-
In the late 1800s, the French took over Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. This was done by French colonists who took advantage of the peasants' land in order to extract goods for their own profit. French rulers harshly responded by restricting freedom of speech and assembly by jailing many Vietnamese nationalists. This failed to curb all dissent, and opposition continued to grow. -
By 1945, French troops were back in Vietnam because they had found out that it was declared an independent nation and they didn't want this to stand. They eventually took back control of some cities and the Southern half. Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam, wanted to liberate the Southern half from the French's rule and he was able to successfully make them communist -
Mao Zedong was the leader of China during and after the Chinese Civil War. After this war, he declared the creation of the People's Republic of China. Soon after, The People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union recognize that Vietnam is communist and begin to supply Vietnam with military aid to help Vietnam defeat communist resistance fighters within the country because they want to keep communism alive. -
President Eisenhower was still supplying aid to the French war efforts and the U.S. was at a stalemate with Korea. Even though the French was being helped by the US, they were still unable to defeat the Vietnamese and were forced to surrender in May of 1954. After this surrender, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, Laos, and Cambodia met and created the Geneva Accords. These temporarily dived Vietnam into North and South along the 17th parallel. -
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. They don't want this domino theory to come into effect because if it does then communism will spread and that isn't what the U.S. wants to happen. -
Ho Chi Minh won popular support over the North and helped give the poor land by breaking up larger estates. He became a national hero when he fought against the Japanese and French which led to the talking of a whole country election but the US sensed this and didn't support it. The Eisenhower administration helped offer military aid and training to Diem, with hopes of a stable government in the South as a return. The US wanted to intervene because they didn't want Communism to spread. -
The National Liberation Front (NLF) is formed with North Vietnamese backing as the political wing of the antigovernment insurgency in South Vietnam. The United States views the NLF as an arm of North Vietnam and starts calling the military wing of the NLF the Viet Cong -- short for Vietnam Cong-san, or Vietnamese communists. The U.S. aimed to get rid of this group being that they were communist and the U.S. is anti-communist -
Entering the White House in 1961 was The Kennedy Administration decided to "swim" with Ngo Dinh Diem and his thoughts. Kennedy knowing that there were accusations that the U.S' Government was "soft" or "light" on communism, he sent thousands of military advisers to help train the South Vietnamese troops. By the end of 1963, 16,000 U.S. military personnel were deployed in South Vietnam. Even with Kennedy's help, Diem was still falling politically because of his corruption. -
The Tonkin Gulf Incident was an international confrontation between two battleships that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. The original American report blamed North Vietnam for both of the incidents that occurred, but the Pentagon Papers and other reports suggest that the dismissal of legitimate concerns regarding the veracity of the second incident by Department of State and other government was used to justify an escalation by the US to a state of war with NV. -
After the alleged attack on the U.S. ships promoted President Johnson to launch bombing strikes on North Vietnam. He asked Congress for the power to take "all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." This request was approved and this was known as the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. This granted the President broad military powers in Vietnam.
Looking for a timeline maker?
Create timelines for projects, roadmaps, history, lessons, legal cases, and stories with Timetoast. Timetoast is a timeline maker for work, school, research, and stories.