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Ho Chi MInh founds Indochinese Communist party
This is a step in the process of escalation. The U.S. interest in Vietnam, which began with the founding of the Indochinese communist party. The US suddenly became interested because our political thoughts were to prevent the spread of communism whenever and wherever it began. -
Ho Chi MInh establishes a league of independence for Vietnam
This is a step in escalation because it lets the world know that the people of Vietnam want to be independent and some countries do not want that. -
Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independent
Copying words from the US declaration of independence Ho Chi Mih declares Vietnam independent from france -
Ho Chi Minh rejects France's proposal for Vietnamese independence.
Ho Chi Minh rejected the French proposal because they only offered limited self-government and they wanted total self-government. Following this the Viet Minh begin a guerilla war against the French. This is escalation because conflict begins between the Viet Minh and the French. With the US being allies with France we begin to stop supporting North Vietnam. -
Frances installs Bao Dai in the south
France installed Bao Dai so they could still have some influence on Vietnam. They chose Bao Dai because he would do whatever the current ruling govt wanted. This is a sign of escalation because more and more people in South Vietnam began to want Ho Chi Minh to be the leader of all of Vietnam, which many capitalist countries didn't want. -
US spends military advisers to Vietnam.
North Vietnam views this as aggression, and begins to expand the war. -
Eisenhower makes "Domino Theory" speech
A step in escalation is again seen when President Eisenhower makes his speech on the domino theory. This sets the US on the course towards conflict in Vietnam because we now felt the need to prevent the spread of communism. -
North and South Vietnam are established
This is escalation because it causes a divide between the North and the South. The people in South Vietnam now wanted to be part of North Vietnam. -
US begins spraying agent orange and other herbicides in an attempt to clear the Forrest canopy of Vietnam.
This is escalation because the US began to apply herbicides and defoliants to remove tree coverage in Vietnam. -
Bao Dai is removed in a coup Ngo Dinh Diem becomes president
Bao Dai is removed from power and an election is held Ngo Dinh Diem is elected new president with 98% of the vote. The coup that removed Bao Dai was backed by the US. This is another step towards escalation in which the US was involved in. -
John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Lyndon B. Johnson is now president.
With the death of JFK, LBJ orders more military advisers to Vietnam. This is again seen as an act of escalation by the US. in the eyes of North Vietnam -
Gulf of Tonkin incident
US ships are attacked by North Vietnam in response to the US bombarding targets in North Vietnam. This is the inciting incident in the Vietnam Conflict.