French Union forces included Cause_to_be_included colonial troops from the whole former empire ( Moroccan , Algerian , Tunisian , Laotian , Cambodian , and Vietnamese ethnic minorities ) , French professional troops and units of the French Foreign Legion .

The Laotian Civil War ( 1959–75 ) was a civil war Military_operation in Laos fought Hostile_encounter between the Communist Pathet Lao ( including many North Vietnamese of Lao ancestry ) and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975 .

The actual fighting in Laos involved Cause_to_be_included the North Vietnamese Army , U.S. troops and Thai forces and South Vietnamese army forces directly and through irregular proxies in a struggle Hostile_encounter for control Control over the Laotian Panhandle .

The war , considered a Cold War-era proxy war by some , lasted 19 years , with direct U.S. involvement ending in 1973 , and included Cause_to_be_included the Laotian Civil War and the Cambodian Civil War , resulting in all three countries becoming communist in 1975 .