Vietnam Timeline

By RV20607

  • Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam's independence

    1945
    Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam's independence. The French refuse to acknowledge this and reoccupy Indochina as a colony.

  • The French Army occupies the valley of Dien Bien Phu

    1953 November - The French Army occupies the valley of Dien Bien Phu in order to force a battle with the Viet Minh.

  • General Giap accommodates the French

    1954
    March - General Giap accommodates the French by surrounding the base with fifty thousand Viet Minh soldiers. The valley is isolated and the siege begins.

  • Dien Bien Phu falls

    May 7 - Dien Bien Phu falls

  • France and the Viet Minh agree to end hostilities

    July 20 - France and the Viet Minh agree to end hostilities and to divide Vietnam temporarily into two zones at the 17th parallel. In the North, Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh establish a Communist government, with its capital at Hanoi. French forces withdraw to the South, along with hundreds of thousands of anti-communist civilians. Ngo Dinh Diem establishes an anti-Communist state -- the Republic of Vietnam (RVN).

  • Infiltrators from the North became important to communist efforts in the South.

    1959 Infiltrators from the North became important to communist efforts in the South. Hanoi activates a special military transportation unit to control overland infiltration through Laos and Cambodia. The North Vietnamese Army (NVA), together with Laotian Communist forces, consolidated their hold on areas adjacent to both North and South Vietnam through which passed the network of jungle roads called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. As a result, it became easier to move supplies south to support the Viet

  • Hanoi creates the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (the Viet Cong).

    1960 December - Hanoi creates the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (the Viet Cong). The revival of guerrilla warfare in the South found the 700 man US Military advisory group, the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN), and Diem's government ill prepared to wage an effective campaign.

  • John F. Kennedy becomes President of the US

    1961 John F. Kennedy becomes President of the US. He sharply increased military and economic aid to South Vietnam to help Diem defeat the growing insurgency. By 1963 the US has 16,000 servicemen in Vietnam.

  • The US Joint Chiefs of Staff establish the United States Military Assistance Command

    1962 February - The US Joint Chiefs of Staff establish the United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), in Saigon.

  • Diem and his brother are killed.

    1963 November 1 - A US supported coup d' etat topples the Diem government. Diem and his brother are killed.

  • Kennedy is assassinated.

    November 22 - Kennedy is assassinated. Lyndon Johnson becomes President of the US.

  • In international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked U.S. naval vessels engaged

    1964 August - In international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked U.S. naval vessels engaged in surveillance of North Vietnam's coastal defenses. The Americans promptly launched retaliatory air strikes. At the request of President Johnson, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Southeast Asia Resolution—the so-called Gulf of Tonkin Resolution—authorizing all actions necessary to protect American forces and to provide for the defense of the nation's allies in Southea

  • A few days after ROLLING THUNDER (a campaign of sustained, direct air strikes of the North) began

    1965 March 8 - A few days after ROLLING THUNDER (a campaign of sustained, direct air strikes of the North) began, the 9th Marine Regiment went ashore in South Vietnam to protect the large airfield at Da Nang. They are the first US ground combat unit in Vietnam.

  • orth Vietnam's leaders began planning for a new offensive

    1975 North Vietnam's leaders began planning for a new offensive, still uncertain whether the United States would resume bombing or once again intervene in the South. When their forces overran Phuoc Long Province, north of Saigon, without any American military reaction, they decided to proceed with a major offensive in the Central Highlands. Neither President Nixon, weakened by the Watergate scandal and forced to resign, nor his successor