-
Ho Chi Minh is born.
He would go to on to lead the Communist North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War. Him being a communist is what caused the U.S to join the conflict. -
Vietnam declares independence from France, but neither France nor the United States recognize Vietnam as a separate nation.
They were angered and launched an attack against the French. This was important because this was the start of the Vietnam conflict to gain independence from France. -
President Eisenhower declares "Domino Theory"
The idea was that if Vietnam fell to Communism then every nation around them would too, leading to Communism taking over all of Asia and maybe spreading into Europe. This was important because the Domino Theory gave Americans a sense that they had to do everything possible to stop Vietnam from falling to Communism. -
The Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu.
The United States responded by taking the fight on and sending more troops to fight in Vietnam. This was important because if the French won the U.S. probably would have got out of Vietnam and left them alone. -
The Geneva Accords cause Vietnam to be split into North and South
The nation was split at the 17th parallel. This was important because now there were 2 separate nations that wanted to become one nation but in completely different ways causing harsh tensions leading to a large conflict. -
Ngo Dinh Diem cancels elections in Vietnam.
Diem canceled the elections because he knew that he would lose, the vote was about unifying the country and he knew the Ho chi Minh would win. This was important because it kept the nation of Vietnam split in 2. -
The National Liberation Front is formed.
They were also known as the Viet Cong and they occupied South Vietnam. This was important because the Viet Cong were Communists and they occupied the South which was against Communism -
The United States withdraws support of Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of South Vietnam.
Diem was assassinated after the United States stopped supporting him. This was important because there was now a lot of confusion in South Vietnam because they had no leader. -
A South Vietnamese monk sets himself on fire.
This man was a Buddhist and he did this to protest the discrimination against Buddhists in South Vietnam. This was important because it showed other Buddhists that they can make a change and it forced the south Vietnamese to focus on something else that wasn't war related. -
President Kennedy is assassinated, leading to the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.
We might stayed with our goals to just contain communism and not make the war into an ego booster of, "we are not losing when I'm president". The war might have been handled a lot more carefully and precisely. The assassination of JFK had a huge impact on American spirits and it changed our course of how to deal with Vietnam. -
President Johnson claims a U.S ship had been fired upon by the North Vietnamese.
The ship that was supposedly fired upon was the USS Maddox, the response to this incident was the United States got an excuse to interfere and join the Vietnam war. This was important because it gave the U.S an excuse to get involved. -
The first combat troops arrive in Vietnam.
The U.S. first sent military advisers to Vietnam in September of 1950. This was important because it was the start of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
