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FOREIGN RULE OVER VIETNAM
Vietnam and most of Indochina was under French rule. The French colonists benefit off of peasant land by building rubbing and rice plantations to profit from. This outraged many Vietnamese peasants. However, France ruled harshly, restricting their freedom of speech and assembly and jailing many Vietnamese nationalists. This increased tensions between the two. In 1940, France lost control of Vietnam in World War 2, and Japan took control of Vietnam. -
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EARLY VIETNAM TIMELINE
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HO CHI MINH AND THE INDOCHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY
In 1930, the Indochinese Communist Party was formed under the rule of Ho Chi Minh and staged multiple revolts against French rule. Ho Chi Minh was sentenced to death for his actions, however he escaped to the Soviet Union then China where he continued to orchestrate Vietnamese independence from foreign rule. -
HO CHI MINH AND THE VIETMINH
Ho Chi Minh returned from exile and helped to form an organization known as the Vietminh. The Vietminh aimed to achieve independence from foreign rule for Vietnam. -
VIETNAM AFTER WORLD WAR 2
In August of 1945, Allied Powers defeated Japan in World War 2, leading Japan to turn over their power. A month later, Ho Chi Minh stood in the center of a crowd in the popular city, Hanoi, and declared Vietnam an independent country. However, by the end of 1945, France regains control of South Vietnam, causing Ho Chi Minh to declare that he will fight for control of the South. -
UNITED STATES HELPS AID SOUTH VIETNAM AND FRANCE
Starting in 1950, United States President, Harry Truman, sends 15 million dollars in financial aid to France. This continued even as President Dwight Eisenhower took control. He argued that we must send money from preventing the spread of Communism to countries on the brink (domino theory), and by 1954, the United States had supplied over 1 billion dollars to France. -
FRANCE LOSES TO NORTH VIETNAM
Despite the U.S. aid, France is forced to surrender to North Vietnam in May of 1954 after the Vietminh over runs the French outpost, Dien Bien Phu in Northwest Vietnam -
GENEVA ACCORDS
France, G.B., USSR, U.S., China, Laos, and Cambodia meet in Geneva, Switz. with Vietminh and South Vietnamese nationalists to come to an agreement about the state of the nation, this meeting was known as the Geneva Accords. It was agreed that Vietnam would split amongst the 17th Parallel into North and South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was designated as the leader of the North and Ngo Dinh Diem the leader of the south. There was to be an election to unify the nation in 1956, however it never happened. -
RISE OF THE VIETCONG AGAINST SOUTH VIETNAM
A Communist opposition group, known as the Vietcong, was formed in 1957 and began to attack the South Vietnam government, even killing many government officials. Starting 1959, the Vietcong were supported by Ho Chi Minh in North Korea. Ho Chi Minh supplied the Vietcong with weapons via the Ho Chi Minh trail - a network of paths that followed the borders of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. -
PRESIDENT KENNEDY STEPS IN
In 1961, the United States is unhappy with the corrupt, unstable rule that is occurring under Ngo Dinh Diem's rule. President Kennedy sends in a U.S. supported military coup in order to end Diem's regime. However, against Kennedy's wishes, Diem was assassinated as well. -
USS MADDOX AND THE TONKIN GULF
While patrolling in the Tonkin Gulf, a North Vietnamese patrol boat accidentally fired on U.S. destroyer ship, USS Maddox, while aiming for another target (this was the Tonkin Gulf Incident). Following this attack, President Johnson bombed Northern Vietnam, prompting Congress to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which gave military powers to President Johnson in Vietnam.
