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Ho Chi Minh founds Indochinese Communist Party
This was started in Minh to stage revolts against French rulers who jailed many Vietnamese nationalists. The French condemned Minh and put an end to this party. -
Japan Occupies Vietnam
The year before Ho Chi Minh returned home to form the Vietminh the Japanese took control of Vietnam. They were finally forced to leave in 1945 when the Vietnamese pushed them out of Vietnam. -
Ho Chi Minh founds Viet Minh
The Japanese took over Vietnam in 1940. The goal of Vietminh was to win back freedom of Vietnam from Japan. This goal became a reality in 1945 when the Japanese were defeated and forced to leave Vietnam. -
Viet Minh defeat French at Dien Bien Phu
The French were forced to surrender in May of 1954 when the Vietnam took over the French outpost at Dien Bien Phu. Despite U.S. aid the French could not retake Vietnam. -
Domino Theory
This was a statement made by Eisenhower in a news conference. During this time the United States was in a stalemate with communists in Korea. Eisenhower explained how countries that were about to be taken over by communist were like dominos, if one nation fell to communism so would other nations. -
Viet Minh captures Hanoi
Chi minh controlled North Vietnam from the capital of Hanoi. The anticommunist’s nationalists controlled South Vietnam from the capital and southern port city of Saigon. -
Vietcong begin attacks on Diem government
A communist group in the South that opposed the government Diem was running attacked. They assassinated thousands of South Vietnamese government officials. -
Ngo Dinh Diem overthrown in U.S.-backed coup
U.S. supported troops took South Vietnam’s ruler out of power. In order to keep South Vietnam stable Diem was taken by U.S. troops and assassinated, even though it was not what Kennedy wanted. -
U.S. Congress passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
An alleged strike by Vietnam on Maddox a U.S. navy destroyer prompted Johnson to call for measures to repel attacks on U.S. forces. Congress approved this request and this broadened military power in Vietnam -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Johnson used the power of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution to attack the Vietcong in response to an attack that killed eight Americans. This was the first bombing of North Vietnam. It was in March of 1965 that American combat troops began arriving in South Vietnam, and the Vietnam War became Americanized.
