US Escalation in Vietnam Timeline

  • Vietminh Beat French

    Vietminh Beat French
    After this, Vietnam was split in two with the north being controlled by the communists and the south by the capitalists. The south had elections in 1955.
  • Republic of Vietnam Elections

    Republic of Vietnam Elections
    This was when 3 people where running for office, Ngo Dinh Deim, Ho Chi Minh, and Bao Dai. Eventualy, Ngo Dinh Diem would become the dictator of Vietnam without elections.
  • Quang Duc Burns Himself in Saigon

    Quang Duc Burns Himself in Saigon
    Quang Duc was a Buddhist monk who decided to make a statement to the South Vietnamese Government by burning himself alive on a busy street in Saigon.
  • Assasination of Deim

    Assasination of Deim
    He was eventually assassinated by a military coup. the US may have had a play in this event due to the fact that if he where to remain in power, the south Vietnamese would fall to communism.
  • Golf of Tonkin: Part 1

    Golf of Tonkin: Part 1
    This was the first in two "attacks" that the North imposed on the US. They found the USS Maddox and started attcking wth torpidos and machine gun fire after the Maddox sent 3 warning torpedo shots at the group. One US plane was damaged, three Vietnamese ships where sunk.
  • Golf of Tonkin: Part 2

    Golf of Tonkin: Part 2
    There was the second oart of the incident where there where 3 "Tonkin Ghosts" where people thaught they where torpedo ships but they where just false radar readings.
  • Operation Flaming Dart: Part 1

    Operation Flaming Dart: Part 1
    LBJ ordered the USAF to go on bombing campaign agenst some North Vietnamese army bases and some vietcong information centers. This would become the start of a new bombing campaign called Rolling Thunder.
  • Operation Flaming Arrow: Part 2, Electric Boogaloo

    Operation Flaming Arrow: Part 2, Electric Boogaloo
    This was a second bombing campaign that led to operation rolling thunder. In this one they bombed vietcong bases and North Vietnamese Troops.
  • Period: to

    Operation Rolling Thunder

    This was a gradual and sustained bombing campaign upon the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong all over the 2 countries.
  • US Combatants in Vietnam

    US Combatants in Vietnam
    The US started to send combatant troops into vietnam to fight the vietnamese. 3,500 Marines meet up with the 23,000 American Military Advisers to defend the american air base at Da Nang.
  • Golf of Tonkin Resolution

    Golf of Tonkin Resolution
    This was when congress signed off that the president could enact any actions and mesures that he sees fit militaraly.
  • Operation Crimp

    Operation Crimp
    This was one of the raids of a Vietcong base that was suspaected to be underground. This involved a US-Australian force and there where heavy casualties on both sides but it ended with the US on top. There was a 120 mile system of tunnles under the base.