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there was an Indochinese revolt against Ho Chi Minh. the French condemned hi to death but fled to Vietnam and orchestrated Vietnam's growing independence. This matters because this would start to be the rule of communism in Vietnam which would eventually be split with the US owning the southern part.
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in 1940 the Japanese took control of Vietnam. the next year Ho Chi Minh returned home and helped form the organization Vietminh. who's goal was to get independence from foreign rule. This matters because this would be a problem since the US would eventually rule the southern part of Vietnam.
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France moved back to Vietnam to regain it. they eventually get control over cities and Vietnam's southern half. this matters because France is allies with the US and them trying to take back Vietnam will cause problems.
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when the allies defeated the Japanese it forced japan to leave Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh stood in Hanoi and declared Vietnam an independent nation. this matters because this has the people in Vietnam like Ho Chi Minh more which will be harder for the US to get control over southern Vietnam.
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World powers agreed to divide Vietnam at a conference in Geneva, they decided Ho Chi Minh lead the north and the US leading the south in an anticommunist way. this mattered because this split Vietnam and ruined the communistic ways that the whole of Vietnam once was.
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Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh forces defeat the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, effectively ending the 7 ½-year Indochina War. which matters because the US is allies with the French.
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The US was supplying to the French's war effort but it wasn't enough for the Vietminh drove the french out of Vietnam and now get independence from foreign countries again. this matters because the US was helping french in its war efforts and needed the french to win for fear that if Vietnam falls to communism then other countries in Asia will as well.
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Southern revolutionaries, backed by the North Vietnamese Communist Party, form the National Liberation Front, known in Saigon and Washington as the Viet Cong. this matters because the US has the southern part of Vietnam.
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President Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu are murdered during a coup by dissident generals of the South Vietnamese army. this matters because the US has the south and the south murdering the north's president is not a good look for the US.
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Kennedy is assassinated and Johnson becomes the new president. this matters because it means that things will probably change with Vietnam.