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Dien Bien Phu
Vietnamese forces occupy the French command post at Dien Bien Phu and the French commander orders his troops to cease fire. -
Creation of the Ho Chi Minh trail
Construction begins on a network of roads for the Vietcong and the NVA to use against the Americans and the French. -
U.S. Gets Involved
Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President and increases US involvement by making American helicopters arrive in South Vietnam with 400 U.S. personnel, who will fly and maintain the aircraft. -
Operation Rangeland
Vast tracts of forest are sprayed with "Agent Orange," an herbicide containing the deadly chemical Dioxin. -
Gulf of Tonkin Attack
South Vietnamese commandos attack two small North Vietnamese islands in the Gulf of Tonkin. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
U.S. congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.It gave President Johnson the power to take whatever actions he sees as necessary to defend southeast Asia. -
Rolling Thunder Begins
President Johnson authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder, a limited but long lasting bombing offensive. Its aim is to force North Vietnam to stop supporting Vietcong guerrillas in the South, ended November 1, 1968. -
US offers peace for economic aid proposal
U.S. offers aid to Northern Vietnam but gets rejected -
President Johnson commits 60,000 troops to Vietnam
Since the aid proposal by Johnson was rejected, President Johnson adds 60,000 troops. -
First Major Battle of Vietnam War for American Units
The American army launches Operation Starlite. Ground forces, artillery, ships and air support combine to kill nearly 700 Vietcong soldiers. U.S. forces sustain 45 dead and more than 200 wounded. First major battle the U.S had won in the Vietnam War. -
Operation Junction City
Began one of the largest air-mobile assaults ever. The goal of Junction City was to destroy Vietcong bases and the Vietcong military headquarters. Some 30,000 U.S. troops take part in the mission, joined by 5,000 men of the South Vietnamese Army. After 72 days, Junction City ends. American forces succeed in capturing large quantities of equipment and weapons. -
Khe Sanh attacked by Vietcong
18 marines are killed and 40 wounded by Vietcong, continued for two days. -
Tet Offensive begins
DRV launches attacks against major southern cities to make President Johnson mad. -
My Lai massacre
The U.S. Charlie Company kills about two hundred civilians in the village of My Lai. Only one member of the division is tried and found guilty of war crimes. The repercussions of the atrocity are felt throughout the Army. This raised unsettling questions about the conduct of the war. -
Nixon takes Office
Promises to achieve "Peace With Honor." And his aim is to negotiate a settlement that will allow the half million U.S. troops in Vietnam to be withdrawn well still allowing South Vietnam to survive. -
Operation Menu
The bombing of North Vietnamese and Vietcong bases within Cambodia. The U.S. forces dropped more than a half million tons of bombs on Cambodia over the following 4 years. -
All but 133,000 US troops have come home
Now the ground war is now almost exclusively the responsibility of South Vietnam. They have over 1,000,000 men enlisted in its armed forces. Two thirds of America's troops have gone home in two years. -
Peace talks break down
Peace talks between the North Vietnamese and the Americans break down in Paris. -
Peace talks resume
North Vietnam and the United States resume peace talks in Paris. -
Cease fire signed
warring parties sign -
Nixon Resigns
President Richard M. Nixon resigns. Leaving South Vietnam without its strongest advocate. -
Last casualties for the US and final evacuation
The last Americans to die in the Vietnam War are two U.S. Marines that were killed in a rocket attack at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport at 4:03 a.m. North Vietnamese tanks role into Saigon, ending the war. In 15 years, nearly a million North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops and a quarter of a million South Vietnamese soldiers have died.