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After battling for 55 days with 3,000 French troops dead, 8,000 wounded and 8,000 Vietnamese troops dead and 12,000 wounded, the Vietnamese are victiorious. The French end their colonial rule.
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The Geneva Accords are signed by the French and Ho Chi Minh, agreeing to split Vietnam at the 17th parallel until the next election in 1956 in order to reunify the country.
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The National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF) forms in order to demolish Ngo Dinh Diem's regime. The purpose of the group is to reunify, reform the government, and eliminate foreign controls
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Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk, sets himself on fire in protest of the South Vietnamese government. In the following months, other Buddhists will follow in his footsteps as a demonstration against the regime.
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South Vietnamese General, Duong Van Minh, overthrows the Diem regime with US encouragement in a coup d'etat. He then orders the execution of Diem and his brother.
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Congress passes the gulk of Tonkin Resolution which granted President Lyndon B Johnson the power to do whatever he feels is necessary to defend South Vietnam from the Viet Cong forces.
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After the Viet Cong attack a US Air Force base at Pleiku, Operation ROlling Thunder was authorized. It was a bombardment campaign hoping to destroy North Vietnam's transportation system and industrial centers.
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Beggining on the Vietnamese Tet holiday, Viet Cong forces surprise US troops with waves of attacks.
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US Army unit massacres hundreds of unarmed civilians.
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Students at Kent State Univeristy in Ohio organize a mass public demonstration against the American invasion of Cambodia on May 1. On the second day of the demonstration, the National Guard is called in after students torch the ROTC building on campus. On May 4, the Ohio National Guard attemps to disperse a crowd. When orders were not followed, all hell breaks loose. A Guard shoots into the crowd, killing 4 and wounding 9. One is paralyzed for life.
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About 200,000 people march in DC to protest the war in Vietnam. Anti-war sentiments continue to grow and intensify.
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South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the United States all sign a peace agreement declaring a ceasefire.
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The final US soldiers leave Vietnam. Over 3 million served, 60,000 dead, 150,000 wounded, 1,000 missing.
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An image of hundreds of South Vietnamese civilians attempt to flee Saigon, scrambling to board a single US helicopter. An invasion of Saigon is inevitable, and throusands try to flee.
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The North Vietnamese take Saigon and the war Ends in Vietnam. Ho Ch Minh later delcared "The Victor"
