Vietnam War timeline

  • Viet Cong

    A political organization and army in South Vietnam and Cambodia that fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War(1954-1975) , and emerged on the winning side (north). It had both guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network of cadres who organized peasants in the territory it controlled
  • Agent Orange

    Between 1962 and 1977, 77 million litres of chemical defoliants were sprayed over South Vietnam, the most widely used being Agent Orange. The logic behind it use was simple – to deny the NLF cover on the ground as they transported supplies and personnel around thus making them more easy to be spotted from the air and attacked by US forces.
  • U.s joins vietnam war

  • Tokin Gulf resolution

    The U.S. congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Johnson the power to take whatever actions he sees necessary to defend southeast Asia
  • 1st offensive attack on the NLF (Viet Cong)

    General William Westmoreland launches the first purely offensive operation by American ground forces in Vietnam, sweeping into NLF territory just northwest of Saigon.
  • Operation Crimp.

    U.S. forces launch Operation Crimp. Deploying nearly 8,000 troops, it is the largest American operation of the war. The goal of the campaign is to capture the Vietcong's headquarters for the Saigon area, which is believed to be located in the district of Chu Chi. Though the area in Chu Chi is razed and repeatedly patrolled, American forces fail to locate any significant Vietcong base.
  • Operation Birmingham

    In Operation Birmingham, more than 5,000 U.S. troops, backed by huge numbers of helicopters and armored vehicles, sweep the area around north of Saigon. There are small scale actions between both armies, but over a three week period, only 100 Vietcong are killed. Most battles are dictated by the Vietcong, who prove elusive.
  • Tet Offensive

    A campaign of surprising attacks that were launched against military and civilian commands and control centers throughout South Vietnam, during a period when no attacks were supposed to take place.
  • Tet Offensive #1

    I and II Corps Tactical Zones of South Vietnam. This early attack did not lead to widespread defensive measures. When the main communist operation began the next morning the offensive was countrywide and well coordinated, eventually more than 80,000 Communist troops striking more than 100 towns and cities, including 36 of 44 provincial capitals, five of the six autonomous cities, 72 of 245 district towns, and the southern capital.Thi offensive attack was the largest military operation conducted
  • My Lai. (My Lai Massacre)

    the Vietnam War mass murder of between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam on March 16, 1968, by United States Army soldiers of "Charlie" Company of 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the Americal Division. Victims included women, men, children, and infants. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies were later found to be mutilated and many women were allegedly raped prior to the killings
  • Kent state University incident

    U.s National Guard fires upon unarmed Ohio college students killing 4, wounding 13.
  • Invasion Of Cambodia

    Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion of Kampuchea and subsequently occupied the country and removed the Khmer Rouge from power.
    During the Vietnam War, Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge communists had formed an alliance to fight U.S.-backed regimes in their respective countries. Despite their open display of cooperation with the Vietnamese, the Khmer Rouge leadership feared that the Vietnamese communists were scheming to form an Indochinese federation with Vietnam as the dominant force in the region