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Viet Minh was an organization that led the struggle for Vietnamese independence from French rule. The Viet Minh was formed in China in May 1941 by Ho Chi Minh.
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When Japan formally surrendered to the Allies on September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh felt emboldened enough to proclaim the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
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In July 1954, the Geneva Agreements were signed. As part of the agreement, the French agreed to withdraw their troops from northern Vietnam. Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, pending elections within two years to choose a president and reunite the country.
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The Gulf of Tonkin incident was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. It involved either one or two separate confrontations involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin.
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The Pentagon Papers was the name given to a top-secret Department of Defense study of U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. The study remained officially classified until June 2011, when the U.S. government released all 7,000 pages to the public in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of its leakage to the press.
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The My Lai massacre was one of the most horrific incidents of violence committed against unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War. A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the women, children and old men in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968.The brutality of the My Lai killings and the official cover-up fueled anti-war sentiment and further divided the United States over the Vietnam War.
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The Kent State shootings were the shootings on May 4, 1970, of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, during a mass protest against the bombing of Cambodia by United States military forces. When it was over, four students were dead, nine were wounded, and the innocence of a generation was shattered.
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Congress passed the 26th Amendment which granted the right to vote to American citizens aged eighteen or older in March 1971; the states promptly ratified it, and President Richard M. Nixon signed it into law that July.
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The Paris Peace Accords signed on January 27, 1973, committed the US to respect the independence, sovereignty, and unification of the Vietnamese nation. The signing marked a milestone in the history of Vietnam and international relations.
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The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong on April 30, 1975.
