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The French wanted to recover their colony that they lost in 1940. When the French arrived in Vietnam, communism was spreading in North Vietnam, causing the French to have a battle at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. The French lost the battle and went back home.
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Ngo Dinh Diem is elected president and South Vietnam becomes the Republic of Vietnam.
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The National Liberation Front (NLF), also called the Viet Cong, is established in South Vietnam.
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South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is executed during a coup.
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North Vietnamese attack two U.S. destroyers sitting in international waters (the Gulf of Tonkin Incident).
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In response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
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A sustained U.S. aerial bombing campaign of North Vietnam begins (Operation Rolling Thunder).
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U.S. advisers submitted reports that North Vietnam's strength was growing and was creating a situation that needed the help of U.S. combat troops.
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The North Vietnamese join forces with the Viet Cong to launch the Tet Offensive, attacking approximately one hundred South Vietnamese cities and towns.
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U.S. soldiers kill hundreds of Vietnamese civilians in the town of My Lai.
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General William Westmoreland, who had been in charge of the U.S. troops in Vietnam, is replaced by General Creighton Abrams.
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In December of 1968 American troop involvement reaches 540,000 troops. Protests start occuring world-wide to help stop the war. The U.S. now starts to realize that they are not going to win the war.
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President Nixon orders the first troop withdraws from Vietnam. This was only the start of a massive troop withdraw in Vietnam. This event further proves that the end of the war was nearing in Vietnam.
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Communist revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh dies at age 79.
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Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed 20,000,000 gallons of chemical herbicides and defoliants in Vietnam, eastern Laos, and parts of Cambodia, as part of Operation Ranch Hand. The goal was to defoliate forested and rural land, to make hiding more difficult.
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The North Vietnamese cross the demilitarized zone (DMZ) to attack South Vietnam in what became known as the Easter Offensive.
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The Paris Peace Accords are signed that provide a cease-fire.
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The last U.S. troops are withdrawn from Vietnam.
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North Vietnam launches a massive assault on South Vietnam.
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The South Vietnamese government announced its unconditional surrender to the Vietcong. President Duong Van Minh announced on the radio that he wanted the South Vietnamese forces to lay down their arms and he asked the Vietcong to halt all hostilities. The Vietcong came into Saigon with their red and blue flags raised and Saigon was immediately renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
