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Period: to
- France invades Vietnam and makes Vietnam a colony.
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Ho Chi Minh helps found the Indochinese Communist Party.
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Japan invades Vietnam.
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Ho Chi Minh establishes the Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam).
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Ho Chi Minh declares an independent Vietnam, called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
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The Viet Minh receive military advisors and weapons from China.
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The United States pledges $15 million worth of military aid to France to help them fight in Vietnam.
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Vietnam War begins
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The French suffer a decisive defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
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The Geneva Accords creates a cease-fire for the peaceful withdrawal of the French from Vietnam and provides a temporary boundary between North and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel.
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South Vietnam declares itself the Republic of Vietnam, with newly elected Ngo Dinh Diem as president.
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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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Period: to
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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The first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam.
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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 Mai 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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U.S. troops in Vietnam reaches 540,000.
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President Nixon orders the first of many U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam.
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Communist revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh dies at age 79.
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The American public learns of the Mai Lai massacre.
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President Nixon announces that U.S. troops will attack enemy locations in Cambodia. This news sparks nationwide protests, especially on college campuses.
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Portions of the Pentagon Papers are published in The New York Times.
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The North Vietnamese cross the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel 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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South Vietnam surrenders to the communists.
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Vietnam is unified as a communist country, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
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The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. is dedicated.