Season 1
There is no single truth in war.
Synopsis
The Vietnam War (2017), Season 1 is the ten-episode documentary you can watch online on iFILM — the whole conflict laid out not as slogans but through the people who lived it.
The series moves in order. It opens with a century of French rule and a country split into North and South, then traces Kennedy's early hesitation, the bombing campaigns under LBJ, and the first American ground troops heading south. From there: the Tet Offensive, a nation tearing itself apart at home, the antiwar movement swelling, Nixon's narrow win, and the slow, painful search for a way out before Saigon falls. Each chapter covers its own span of dates, and the war grows from a local insurgency into a catastrophe no one can steer.
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick build it from archival footage, declassified Oval Office tapes, and testimony from nearly eighty witnesses on every side. The season is strongest when it refuses a single right answer. Stream The Vietnam War Season 1 online on iFILM.
10 episodes
S1·E1Déjà Vu (1858-1961)
After a century of French occupation, Vietnam emerges independent but divided into North and South.
S1·E2Riding the Tiger (1961-1963)
As a communist insurgency gains strength, JFK wrestles with American involvement in South Vietnam.
S1·E3The River Styx (January 1964-December 1965)
With South Vietnam near collapse, LBJ begins bombing the North and sends US troops to the South.
S1·E4Resolve (January 1966-June 1967)
US soldiers discover Vietnam is unlike their fathers’ war, while the antiwar movement grows.
S1·E5This Is What We Do (July 1967-December 1967)
President Johnson escalates the war while promising the public that victory is in sight.
S1·E6Things Fall Apart (January 1968-July 1968)
Shaken by the Tet Offensive, assassinations and unrest, America seems to be coming apart.
S1·E7The Veneer of Civilization (June 1968-May 1969)
After chaos roils the Democratic Convention, Nixon, promising peace, narrowly wins the presidency.
S1·E8The History of the World (April 1969-May 1970)
Nixon withdraws troops but when he sends forces into Cambodia the antiwar movement reignites.
S1·E9A Disrespectful Loyalty (May 1970-March 1973)
South Vietnam fights on its own as Nixon and Kissinger find a way out for America. The POWs return.
S1·E10The Weight of Memory (March 1973-Onward)
Saigon falls and the war ends. Americans and Vietnamese from all sides search for reconciliation.
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