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Dien Bien Phu
-Lasted 55 days
-Against Vietnam and France
-Vietnamese had more deaths and wounds but still took victory -
Creation of the Ho Chi Minh Trails
They were a network of roads built from North Vietnam to South Vietnam through the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia.
It provided logistical support to the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese Army during the Vietnam War. -
The US becomes actively invovled
(Late 1961)
President John F. Kennedy ordered help for the South Vietnamese government in its war against the Vietcong guerrillas. -U.S. backing includes new equipment and more than 3,000 military advisors and support personnel.
-American helicopters arrive at docks in South Vietnam along with 400 U.S. personnel in decemeber of 1961 -
Operation Rangeland
(early 1962 no specific date)
-The goal of Ranchhand was to clear vegetation alongside highways, making it more difficult for the Vietcong to conceal themselves for ambushes.
-Forest are sprayed with "Agent Orange," a herbicide containing the deadly chemical Dioxin.
-Guerrilla trails and base areas are exposed, and crops that might feed Vietcong units are destroyed -
Gulf of Tonkin Attack
-On this night, South Vietnamese commandos attacked two small North Vietnamese islands in the Gulf of Tonkin.
-The US Maddox, an electronic spy ship, was 123 miles south with orders to electronically simulate an air attack. This was to draw North Vietnamese boats away from the commandos. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
It gave President Johnson the power to take whatever actions he saw necessary to defend southeast Asia -
Rolling Thunder Begins
President Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder.
-It was a limited but long lasting bombing offensive.
-Its aim is to force North Vietnam to stop supporting Vietcong guerrillas in the South.
-First attack did not accur till March that year
-Ended November 1st, 1968 -
US offers peace for economic aid purposal
-The offer is summarily rejected.
Two weeks later, President Johnson raises America's combat strength to more than 60,000 troops.
-As a sign of international support, allied forces from Korea and Australia were added -
President Johnson commits over 60,000 troops to Vietnam
(Doesnt say exact date, but 2 weeks after april 7th)
President Johnson raises America's combat strength in Vietnam -
First major battle of Vietnam for American Units
-American army launches Operation Starlite.
-the United States scores a resounding victory.
-killed nearly 700 Vietcong soldiers. U.S. forces sustain 45 dead and more than 200 wounded. -
Operation Junction City
-240 helicopters sweep over Tay Ninh province
-The goal was to destroy Vietcong bases and the Vietcong military headquarters for South Vietnam.
-Some 30,000 U.S. troops take part in the mission, joined by 5,000 men of the South Vietnamese Army.
-Lasts 72 days with American forces succeeding in capturing large quantities of stores, equipment and weapons, but there are no large, decisive battles -
Khe Sanh attacked by Vietcong
On this day North Vietnam attacked American military officials who decided to try and hold the base at Khe Sanh. the battle was 77 days long and Americans had the victory -
Tet Offensice begins
-Communist forces built up for the Tet Offensive.
-200 senior officials were arrested on opponents of the Tet strategy.
-Vietcong units surge into action over the length and breadth of South Vietnam.
-Vietcong units attacked over 100 different cities
-Americans lost 2,500 men -
My Lai Massacre
-Charlie Company kills about two hundred civilians.
-Only one member of the division is tried and found guilty of war crimes.
-undid the benefit of countless hours of civic action by Army units and individual soldiers and raised unsettling questions about the conduct of the war. -
Nixon takes office
-new President of the United States.
-Promised to achieve "Peace With Honor."
-His aim for Vietnam was to negotiate a settlement that will allow the half million U.S. troops in Vietnam to be withdrawn, while still allowing South Vietnam to survive. -
Operation Menu
(Just states Nixon authorized it in february 1969)
-It was the bombing of North Vietnamese and Vietcong bases within Cambodia.
-Lasted until May 26, 1970.
-US forces dropped over a half a million tons of bombs -
All but 133,000 US troops have come home
-Two thirds of America's troops have gone in two years.
-almost exclusively the responsibility of South Vietnam, which has over 1,000,000 men enlisted in its armed forces. -
Peace talks break down
-In Paris
-peace talk between the North Vietnamese and the Americans
-it breaks down. -
Peace Talks resume
North Vietnam and the United States resume peace talks in Paris. -
Cease Fire Signed
All warring parties in the Vietnam War signed it -
Nixon resigns
President Richard M. Nixon leaves South Vietnam without its strongest advocate. -
Last casualities for the US and final evacuation
-At 4:03 a.m. two U.S. Marines are killed in a rocket attack at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport.
-At dawn, the last Marines of the force guarding the U.S. embassy lift off.
-hours later, looters ransack the embassy, and North Vietnamese tanks role into Saigon, ending the war.
-15 years, nearly a million NVA and Vietcong troops and a quarter of a million South Vietnamese soldiers have died. -Hundreds of thousands of civilians had been kiled
