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Geneva Conference
Negotiations to end the fighting in Vietnam between the French and the Vietminh. This separated Vietnam at the 17th parallel and gave them their independence from the French. -
Diem Overthrown and Murdered
Ngo Dinh Diem, the unpopular leader of South Vietnam, was overthrown in a military coup. He was then assassinated along with his brother while being transported to the Vietnamese General Joint Staff headquarters. This caused many problems by leaving South Vietnam leaders and making their government very weak against the North Vietnamese. -
Tonkin Resolution
It was the response the United States to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. It gave the president the power to use conventional military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war from congress. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Was a bombing campaign by the Americans in an effort to get Ho Chi Minh to forget his goal of capturing the South. It’s purpose seemed to fail after the first few weeks, so it got changed until Johnson restricted it to help with peace negotiations. -
Operation Cedar Falls
This operation involved 16,000 American soldiers along with 11,000 South Vietnamese soldiers. The goal of the offensive was to interrupt insurgent North Vietnamese operation near Saigon. It also targeted the strategic points of the Thanh Dien Forest Preserve and the Iron Triangle. -
Tet Offensive
Surprise attacks led by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese soldiers. The North attacked about 100 South Vietnam towns and cities. It was considered to be a turning point in the war and happened because the North Vietnamese knew they needed a strong military offensive to hit the Americans hard. -
Battle for Hue
The North Vietnamese launched an attacked on the City of Hue for 26 days, which they eventually won and occupied. This was a turning point in the war, since after news of the battle reached America, many people were starting to feel the war was not worth the losses it caused. -
Massacre at My Lai
An American platoon led by Lieutenant William Calley had killed more than 200 unarmed old men, women, and children at the South Vietnamese village of My Lai. It sparked many Anti-War protests and led to the incarceration of Calley for the massacre. -
Riot at Democratic Convention
The convention was held in Chicago, and this was with President Lyndon Johnson choosing not to run for reelection. The convention drew many protesters, which eventually led to violence, even escalating into a police riot. -
Vietnamization
A policy enacted by the Nixon administration to provide the US a clean and honorable withdrawal from Vietnam. It was to withdraw the US troops while teaching the South Vietnamese to provide for their own defense and security. -
Draft Lottery
This was the first draft lottery since 1942 during World War II. It was to determine the order of the induction into the service for men drafted in the year 1970. The draft was a big cause of the controversy of the war for young people. -
Kent State
Ohio National Guard soldiers tried to break up a war protest at Kent State University. They were armed with rifles and gas. They fired on the protesters and managed to kill four students. -
Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg, a Defense Department worker, released these documents to the New York Times. They showed that many government workers who publicly defended the war secretly questioned the US involvement in the war. It also proved to the American public that the government truly had been lying to them. -
26th Amendment
It was that made the legal voting age 18 for all United State citizens, no matter who they were. It also gave the government the right to enforce this rule by any means of legislation. -
Easter Offensive
An attack launch by the North Vietnamese, like the Tet Offensive, to gain a decisive victory over the South. While they failed that their main goal, they managed to gain more land in the South. The Easter Offensive also made both side more willing to concede issues during peace talks. -
Ceasefire signed in Paris
All of the warring parties in the Vietnam War all signed a Ceasefire in Paris. This was to set up the peace and negotiations for the Paris Peace Accords. -
US Withdrawal of Troops
The last of the troops finally left Vietnam. This was about two months after signing the peace agreement. It ended the United States direct involvement in the war. -
War Powers Act
Also known as the War Powers Resolution, it was passed by Congress to go over President Nixon’s veto to allow Congress to have more control over the president’s foreign policy actions. It was mostly to prohibit the president from engaging in military actions for longer than 60 days without the approval from congress. -
Communist Forces Capture Phuoc Long Province
In this fight, the South Vietnamese tried to defend an important province north of Saigon. They lost 20 planes and Phuoc Long fell to the North. The North Vietnamese took this lose as a sign that the Americans were no longer interested in protecting the South and could move more aggressively into the South. -
South Vietnam Surrender
The North Vietnamese managed to surround and completely take over Saigon due to there being little resistance from the city. There wasn’t much American help due to the unpopularity of the war, so the South was easily defeated by the North.
