Us Escalation

By EthanGuntherSchool

  • Gulf of Tonkin Incident

    Gulf of Tonkin Incident
    In August of 1964, the US was testing the North Vietnamese by shooting at the illegally off the coast. When we were engaged we fled. We came back on the 4th and thought we were fired upon more, but we were not. We still blamed them for the incident, leading to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and putting us in the war.

  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
    The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was accepted by congress to give President Johnson the ability to rule over the war without any treaty of war by congress. This occured right after the Incident in the Gulf of Tonkin and made our presence in the Vietnam war known.

  • Relocation of U.S Planes

    Relocation of U.S Planes
    In January, President Johnson ordered the movement of US planes from Okinawa, Japan to Da Nang. This escalated tension because we put planes right near them to try and intimidate them.

  • Operation Flaming Dart Begins

    Operation Flaming Dart Begins
    On February 7th, the White House authorised the beginning of Operation Flaming Dart, a plan to bomb the North to hit army bases and communication tools. This soon led to Operation Rolling Thunder, which escalated tension much more.

  • Operation Rolling Thunder

    Operation Rolling Thunder
    Operation Rolling Thunder was the successor of Flaming Dart. Its main goals were to hurt the North Vietnamese so bad that they would shortly run out of options and hope. This barely worked and made the North work harder to destroy us and made the war much more intense.

  • First US Foot Soldiers in Vietnam

    First US Foot Soldiers in Vietnam
    During Operation Starlite, US food soldiers were on the offensive and killed or captured almost a quarter of the enemies' 2000 soldiers. This proved that normal troops were still effective and showed that the US meant business and forced the North to change up their plans.

  • Search and Destroy Missions

    Search and Destroy Missions
    In late 1965 to early 1966, the beginning of search and destroy missions took place. These missions were mainly targeting enemy tracks or basses, set up an ambush or mines, and then quickly escape after the deed was done. This escalated the war because it was so effective and countered the insurgency method the North was using at the time.

  • Operation Cedar Falls

    Operation Cedar Falls
    Operation Cedar Falls was an attempt by the US to destroy the Iron Triangle, the place that was a strong hold for the Viet Cong. This was the US pushing further into their territory and making them have to run or fight. This turned out successful for the US.

  • Zippo Missions

    Zippo Missions
    Zippo missions were search and destroy missions that didn't go to well. Whenever a search and destroy mission went south, the US blamed villages for housing and protecting the North, so they would burn their crops and poison their water and burn their houses down. This started to escalate the war because we were now punishing civilians for something that they might not have even done.

  • My Lai Massacre

    My Lai Massacre
    The My Lai Massacre was a Zippo mission that killed 347 civilians. This was an egregious act and showed that we were so confused who was the Viet Cong or not that we will take them all.