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From the 1880s up until after WWII, Vietnam was part of French Indochina, a French colony in Southeast Asia.
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Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese communist, helped form a group to oppose foreign occupation. This independence movement became known as the Viet Minh.
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Vietnam declares its independence. Ho Chi Minh said a speech with words directly from the Declaration of Independence.
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France refused to accept Vietnamese independence. French drove out rebels and launched attacks, like the attack on Haiphong killing 6,000 Vietnamese civilians.
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Thousands of U.S. soldiers had already died in Korea trying to halt the spread of communism.
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The U.S. was paying 80% of the cost of the war in Indochina.
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Making an agreement to stop fighting and splitting Vietnam along the 17th parallel. Viet Minh moved north of the line, while French withdrew to the south.
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The Viet Minh finally overran the French base, ending the Battle of Dien Phu and shattering French morale.
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The U.S. used its influence to put an anticommunist South Vietnamese leader, Ngo Dinh Diem. He blocked the national vote, rejecting the Geneva Accords, and held elections only in the south
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The Viet Minh formed a group called the National Liberation Front and invited all opponents of Diem to join. Diem referred to the group as Viet Cong, slang for "Vietnamese communists." However, many of its members were non-communists.
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The Viet Cong insurgency, or rebellion, threatened to overwhelm the South Vietnamese army. When Kennedy became president in 1961, he sent an inspection team to South Vietnam to evaluate.
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Diem discriminated against the Buddhist majority. Buddhist rallies were held opposing Diem's policy. This resulted in South Vietnamese police killing nine demonstrators.
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LBJ expressed his ambivalent feelings about Vietnam to an advise. He said it's probably "not worth fighting for, and I don't think we can get out." He asked military to begin planning for the bombing of North Vietnam
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As the NVL was being attacked, they responded with patrol boats. They fired machine guns and torpedoes at a U.S. destroyer in the Gulf of Tolkin
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Solder Count
1965- 184,000
1966- 385,000
1967- nearly half a million Americans -
Viet Cong attacked a U.S. air base in the south. This brought fear to Senator Gruening. LBJ responded by ordering the bombing of barracks and military staging areas north of the 17th parallel.
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About 3,500 U.S. marines waded ashore at a beach near Da Nang, South Vietnam. This was the first time U.S. combat troops had set foot in Vietnam. The soldiers received a warm greeting from local officials.
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The first major assault by U.S. ground troops against 1,500 Viet Cong who were preparing to attack a U.S. airbase near the coast
