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Vietnam War
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Giap begins assault on French
The Vietnamese which were outnumbering the French nearly five-to-one, attacked. 50,000 soldiers who acted under General Giap then begin their attack against the the Dien Bien Phu air base. -
President Eisenhouer outlines the Domino Theory
President Eisenhouer outlined the Domino Theory as such: "You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly." -
Geneva Convention Agreement
The Geneva Convention Agreement arranged for a settlement of the First Indochina War. The agreement was reached at the end of the Geneva Conference. Both sides agreed to sign a ceasefire. France then agreed to withdraw its troops from the region in which they were fighting. -
First U.S. Military Aid Arrives
This is when the first shipment of U.S. military aid arrived. The U.S. also offerd to train the fledgling South Vietnam Army. -
French leave Vietnam
The French retreated becasue of the the high death tolls, prisoners of war that were taken, and also the number of their wounded men. They felt a lack of support from the people in France and from the U.S. Governement. -
The Soviet Union proposes permanent division of Vietnam
The Soviet Union proposed to divide Vietnam into a North and South. And they also said that they thought that both parts should be admitted separately to the United Nations. The U.S. rejects the proposal, and were unwilling to recognize Communist North Vietnam. -
Major Dale Buis and Sargent Chester Ovnand are killed
Viet Minh's guerrillas killed them at Bien Hoa in South Vietnam. They were the first American deaths in the Second Indochina War which Americans will come to know simply as The Vietnam War. -
The National Liberation Front is established
The National Liberation Front was established by Hanoi as its Communist political organization for Viet Cong guerrillas in South Vietnam. This front was designed to replicate the success of the Viet Minh, the umbrella nationalist organization that successfully liberated Vietnam from French colonial rule. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Three North Vietnamese boats fired torpedoes at the USS Maddox. The Maddox is a destroyer that was located in the international water of the Tonkin Gulf. -
First American combat troops land in Vietnam
Marines arrive in Vietnam to defend the U.S. airfiled at Danang. The U.S. troops now total 200,000 men. -
N. Vietnamese launch Tet Offensive
North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces attack several cities in South Vietnam. This is a huge setback for the Communists. -
My Lai Massacre
Because of the war the men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division where frustrated and angry. They were given orders by Lt. William Calley to "search and destroy". They massacred a lot of people, causing controversy. Calley ended up being charged with the crime of murder. -
Vietnamization
Vietnamization is a policy that was creted and enacted during the Vietnam War to end U.S. involvement in the war and "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops. -
Cease-fire signed in Paris
This cease-fire was to take affect on the following day January 28, 1973. Both sides ended up violating it. South Vietnamese continued to take back paces currently occupied by communists and the communists tried also tried to take additional territory. Each side said that military operations were justified by the other side’s violations of the cease-fire. What resulted was an almost endless chain of retaliations. -
End of draft announced
Nixon announces and promises that there will be no more drafting for this war as the Vietnam war draws to an end. -
Last American troops leave Vietnam
This is the day that the last of the American troops leave South Vietnam. -
"Boat People" flee Vietnam
"Boat people" is a term used tto define Vietnam refugees that fled Vietnam by boat and ship after the Vietnam War. They started in 1978 and continued until the early 1990's. There were about 2 million who left their country in search of a better life.
