-
1887
France imposes a colonial system over Vietnam, calling it French Indochina -
1930
Ho Chi Minh founds the Indochinese Communist Party at a meeting in Hong Kong -
june 1940
Nazi Germany takes control of France -
september 1940
Japanese troops invade French Indochina and occupy Vietnam with little French resistance -
may 1941
Ho Chi Minh and communist colleagues establish the League for the Independence of Vietnam -
march 1945
Japanese troops occupying Indochina carry out a coup against French authorities and announce an end to the colonial era, declaring Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia independent -
august 1945
Japan is defeated by the Allies in World War II, leaving a power vacuum in Indochina -
september 1945
Ho Chi Minh declares an independent North Vietnam and models his declaration on the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 in an (unsuccessful) effort to win the support of the United States -
july 1946
Ho Chi Minh rejects a French proposal granting Vietnam limited self-government and the Viet Minh begins a guerrilla war against the French -
march 1947
In an address to Congress, President Harry Truman states that the foreign policy of the United States is to assist any country whose stability is threatened by communism. The policy becomes known as the Truman Doctrine -
june 1949
The French install former emperor Bao Dai as head of state in Vietnam -
august 1949
The Soviet Union explodes its first atom bomb in a remote area of Kazakhstan, marking a tense turning point in the Cold War with the United States -
june 1950
The United States, identifying the Viet Minh as a Communist threat, steps up military assistance to France for their operations against the Viet Minh -
january 1950
The People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union formally recognize the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam and both begin to supply economic and military aid to communist resistance fighters within the country -
april 1954
In a speech, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower says the fall of French Indochina to communists could create a “domino” effect in Southeast Asia. This so-called domino theory guides U.S. thinking on Vietnam for the next decade