month mountain trek through Laos. On 28 July, North Vietnamese and [[Pathet Lao]] forces invaded Laos, fighting the Royal Lao Army all along the border. Group 559 was headquartered in Na Kai, [[Houaphan]] province in northeast Laos close to the border.<ref name="Morrocco-1985">{{Cite book |last=Morrocco |first=John |title=Rain of Fire: Air War, 1969–1973 |date=1985 |publisher=Boston Publishing Company |isbn=9780939526147 |series=Volume 14 of Vietnam Experience}}</ref>{{RP|26}} About 500 of the "regroupees" of 1954 were sent south on the trail during its first year of operation.{{Sfn|Military History Institute of Vietnam|2002|p=xi}} The first arms delivery via the trail was completed in August 1959.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Prados |first=John |title=Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land |date=2006 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |isbn=978-1-84603-020-8 |editor-last=Wiest |editor-first=Andrew |location=Oxford |pages=74–95 |chapter=The Road South: The Ho Chi Minh Trail |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/rollingthunderin00wies}}</ref> In April 1960, North Vietnam imposed universal military conscription for adult males. About 40,000 communist soldiers infiltrated the south from 1961 to 1963.<ref name=Ang/>{{Rp|76}}