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Battle of Dien Bein Phu
The battle of Dien Bein Phu took place from March - May 1954. The French surrenderd to the Viet Minh after a violent battle in which the Viet Minh captured over 12,000 French soldiers. -
Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh was the democratic party President. He led the attack of the Viet Minh independence movement against the French rule. April 26th - July 20th 1954 the Geneva Conference took place in which the Geneva Accords were put in place that separated north and south Vietnam, the north was governed by Viet Minh and the south was governed by the State of Vietnam. -
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem became President of South Vietnam right before the Vietnam war had started. He was backed by the U.S. at first in hopes that he would be able to unite north and south Vietnam and abolish communism, Unfortunately, he ended up threating voters as they were going to vote in the election and once elected started forcing his religious beliefs of Catholicism on an area where the majority of the people were Buddhist. The U.S. found out about what was happening and stopped supporting Diem -
MAAG Indochina
MAAG was an organization created to provide military assistant to south Vietnam. They were a major player in training South Vietnamese soliders. Some will state that this was the time that the U.S. actually went to war in Vietnam based on the great increase in troops in Vietnam. -
Vietnam
On this day the International Control Commission stated that both South and North Vietnam were not following the Geneva Agreements. -
National Security Action Memorandum 111
Sending more troops and supplies to South Vietnam was part of what Kennedy had said was to help avoid further deterioration of South Vietnam. There were about 33 helicopters and 400 air and ground crew men to help operate these helicopters. -
S.D.S
Students for a Democratic society held it's first meeting in Michigan and was the first organized student society to take a stand against the Vietnam war. -
Kennedy Assasination
Before Kennedy was assasinated he had said that by the end of 1963 he was going to remove 1,000 troops from Vietnam and by 1965 there would be a complete removal of U.S. troops and personal. After Kennedy's assasination and Lydon B. Johnson taking office, those plans were put to rest and the war continued. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
A North Vietnamese torpedo attack brought about a resolution that essentially gave President Johnson the power to repel attacks to prevent further aggressive action taken on the U.S. and would be backed by Congress. This resolution is also arguably one of the main declarations of war against North Vietnam. -
General Westmoreland
Later in the year of 1966 General Westmoreland was in command of over 1 million troops (U.S. and Vietnamese) in Vietnam. This year about 5,000 United States troops are killed and 30,000 are wounded. -
Dr. Martin Luther King
In New York City at the Riverside Church, Dr. King addressed the people stating that he was against the Vietnam war and the U.S. is "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today". -
My Lai massacre
A U.S. Army unit kills hundreds of unarmed villagers. The U.S. Army will hide this for over a year. Former GI Ron Ridenhour wrote a letter to his congressman that revealed the truth about the massacre in My Lai. -
Anti War Protests
The Anti-War Moratorium Day protests start. These protests brought out millions of protestors across several major cities in the U.S. including Washington. -
Paris Peace Accords
South Vietnam, North Vietnam, the United States, and Viet Cong formally sign an agreement to end the fighting in Vietnam. This document was signed in Paris and included a cease fire agreement throughout Vietnam. The U.S. agreed to remove all troops and U.S. bases in Vietnam within 60 days of the signing. -
Fall of Saigon
The fall of Saigon officially ended the war in Vietnam. North Vietnam invaded Saigon and took it over. South Vietnamese civilians were fleeing South Vietnam as North Vietnamese troops were invading.
