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End of World War II
Following the conclusion of World War II, the League for the Independence of Vietnam, also known as the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh, declared independence from France and engaged in military conflict. -
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French-Indochina War
Led by Ho Chi Minh, the League for Vietnamese Independence fought against occupying French forces. Ho Chi Minh wrote to America president Harry Truman for aid, likening himself to George Washington and the fight for Vietnamese Independence to the American Revolution. Truman never responded and likely never received Minh's letters. The U.S. supported French interests in the war, but was hesitant to commit troops. -
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Geneva Conference
The Geneva Conference was called in hopes of producing a peaceful solution to the French-Indochinese War. Representatives from the Viet Minh, France, the US, USSR, Cambodia, China, Laos, and the People's Republic of China were all present. The USSR called for a unified Vietnam, but the US opposed this idea, fearful of the country's fall to Communism. Instead, the nation was divided along the 17th parallel, with eventual plans for elections and a reunited nation. -
Assasination of Ngo Dinh Diem
After Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel, the US supported South Vietnam's capitalist regime under Ngo Dihn Diem, but eventually withdrew their support due to corruption and human rights violations under Diem. Diem's assassination left the nation vulnerable to invasion by North Vietnamese forces. -
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Escalation of the War
Following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the United States increased their degree of involvement in the Vietnam War in a movement that became known as escalation. Under President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration, America shifted from supporting Southern Vietnamese forces to taking control of the war. Operation Rolling Thunder, an aerial bombing campaign, was among the most obvious pieces of escalation. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
A controversial military encounter between an American destroyer, the US Maddox, which was overseeing South Vietnamese raids on North Vietnamese bases, and three North Vietnamese torpedo ships. Despite inconsistent accounts of what actually occurred, American Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara encouraged President Johnson to use the incident as justification for escalating American involvement in the unfolding Vietnamese Civil War. -
The Tet Offensive
A series of N. Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in S. Vietnam. It was an attempt to end rebellion among the S. Vietnamese people and encourage the US to scale back its involvement in the war. The news coverage of the attack shocked the US public and eroded support for the war effort. Despite heavy casualties, N. Vietnam achieved a strategic victory with the Tet Offensive, as the attacks marked a turning point in the Vietnam War and the beginning of American withdrawal. -
The My Lai Massacre
One of the most horrific incidents of violence committed against unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War when American soldiers brutally killed women, children and old men in the village of My Lai. More than 500 people were killed in the My Lai massacre, including young girls and women who were raped and mutilated before being killed. US Army officers covered it up for a year before it was reported in the American press. The brutality of the killings and the cover-up fueled anti-war sentiment. -
Vietnamization
A program that built up South Vietnamese forces so they could assume more responsibility for the war. As the South Vietnamese troops became more capable, the US troops could gradually be withdrawn from combat and return home. Also kept supplying the South Vietnamese with modern weaponry. -
Cambodia
Nixon orders an invasion into Cambodia under the pretext of disrupting the North Vietnamese supply lines. They also invaded in order to bomb and destroy the Vietcong base camps, that were backing up the other operations in South Vietnam. However, Nixon had been in Cambodia and bombing Cambodia long before he announced the invasion, causing further distrust from the American public. -
Kent State Shooting/Opposition to the Vietnam War
Days after Nixon announces expansion into Cambodia, four students are shot and killed at Kent State by National Guardsmen while protesting the Vietnam War. After the the televised Tet Offensive, American public lost support for the war. Thousands of people gathered to protest the escalation of the Vietnam War (especially college students). -
The Pentagon Papers
A top-secret Department of Defense study of U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. As the Vietnam War dragged on, with more than 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam by 1968, military analyst Daniel Ellsberg came to oppose the war, and decided that the information contained in the Pentagon Papers should be available to the American public. He gave the report to The New York Times, which published a series of scathing articles based on the report’s most damning secrets. -
US withdrawal from Vietnam
Because of Operation Homecoming, the last remaining troops in Vietnam are pulled out by Nixon, who declares, "the day we have all worked and prayed for has finally come." America's long involvement in the Vietnam War is concluded, ultimately ending in defeat. -
The Fall of Saigon
The end of the Vietnam War after Saigon is invaded and taken by the North Vietnamese. A major blow to the US in the Cold War, coupling as a great victory for the Communists.