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Ho Chi Mihn And the Creation of the Viet Minh
Ho Chi Minh created a communist party in Vietnam and wanted to make Vietnam a communist country. He gained many followers throughout the years and ended up getting North Vietnam. He wanted to reunite Vietnam as a whole in his communist party, which caused tension. He ended up fighting the USA and South Vietnam and ended up winning. -
The First Indochina War
This war was fought between the Viet Minh and their allies and France and their allies. This broke up Indochina, which France had ruled for a while. This gave Vietnam its own country and led to Vietnam gaining its independence. -
The Domino Theory
This led the United States to feel obliged to fight in Vietnam so that other new countries around the area, like Laos, wouldn't turn communist. Big reason why the US went to war. -
America Aids France
This shows that the United States supported democracies even if it is colonies. Usually, the US would support the smaller colonies, but since Vietnam was communist, they supported the democratic France. This led tensions between Vietnam and the US. -
Geneva Accords
This established that Vietnam would be split into a democratic South and a Communist North. They said that the citizens would vote in two years to unite it into either one. This would never work and raised tensions since each leader wanted to lead Vietnam strictly in there ideologies. -
Use of Agent Orange
This was used by the US to destroy all shrubs and forests so they could find the Viet Cong. This ended up not only killing the beautiful Vietnamese country, but also killing many civilians and causing many birth defects due to unsafe drinking water. -
Diệm’s assassination
This caused many leaders to move into the South and didn't find a good leader. This caused the Southern Vietnamese citizens to dislike the South more and more, so they felt like the North would win the election. -
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident
The United States naval ship the Maddox, was attacked by Vietnamese naval torpedo boats. Raised tensions between the two and gave Johnson a reason to attack Vietnam and created the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which gave the president (LBJ) the right to declare war without permission from congress. -
The Tet Offensive
The North Vietnamese led a massive attack on many major SV cities. Although a failure, this raised tensions and swayed the public opinion from pro-war to anti-war in the United States. -
My Lai Massacre
US soldiers massacred hundreds of civilians after the Tet Offensive. This made the US public even more anti-war and made them made and didn't support the US soldiers as much. -
U.S. troop withdrawals and Vietnamization
This led to the end of the war and allowed Vietnam to slowly take over. This led to better tensions and made the US public happier. NV ended up winning and taking all of Vietnam for themselves. -
War Powers Act
This made the president's Gulf of Tonkin powers less. He now had to ask Congress 48 hours before he deployed troops. Weakened his power. -
Fall of Saigon
The official end of the Vietnam War. Created better tensions, but the US and the capitalists lost. The NV and the communists won.