Vietnam

By Afettig3@gmail.com

  • independence

    independence
    1945 (March 9): The Japanese end up French authority. (Aug 19): The Viet Minh starts a general popular insurrection. Bao Dai abdicates. (Sept 2): Ho Chi Minh declares independence in Hanoi. US agents stand at his side. (Sept 23): The French authorities reoccupy the South.

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    After the failed Fontainebleau conference between Ho Chi Minh and the French government, notably about the question of the status of Cochinchina, and the bombing of Haiphong (6000 civilians killed), the war between the French troops and the Viet Minh for the control of Vietnam begins.

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    1954: The bulk of the French army is defeated at Dien Bien Phu. This is the first time in history a colonial power is militarily defeated, a massive decolonization follows worldwide. At the Geneva conference, the country is partitioned at the 17th parallel as an interim stage. The North becomes the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, a communist state supported by China and the USSR. The strict communist ideology began to prevail at the 2nd congress of the Vietnamese labor party in 1951.

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    1955: Refusing to implement the Geneva accords, Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims himself president of the Republic of South Vietnam with backing from the West.

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    1961: Kennedy increases US military aid to South Vietnam, first in the form of military advisors

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    1963: Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated in a US-initiated coup

  • Gulf Of Tonkin

    1964: Although elected as a dovish candidate against Goldwater, Johnson escalates the war. All but two US senators pass the "Tonkin Gulf resolution", which gives blank checks to US presidents over Vietnam.

  • 1965

    1965
    200,000 American combat troops arrive in South Vietnam.

  • TET offensive

    TET offensive
    1968 - Tet Offensive - a combined assault by Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army on US positions - begins. More than 500 civilians die in the US massacre at My Lai.

  • Ceasefire

    Ceasefire
    1973 - Ceasefire agreement in Paris, US troop pull-out completed by March.

  • South Vietnam Invaded

    South Vietnam Invaded
    1975 - North Vietnamese troops invade South Vietnam and take control of the whole country after South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh surrenders.

  • Clean Up

    Clean Up
    2011 June - Vietnam begins joint operation with the United States to clean up contamination from the toxic defoliant Agent Orange, which was used widely by the US military during the Vietnam war.