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Ho Chi Minh is born
He would go on to lead the viet minh independence movement. Ho Chi Minh was a communist revolutionary leader. -
Vietnam declared independence from France, but neither France nor the Untied States recognize Vietnam as a separate nation.
Viet Minh launched an attack against the french in Hanoi. This began the first Indochina war. -
First combat troops arrive in Vietnam
The US sent their first advisers in 1960 when the United States Military Assistant Advisory Group was established in Saigon. -
The Geneva Accords cause Vietnam to split into North and South.
The Geneva Accords divided North and South Vietnam on the 17th parallel. -
President Eisenhower declares "Domino Theory"
The Domino Theory was the justification of the United states involvement in Vietnam. The Domino Theory states that if one country is to fall to communism then the others around will too. -
The Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu.
The United States filled the space of the French and supplied aid to South Vietnam. US sent their first military advisers to the country. -
Ngo Dinh Diem cancels elections in Vietnam.
Diem realized that if these elections were held Ho Chi Minh and the North would win. The elections were cancelled and north and south became permanently separate. -
The National Liberation Front is formed.
Also known as The National Liberation Front for the liberation of South Vietnamese. The NLF occupied South Vietnam. Their goal was to overthrow south Vietnam government and reunite North and South. -
The United States withdraws support of Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of South Vietnam.
Diem was assassinated after this by opposing generals -
A South Vietnamese monk sets himself on fire.
He was a Mahayana Buddhist monk. He wanted to show that to fight on all forms of oppression on equal terms needed to have its martyrs. This act had a very big impact on the world. -
President Kennedy is assassinated, leading to the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson
United States involvement in Vietnam would have be different if JFK was president longer because he opposed the war. Johnson imminently got the US deep in the Vietnam war. -
President Johnson claims a U.S. ship had been fired upon by North Vietnamese.
The ship was the USS Maddox. The Gulf of Tonkin resolution was passed, signaling the United States full involvement in the Vietnam war.
