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France began to control parts of Indochina in the late 1800s. After World War II the Vietnamese were victims of colonization. Ho Chi Minh and his followers wanted Vietnam to be independent. The Soviet Union backed Ho Chi Minh because he was a communist. The U.S. (Eisenhower) was concerned that if Vietnam became communist, its closest neighbors would follow.
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Viet Minh forces attack a French Military outpost in Dien Bien Phu. The takeover lasts 2 months and during this time the French government agrees to begin peace talks in Geneva. Diplomats from Vietnam, France, United States, Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union met in Geneva Switzerland to develop a peace agreement. Vietnam temporarily divides into a Communist North and an Anti-communist South for a period of 2 years.
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The United States began sending direct aid to South Vietnam.
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Beginning of the Communist insurgency in South Vietnam.
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In Vietnam a Civil War breaks out. Ngo Dinh Diem, the leader of South Vietnam, refused to hold reelections because he would have lost. He was an unpopular ruler. Weapons and men from North Vietnam begin invading the South. The U.S. sides with the South.
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The communist guerrilla group operating in Sound Vietnam defeats units of the South Vietnamese Army.
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Presidend Diem is overthrown and then killed in a US-backed military coup.
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President Johnson alters Congress that two U.S. destroyers had been attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats. Congress passed a resolution to allow President Johnson to use American forces in Vietnam.
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200,000 American combat troops arrive in South Vietnam. By 1966 the troop numbers would rise to 500,000.
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50,000 protestors marched to the Pentagon to protest the war. President Johnson wanted to talk calmly but many were getting violent.
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57% of American voters thought Nixon could restore "Law and Order" and voted him into office.
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Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army combine to attack the U.S. positions and South Vietnamese cities. The attacks begin on the Vietnamese New Year, which is called Tet. Americans and South Vietnamese are victorious.
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Charlie Company, 11th Brigade (American Soldiers) massacred over 300 people in the Vietnamese village of My Lai. Most were women, children, and elder civilians. It shocked and disturbed the American people.
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Civil War between communists and noncommunists in Cambodia. Nixon destroys communist bases using American troops. Congress and others are upset that he abused his authority.
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North Vietnam agrees to peace talks after heavy attacks by the United States. Vietnam agrees to peace and US pulls out of Vietnam and all POWS are returned. The war did not end, but the United States' involvement ends.
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Communists take over Saigon and then South Vietnam is forced to surrender.
