Vietnam "War"

Timeline of War

 

1862: Vietnam became part of the French Empire

 

1930: Ho Chi Minh helped to form the Indo-Chinese Communist Party

 

1941: Vietminh formed to counter Japanese invasion of Vietnam

 

1945: Japan handed Vietnam to the Vietminh; Ho Chi Minh declared theDemocratic Republic of Vietnam (September); French troops arrived back in Vietnam

 

1946: war broke out between the French and the Vietminh

 

1949: Communist China came into play allowing the Vietminh to train in China away from French attacks

 

1950: Truman refused to recognise the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Communist China and theUSSR recognised Ho’s state

 

1954: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu – Giap defeated the French force based there; a ceasefire was agreed at Geneva that split Vietnam at the 17th Parallel; France withdrew their military fromVietnam; US promises aid worth $100 million to the anti-communist Diem

 

1955: The pro-American Ngo Dinh Diem became President of South Vietnam in October. America agreed to train Diem’s army.

1956: Diem started to arrest anyone suspected of being in the Vietminh

 

1957: the Vietminh started a campaign of guerrilla warfare in South Vietnam

 

1959: American military advisors were killed in Vietnam – the first US casualties; the Ho Chi Minh Trail was first used

 

1960: the National Liberation Front was formed in Hanoi though in the South, they were known as the Vietcong

 

1961: US President Kennedy pledged extra aid to South Vietnam

 

1962: The number of US military advisors increased from 700 to 12,000

 

1963: President Diem was killed in a military riot. 15,000 US military advisors were in South Vietnam

 

1964: the Gulf of Tonkin incident; Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution’; America bombs targets in North Vietnam; attacked US air bases

 

1965: ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’ started; the first US combat troops were sent to Vietnam in March; by the end of the year there were 200,000 US troops there; the first major conventional clash between USA and NVA at Ia Drang

 

1966: 400,000 US troops were in Vietnam

 

1967: 490,000 US troops in Vietnam; Nguyen Van Thieu became President of South Vietnam

 

1968: Tet Offensive; demonstrations against the war started in America; My Lai massacre; peace talks began in Paris; 540,000 US troops in Vietnam; anti-Vietnam War riots in Chicago in August

 

1969: Nixon ordered the secret bombing of Cambodia; ‘Vietnamization’ started; Nixon announced the start of US troop withdrawals; Ho Chin Minh died; 480,000 US troops in Vietnam; My Lai massacre made public in November

 

1970: Four student demonstrators shot dead at Kent State University; 280,000 US troops in Vietnam; secret peace talks held in Paris; large scale anti-war demonstrations throughout USA

 

1971: 140,000 US troops in Vietnam; Lt. William Calley convicted of murder at My Lai and jailed 1972: Haiphong harbour mined in May; “Peace is at hand” – Dr Kissinger

 

1973: ceasefire signed in Paris; last US troops left Vietnam; US POW’s released

 

1975: Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia; NLF captured Saigon

 

1982: Vietnam Veterans Memorial unveiled in Washington DC