Vietnam War

By epaiegross

  • Japan Invades Vietnam

  • Ho Chi Minh helps found the Indochinese Communist Party

  • Ho Chi Minh declares an independent Vietnam

    called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

  • The United States pledges $15 million worth of military aid to France to help them fight in Vietnam

  • The French suffer a decisive defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu

  • The Geneva Accords

    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.

  • South Vietnam declares itself the Republic of Vietnam

    newly elected Ngo Dinh Diem as president

  • US Trains South Vietnamese

    The US Military Assistance Advisor Group (MAAG) assumes responsibility, from French, for training South Vietnamese forces.

  • The National Liberation Front (NLF), also called the Viet Cong, is established in South Vietnam.

  • Kennedy inaugurated

  • Buddhists Rebel against Diem

    Tensions between Buddhists and the Diem government are further strained as Diem, a Catholic, removes Buddhists from several key government positions and replaces them with Catholics. Buddhist monks protest Diem's intolerance for other religions and the measures he takes to silence them. In a show of protest, Buddhist monks start setting themselves on fire in public places.

  • South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is executed during a coup.

  • President Kennedy Assassinated in Dallas

    Kennedy's death meant that the problem of how to proceed in Vietnam fell squarely into the lap of his vice president, Lyndon Johnson.

  • The Gulf of Tonkin Incident

    North Vietnamese attack two U.S. destroyers sitting in international waters.

  • The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    In response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

  • LBJ inaugurated for a second term

  • Operation Rolling Thunder

    A bombing campiagn against the North Vietnamese is depoyed. Continual bombings go on for the next three years

  • First Ground Troops Deployed in Vietnam