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US becomes activley involved
U.S. backing includes new equipment and more than 3,000 military advisors and support personnel. -
Gulf of Tonkin attack
On this night, South Vietnamese commandos attack two small North Vietnamese islands in the Gulf of Tonkin. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
President Johnson now has the power to take whatever actions he sees necessary to defend southeast Asia. -
Rolling Thunder begins
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US offers peace for economic aid proposal
the offer was rejected -
President Johnson commits over 60,000 troops to Vietnam
Allied forces from Korea and Australia are added as a sign of international support. -
first major battle od Vietnam War for American units
the United States scores a resounding victory -
Creation of the Ho Chi Minh trail
Ho Chi Minh and North Vietnamese leadership ordered a change in a way the war in the South was to be fought. the Vietcong would avoid pitched battles with the Americans unless the odds were clearly in their favor. There would be more hit and run attacks and ambushes -
Khe Sanh attacked by Vietkong
Only American air and artillery support prevents a complete disaster. -
tet offensive begins
200 senior officials are arrested in a crackdown on opponents of the Tet strategy. -
My Lai Massacre
Charlie Company kills about two hundred civilians. only one member of the division is tried and found guilty of war crimes, -
NIxon takes office
With regard to Vietnam, he promises to achieve "Peace With Honor." His aim is to negotiate a settlement that will allow the half million U.S. troops in Vietnam to be withdrawn, while still allowing South Vietnam to survive. -
operation menu
the bombing of North Vietnamese and Vietcong bases within Cambodia. Over the following four years, U.S. forces will drop more than a half million tons of bombs on Cambodia. -
all but 133,000 US troops have come home
Two thirds of America's troops have gone in two years. The ground war is now almost exclusively the responsibility of South Vietnam, which has over 1,000,000 men enlisted in its armed forces. -
peace talks break down
In Paris, peace talks between the North Vietnamese and the Americans breakdown. -
peace talks resume
North Vietnam and the United States resume peace talks in Paris. -
cease fire signed
All warring parties in the Vietnam War sign a cease fire. -
nixon resigns
President Richard M. Nixon resigns, leaving South Vietnam without its strongest advocate. -
last casualties for the US and final evacuation
At 4:03 a.m., two U.S. Marines are killed in a rocket attack at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport. They are the last Americans to die in the Vietnam War. At dawn, the last Marines of the force guarding the U.S. embassy lift off. Only hours later, looters ransack the embassy, and North Vietnamese tanks role into Saigon, ending the war. In 15 years, nearly a million NVA and Vietcong troops and a quarter of a million South Vietnamese soldiers have died. Hundreds of thousands of civilians had been kill