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Ho Chi Minh is born
Ho Chi Minh is born. This is important because he is the Nationalist leader of North Vietnam. He will go on to fight for independence for his country. -
Vietnam declares independence from France, but neither France nor the United States recognize Vietnam as a separate nation
Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independence in Hanoi's Ba Dinh Square. Reading from the second line of US declaration of independence, all men are created equal. -
The Geneva Accords cause Vietnam to split into North and South
The defeat at Dien Bien Phu caused the negotiators at the Geneva Conference to finalize the Geneva Accords. This divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel -
Ngo Dinh Diem cancels elections in Vietnam
This was very important because it was a sign to the people that even though they were told they were a free state and could vote, this showed that they weren't really free. Diem decided to cancel the elections because he knew that communism would win and take over the country. What the people were voting over was whether to keep North and South Vietnam separate or Unite the nation -
President Eisenhower declares "Domino Theory"
The importance of the Domino Theory is it shows how quickly and straight forward thins can happen. The theory was that if we were to let Vietnam become communist slowly but surely other countries around would become communist and would soon turn the US into communist -
The Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu
This was a French stronghold, that once lost control to the Communist signaled an end to French Colonial influence in Indochina. The US stepped in and supplied more aid to the South Vietnamese and sent there first military Advisers over. -
The National Liberation Front is formed
They were a communist Army in the south founded by Nguyen Van Hieu. They were also known as the Viet Cong. They occupied South Vietnam -
The United States withdraws support of Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of South Vietnam
Buddhist began holding protest rallies against Diem, because he was killing Buddhist. US was finally convinced and withdrew. Diem was Assassinated shortly after. -
A South Vietnamese monk sets himself on fire.
This was a major signal to the US that they had to do something. The man was a Buddhist monk, and was doing this because the Buddhist were being slaughtered by Diem -
President Kennedy is assassinated, leading to the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson
Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, Later that evening Johnson is sworn in on Air force One. Vietnam might have been more voted towards what the people wanted, because JFK was strongly associated with the Civil Rights Movement. -
President Johnson claims a U.S. ship had been fired upon by the North Vietnamese
This was called the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, and was a claim that a US ship had been fired upon by 3 North Vietnamese vessels. The ship that was fired upon was the USS Maddox, and from this incident came Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which allowed Johnson to greatly escalate the US military Involvement in Vietnam -
The first combats arrive in Vietnam
This is important because it established that the U.S was involved. The US sent Military advisers in September of 1950
