-
Creation of the domino theory
Dwight D. Eisenhower coined the term himself, and this was the thought that as one nation falls to communism, others nations will follow suite and so on, falling like dominoes. This greatly contributed to escalation, as it caused more paranoia to the idea of Vietnam becoming communist which presidents like LBJ believed in strongly. This would affect many presidents decision making in dealing with countries turning to communism like Vietnam. -
Thich Quang Duc self immolates
A buddhist monk burned to death as a protest against the way the Buddhists were being treated under the Diem regime. This made people lose faith in Diem, including the U.S., as they did nothing to try to stop the assassination of Diem. -
Assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem
The assassination left South Vietnam without a leader. This caused the U.S. to want to take more action and be more involved in Vietnam because they were extremely vulnerable to communist takeover. -
Assassination of JFK; LBJ inaugurated
The assassination of President Kennedy and the inauguration of LBJ drastically changed the escalation of the war, as both had differing approaches to dealing with Vietnam. It is very likely that if JFK was never assassinated, all U.S. troops would have been taken out of Vietnam much earlier and the war would have ended much sooner. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Two U.S. destroyers were stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin, and North Vietnamese patrol boats reportedly attacked one of them. However, the attacks might have not happened because of false radar signs based off weather patterns. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident Part 2
When LBJ hear about this, he ignored the skepticism an kept on planning what to do next. Eventually he decided to try and convince Congress to give him power to start a war even though the events didn't happen. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
President Johnson is given the power by Congress to defend U.S. forces in Southeast Asia. This resolution and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident provided justification for the escalation of the conflict in Vietnam -
Operation Rolling Thunder
LBJ orders the beginning of Operation Rolling Thunder, a bombing campaign conducted by the U.S. navy and airforce. He intended to put military pressure on North Vietnam's communist leaders, and reduce their capacity to wage war against the U.S. supported government of South Vietnam. -
President Johnson orders more troops
LBJ commits more to the conflict in Vietnam by ordering 50,000 more troops to be sent to Vietnam. Monthly draft calls would increase from 17,000 to 35,000. This was the highest level of troops since the Korean War. -
Operation Starlite
Operation Starlite was the first major offensive action conducted by a purely U.S. military unit during the Vietnam War. Although the first Viet Cong Regiment was considered destroyed, the organization reconstituted itself within months and continued to fight U.S. and South Vietnamese forces for the rest of the war. -
Battle of Ia Drang
This was the first major battle between the U.S. and Viet Cong forces in the early stages of the Vietnam War. 234 Americans were killed and thousands of more soldiers were injured. U.S. ground troops were carted off the battlefield and brought into helicopters for medical attention while reinforcements came in as well. -
Body count measured as military success
U.S. military generals like William Westmoreland determined that the body count of Viet Cong soldiers was the measure of military success. They felt that if they killed more of them, they would be closer to victory. -
Beginning of Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 South Vietnamese cities and outposts. Their goal was to scare the U.S. and to encourage them to scale back its involvement in Vietnam. The offensive ended on September 23, 1968.
