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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. The battle had lasted 55 days. Three thousand French troops were killed, 8,000 wounded. The Viet Minh suffered much worse, with 8,000 dead and 12,000 wounded, but the Vietnamese victory shattered France's resolve to carry on the war. -
Creation of the Ho Chi Minh trail
A specialized North Vietnamese Army unit, Group 559, creates a supply route from North Vietnam to Vietcong forces in South Vietnam. It ran along the Vietnamese/Cambodian border, with offshoots into Vietnam along its entire length -
United States gets involved
American helicopters arrive at docks in South Vietnam along with 400 U.S. personnel, who will fly and maintain the aircraft. -
Operation Rangeland
clear vegetation alongside highways, making it more difficult for the Vietcong to conceal themselves for ambushes. Vast tracts of forest are sprayed with "Agent Orange," an herbicide containing the deadly chemical Dioxin. Guerrilla trails and base areas are exposed, and crops that might feed Vietcong units are destroyed. -
Gulf of Tonkin attack
South Vietnamese commandos attack two small North Vietnamese islands in the Gulf of Tonkin. The U.S. destroyer Maddox, an electronic spy ship, is 123 miles south with orders to electronically simulate an air attack to draw North Vietnamese boats away from the commandos. -
Gulf of Tonkin resolution
The DRV launched a local and controlled attack against the C. Turner Joy and the U.S.S. Maddox, two American ships on call in the Gulf of Tonkin. -
Rolling Thunder begins
President Johnson authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder. Its aim is to force North Vietnam to stop supporting Vietcong guerrillas in the South. It ended in 1968. -
Us offers peace for economic aid
The offer was summarily rejected. Two weeks later, President Johnson raises America's combat strength in Vietnam to more than 60,000 troops. Allied forces from Korea and Australia are added as a sign of international support. -
60,000 troops arive in vietnam
President Johnson raises America's combat strength in Vietnam to more than 60,000 troops. Allied forces from Korea and Australia are added as a sign of international support. -
Operation Junction City
destroy Vietcong bases and the Vietcong military headquarters for South Vietnam, all of which are located in War Zone C, north of Saigon. 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 stores, equipment and weapons, but there are no large, decisive battles. -
Khe Sanh
The remote northwest corner of South Vietnam, elements of three NVA divisions begin to mass near the Marine base at Khe Sanh. The ominous proportions of the build-up lead the U.S. commanders to expect a major offensive in the northern provinces -
Tet offensive begins
Launch the largest and best coordinated offensive of the war, drivingg into the center of South Vietnam's seven largest cities and attacking 30 provincial capitals from the Delta to the DMZ. -
My Lai massacre
In one of the most horrific incidents of violence against civilians during the Vietnam War, a company of American soldiers brutally killed the majority of the population of the South Vietnamese hamlet -
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
Ohe 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. -
First major battle of vietnam war for american units
Sixty South Vietnamese men are killed or wounded when their troops clash with communist forces in the Mekong Delta. The North Vietnamese lost only 14 men. A South Vietnamese spokesman said that the high South Vietnamese casualties were "due to bad fighting on our part." -
All but 133,000 troops arive 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 talkes break down
In Paris, peace talks between the North Vietnamese and the Americans breakdown -
Peace takes 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. -
US 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.