Printable ScholarVietnam War Map
A free printable map of the Vietnam War, showing North and South Vietnam divided at the 17th parallel, the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the main cities and key battles. It comes in color, black and white, and blank.
Choose your version
Black and white, color or blank.
All three are free PDFs sized for US Letter paper.
Black and white
Everything named on a plain outline map with no terrain. No color ink needed.
downloadBlack and white PDF
Color
North and South Vietnam in color, with the DMZ, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, cities and battles named.
downloadColor PDF
Blank
The black-and-white map with its routes and markers but no names, for labeling practice.
downloadBlank PDFVietnam at war
After the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, a peace conference in Geneva divided Vietnam in two at the 17th parallel, with a demilitarized zone, the DMZ, along the line. The division was meant to be temporary, but the nationwide elections planned for 1956 were never held. North Vietnam, with its capital at Hanoi, was a communist state led by Ho Chi Minh and supplied by the Soviet Union and China. South Vietnam, with its capital at Saigon, was supported by the United States. Communist fighters in the South, called the Viet Cong, fought to bring down the southern government, and the North sent soldiers and supplies south along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a web of roads and paths through Laos and Cambodia. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, the United States sent combat troops, more than 500,000 at the peak in 1968, and bombed the North and the trail. In the Tet Offensive of 1968, communist forces attacked cities across the South, including Hue. The United States withdrew its troops after a peace agreement in 1973. North Vietnamese forces took Saigon on April 30, 1975, and the country was united under the North’s government; Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. More than 58,000 Americans and, by most estimates, well over a million Vietnamese died in the war.
On the map
- Hanoi: capital of North Vietnam
- Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City): capital of South Vietnam
- The DMZ along the 17th parallel, the line between North and South
- Dien Bien Phu, 1954: the battle that ended French rule
- Ia Drang, 1965: the first large battle between U.S. and North Vietnamese troops
- Khe Sanh and Hue, 1968: battles of the year of the Tet Offensive
- The Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos and Cambodia
Find it on the map
- The long, narrow shape of Vietnam along the South China Sea
- The Ho Chi Minh Trail running outside Vietnam, through Laos and Cambodia
- The Mekong River and its delta south of Saigon
Borders are today’s, from Natural Earth. The line between North and South is drawn along the 17th parallel; the real demarcation line followed the Ben Hai River, which runs close to it. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a changing web of many roads and paths, so its line here is approximate. Coastlines and rivers are shown as they are today.
Frequently asked questions
Why was Vietnam divided at the 17th parallel?
The Geneva Accords of 1954, which ended the French war in Indochina, split Vietnam at the 17th parallel until nationwide elections planned for 1956. The elections were never held, and the two halves became North and South Vietnam.
What was the Ho Chi Minh Trail?
A network of roads, paths and river routes that ran from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam. North Vietnam used it to send soldiers and supplies south.
When did the Vietnam War end?
U.S. combat troops left after the Paris Peace Accords of January 1973. The war ended on April 30, 1975, when North Vietnamese forces took Saigon. Vietnam was officially reunited in 1976.