The Vietnam War Unit Timeline

  • Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Resolution
    1964 BCE

    Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Resolution

    During the incident north vietnam attacked the United states warships, the U.S.S Maddox and the U.S.S Turner joy. This declared that the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast asia was vital to american interest. After this the houses of congress passed the resolution which took place on august the 7.
  • Creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

    Creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

    The democratic republic of the vietnam was formed by Ho Chi Minh. It was basically the north of vietnam. Kwon as a socialist country supported by the soviet union. Vietnam became a democratic republic by re establishing its colonial rule.
  • Creation of the 17th parallel between North and South Vietnam

    Creation of the 17th parallel between North and South Vietnam

    This was basically a line to maded to divide the north and south vietnam. It was established by the 1954 Geneva Conference. The north was the communist side and the south was against them.
  • Battle of Dien Bien Phu

    Battle of Dien Bien Phu

    This battle consisted in a struggle between french and viet minh. This battle feel after about 57 days of heavy fighting. About 13,000 men were either killed or captured. After all the Viet Minh won.
  • Establishment of the National Liberation Front.

    Establishment of the National Liberation Front.

    This event was founded to overthrow the government of south vietnam. It was also called the Viet Cong. The short abbreviation was "The NLF". The NLF got people to join them by reaching out to those parts of the south vietnam society who were unhappy with their government. However, even from the beginning, the NFL was dominated by the Lao Dong Party Central Committee.
  • Operation Rolling Thunder

    Operation Rolling Thunder

    This was a bombing campaign. this event lasted about 3 years. this bombing campaign was meant to force Ho Chi Minh to abandon his ambition to take over south vietnam.
    The operation rolling thunder represented a change is the US war strategy, they were moving away from stragetic raids on military bases and factories.
  • US combat troops arrive in Vietnam

    US combat troops arrive in Vietnam

    In this event 3,500 marines arrived in vietnam to protect the U.S airbase from the Viet Cong attacks. President John F. Kennedy sent the first troops. it was meant to protect the south vietnam against the communist north.
  • Tet Offensive

    Tet Offensive

    During the Tet Offensive 80,000 vietcong troops surprise attacked the south. They hit the major metropolitan center, American base at Danang and american embassy in saigon. This led to south vietnam and US to recapture territories. It was a military victory but a moral blow.
  • My Lai Massacre

    My Lai Massacre

    My Lai was a village suspected of hiding viet cong fighters. Since it was suspected 100 men were sent to destroy the village. Ended in about 504 men, womens and childrens killed that day. Houses were set on fire leaving innocent families homeless. No viet cong fighters were found at the end.
  • 1968 Presidential Election

    1968 Presidential Election

    This was the 46th quadrennial presidential election. Nixon defeated both democratic nominees . and the american independent party nominee. He won a close election ver Humphrey in the electoral college.
  • 1968 Democratic National Convention

    1968 Democratic National Convention

    This event took 3 days and hold place at the international amphitheatre in chicago. In this event some people held their own presidential nominating convention with their candidate who was an actual pig. they then were arrested by policemen.
  • Tinker v. Des Moines

    Tinker v. Des Moines

    This is a historic court ruling. This event cemented students right to free speech in public schools. this could only be prohibit if the speech disrupted learning.
  • Woodstock 1969

    Woodstock 1969

    The Woodstock of 1969 was a festival. It was important because it was an opportunity for people to escape into music and spread messages through it. This festival took 3 days and a lot of people performed on those days.
  • Jackson State College Protest

    Jackson State College Protest

    This was a protest were students marched against racial injustice. After midnight the police opened fired, killing two students. 12 other students were also injured. It was a pretty big event since it was student protesting and policed decided to fire.
  • Kent State University Protest

    Kent State University Protest

    They were protesting over students who were killed in an anti-war gathering. This took place during a peace rally when the ohio national guard fired into a crown killing students. They did not want the national guard presence on campus.
  • Pentagon Papers

    Pentagon Papers

    These were papers that were released on the New York Times. This release affected the legacies of four presidential administrations. The main secret revealed was that Harry S Truman gave military aid to France in its colonial war against the communist led Viet Minh.
  • Watergate

    Watergate

    On this day 5 men broke into the headquarters at the watergate. A security guard was able to alert the metro police. the mens were arrested and they carried more than $3,500 in cash. This stemmed from the nixons continual attempts to cover up its involvement in the break in.
  • 1973 Paris Peace Accords

    1973 Paris Peace Accords

    This event took place in paris when South vietnam, North vietnam and the United States gathered to sign a peace treaty. It was an agreement on ending war. They basically wanted to restore peace in vietnam, after a lot of negotiations and secret talks it happened.
  • United States vs Nixon

    United States vs Nixon

    These were important decisions to the watergate scandal. It was considered a crucial precedent limiting the power of any U.S president to claim executive privilege. the presidents were not able to shield themselves from producing evidence.
  • Fall of Saigon

    Fall of Saigon

    On this event the south vietnamese forces had collapsed under the rapid advancement of the north vietnamese. the South vietnamese fell to the North vietnamese army. This led to war ending.