19th-20th c	French occupation / rule by emperors / 3 provinces - click here for map of Vietnam - click here for images of pre-modern Vietnam - click here for painting of 1884 battle against the French
1941	Japanese occupation Ho Chi Minh & General Giap form Viet Minh ("League for Independence of Vietnam")	Franklin D. Roosevelt
1945	Japan defeated in WW2 Ho Chi Minh ("He who enlightens") establishes Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV capital = Hanoi) Ho Chi Minh appeals to America / model of Declaration of Independence	Harry Truman
1946-54	French-Indochina War (with heavy US financial support)
1954	Dien Bien Phu (defeat of French in north) Geneva Accords 17th Parallel / division of country into North & South Republic of Vietnam (capital = Saigon) Ngo Din Diem named President / Eisenhower promises support click here for Eisenhower's letter promising support click here for US Military Ambassador's Mission Statement	Dwight Eisenhower
1956	elections proposed according to Geneva Agreements / Diem refuses NLF = National Liberation Front = resistance movement in south
1960-63	continuing resistance in South Vietnam build-up of forces in North (NVRA = North Vietnamese Regular Army) protests in Saigon (Buddhist self-immolations) US Army advisors / CIA actions	John F. Kennedy
1962	Students for a Democratic Society (Tom Hayden) Port Huron Statement
1963	Diem defeated, captured, killed
1964	Tonkin Gulf Resolution fighting with Vietcong = military arm of NLF (National Liberation Army)	Lyndon Johnson
1965	marines land at Danang / 125,000 US troops
1966	bombing of North Vietnam = 164 missions @ day industrial, civilian, agricultural targets defoliation / Agent Orange
1967	nearly 500,000 US troops + 1,000,000 South Vietnamese Army -- click here for table of Allied troop levels 1960-73 LBJ writes Ho Chi Minh to propose bombing halt
1968	(January) Tet Offensive: Saigon, Hue, villages in South US anti-war movement: Berkeley, Columbia, other college campuses Democratic Convention in Chicago
1969	Nixon begins gradual withdrawal	Richard Nixon
1970	bombing / invasion of Cambodia & Laos Paris Peace Talks begin Kent State & Jackson State shootings
1973	Paris Peace Accords withdrawal of US combat forces War Powers Act (US Congress)
1975	fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City)	Gerald Ford
1976	unification: Socialist Republic of Vietnam

US casualties: over 50,000 dead / about 500,000 wounded Vietnamese casualties: unknown / in the millions (mostly civilian)

 

 

© David Willbern 1999