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Ho Chi Minh is born
Ho Chi Minh, at the age of 21, took a job on a French ship where he traveled abroad. He lived in London and Paris and became a founding member of the French Communist Party. Later his most notable act was leading the Viet Minh independence movement in the Vietnam war and creating the Communist-ruled Democratic Republic of Vietnam. -
Vietnam declares independence from France, but neither France nor the United States recognize Vietnam as a separate nation
Once Vietnam declares independence from France, they immediately tried to gain support from the United States. However, the U.S. did not view it as a separate nation. Due to the lack of U.S. support, Vietnam knew that France would try to regain control over their country and that war was coming. -
President Eisenhower declares "Domino Theory"
The Domino Theory was the idea that if one nation falls under Communist rule, others surrounding it would fall as well. This idea was present during the Vietnam War where the United States believed that if Vietnam came under Communist rule, all of Southeast Asia would fall as well. -
The Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu.
The defeat of the French marked the end of a 59-day battle and the first major battle of the Indochina War. After the French defeat, the United States became more involved in the Vietnam war and began to take over the anti-communist fight which then led to twenty more years of fighting in Vietnam. -
The Geneva Accords cause Vietnam to be split into North and South
The Geneva Accords separated Vietnam into a northern zone and a southern zone. The northern zone was led by the Viet Minh rebels and the southern zone was led by the government of Vietnam. The nation was divided along the 17th parallel. This act was one of the sparks of the war because it led to conflicts within the same country. -
Ngo Dinh Diem cancels elections in Vietnam
For the 1956 elections, Ngo Dinh Diem canceled the election due to the fact that he knew that if they were held, he would be run out of office with the election of Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh was very popular in the country of Vietnam and, therefore, he had a great chance of winning. They were voting on unifying the country after it was split along the 17th parallel in the Geneva Accords. -
The National Liberation Front is formed
The National Liberation Front was known as the Viet Cong. They were created to replicate the success of the Viet Minh who liberated Vietnam from French colonial rule. The National Liberation Front occupied South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. -
The United States withdraws support of Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of South Vietnam
The United States withdrew support of Ngo Dinh Diem because he was an inconvenience to the accomplishments the U.S. hoped to achieve in Southeast Asia. Due to this, Diem was assassinated and it was revealed that the United States supported the assassination. He was very important during the Vietnam war because he was the leader of the Vietcong in South Vietnam. -
A South Vietnamese monk sets himself on fire
In June of 1963, a monk that belonged to the religion of Buddhism set himself on fire in order to protest the discrimination towards Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. The monk was named Thich Quang Duc and he sat in lotus position in the middle of the town where he was covered in petroleum oil and lit on fire. Due to his act, Vietnam was now in everyone's minds and it helped fuel a revolution, destroy a regime, and may have been the reason the United States entered the Vietnam war. -
President Kennedy is assassinated, leading to the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson
President John F Kennedy was assassinated during the third year of his presidency while he was in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon B Johnson took over for Kennedy and led the country during some of the Vietnam War. If Kennedy was not assassinated, Vietnam would have been handled differently because Kennedy did not want to see it fall under Communist rule, therefore, he would have taken extra precautions to not cause them to fall to Communists and lead to a domino effect for the rest of Southeast Asia. -
President Johnson claims a U.S. ship had been fired upon by the North Vietnamese
President Johnson states that the U.S. ship, the USS Maddox, had been attacked by the North Vietnamese. This event was the turning point in the U.S. military involvement in Vietnam and led to the signing of the Gulf of Tonkin. -
The first combat troops arrive in Vietnam
During the Vietnam War, 3500 Marines land at China Beach holding the first combat troops. They joined 23,000 military advisors that had already been there since September of 1950. They were given permission by the president to root out Viet Cong in the countryside.
