Vietnam War Timeline Essay

523 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Vietnam war history

Vietnam War Timeline

Building Tension

1858-1887
The French began their colonial rule on Vietnam and began to call the land French Indochina.

1930
The Indochinese Communist Party was created by Ho Chi Minh to try to get Vietnamese independence from the French.

1941 The Viet Minh was a resistance force organized by the Indochinese Communist Party, as a response to an invasion from Japan during World War II.

1945
At the end of World War II, the Viet Minh achieved their goal of gaining Vietnam’s independence. They conquered Hanoi, a Northern Vietnamese city, and declared it as a democratic state with Ho Chi Minh as the president.

1946
French forces attacked Viet Minh in Haiphong in November, starting a war of resistance against …show more content…

The effort to take the outpost lasted for two months,while the French government agreed to attend to peace talks in Geneva.

The United States Enter the War
1964
North Vietnam PAtrol boats fire on U.S ships. US Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorising military action in region.
1965
200,000 American combat troops arrive in South Vietnam.
1966
US troop numbers in Vietnam rise to 400,000, then to 500,000 the following year.

1968 - Tet Offensive - a combined assault by Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army on US positions - begins. More than 500 civilians die in the US massacre at My Lai.

1969 Ho Chi Minh dies. President Nixon begins to reduce US ground troops in Vietnam as domestic public opposition to the war grows.

1970
Nixon's national security advisor, Henry Kissinger, and Le Duc Tho, for the Hanoi government, start talks in Paris.

1973 Ceasefire agreement in Paris, US troop pullout completed by March.

1975 North Vietnamese troops invade South Vietnam and take control of the whole country after South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh surrenders.

1976 Socialist Republic of Vietnam proclaimed. Saigon is re-named Ho Chi Minh City. Hundreds of thousands flee

Show More
Related

  • The U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War Was Justified

    1749 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... One of the greatest things to come out of the war was the humanitarian aid that we brought and the brief liberation. In early 1975, the communists launched a major offensive in the north of South Vietnam that resulted in the fall of Saigon on 30 April. In the previous month a RAAF detachment of 8 Hercules transports flew humanitarian missions to aid civilian refugees displaced by the fighting, and carried out the evacuation of Vietnamese orphans before finally taking out embassy staff on 25 April (Dudley 179).

    Read More

  • Comparing the Vietnam War vs. Iraq War

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Vietnam War was a war over communism that started in 1950, when Ho Chi Minh, the national leader of Vietnam, introduced a communist government into North Vietnam. In 1954 it was decided to split the country at the 17th parallel, and was ruled under opposing governments, Bao Dai leading the south and Ho Chi Mihn the north. North Vietnam went to war with South Vietnam with the north being supported by Russia and China, as they were also Communist countries, and the south being supported by Britain and the USA.

    Read More

  • Operation Frequent Wind

    1752 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Vietnam War was from 1959 to 1975. Is was also known as American War in Vietnam, Vietnam Conflict, Second Indochina War, War Against the Americans to Save the Nation (Rosenberg n.d.). Operation Frequent Wind was conducted at the end of the war in 1975.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Vietnam War

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Vietnam War was known for the thousands of lives that were lost and the billions of dollars in debt that destroyed the US economy. To this day, it is debatable as to whether or not US involvement in the war was worth the devastation it caused to the country. In 1954, French involvement in Vietnam ended and led to the Geneva Conference where a ceasefire agreement was negotiated. From the Geneva Accords, Vietnam was divided into two portions, North and South, at the 17th parallel. At the time, North Vietnam was communist and was gaining followers quickly (Rogers).

    Read More

  • Vietnam War - Social Movements

    1036 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Vietnam War (1965-1975)was fought between the North and South Vietnam. The North was called Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the South was the Republic of Vietnam which was supported by the United States. On August 2nd, 1964 the USS Maddox was on a secret intelligent mission on the North Vietnamese coast where in the Gulf on Tonkin they were attacked by torpedo boats. The USS Turner Joy was attacked in the same area two days later. Due to the second attack Congress declared the Gulf of Tonkin resolution which led to air strikes.In 1959 there were 5,000 guerilla fighters and in 1964 the numbers jumped to 100,000. At Pleiku on March, 1965 U.S Marine barracks were attacked causing the three stage escalation bombing of North Vietnam to begin. The 3 year lasting bombing was used to force North Vietnam to stop supporting the "National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam" by destroying their industrial infrastructure and Vietnam's air defenses. Unfortunately this did not stop the North's support for the NLF. The U.S. Air Force bases were constantly being attacked so the U.S. on March 8, 1965 the 3,500 U.S. Marines was deployed to South Vietnam. At this point in time, the U.S. public supported the dispatch because the Vietnam War had been portrayed to the American people as a war against the spread of Communism. Johnson was president at the time and he kept adding more and more troops as the war went on. As the draft quotas increased, the American public protests started. When Nixon came into presidency his policy towards the Vietnam War was "peace with honor" in other words he wanted to widen the war. After more bombing and fighting, on January 27, 1973 the Paris Peace Accords was signed, restoring peace in Vietnam and U.S. forces pulled out. Nixon stopped all American attacks on Vietnam. The condensed summary of the Vietnam War is to see what presidents were involved in this war (Johnson, and Nixon) and what foreign policies were taken towards Vietnam mostly before the protests began.

    Read More

  • Vietnam War Thesis Statement

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    16,000 United States service mean were killed in 1968, some criticized the government handling of the warned said that they didn't do enough. The government had said that according to body counts the United States were winning the war, but that really wasn't the case. At the end of January was marked the Tet the Vietnamese new year, and on the night of January 30th 1968, the north Vietnamese army and VC launched a countrywide attack against the United States and South Vietnamese controlled posts, villages, and cites. The attack was known was the Tet Offensive. North Vietnam expected the Tet Offensive to bring down South Vietnam government by causing South Vietnamese to rally behind them as liberators. But it FAILS! Military Tet was a failure but politically it was a huge success.

    Read More

  • Vietnam War Analysis

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is understandable that some Americans strongly opposed the United States getting involved in the Vietnam War. It had not been a long time since the end of World War II and simply put, most Americans were tired of fighting. Mark Atwood Lawrence is one of the people who opposed our involvement in the Vietnam War. In his essay, “Vietnam: A Mistake of Western Alliance”, Lawrence argues that the Vietnam War was unnecessary and that it went against our democratic policies, but that there were a lot of things that influenced our involvement.

    Read More

  • Personal Narrative Essay: The First Vietnam War

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    It was the evening of Christmas, 1776. The voice of an army sergeant shouted, “Everybody, up this instant! We’ve got a battle to win!” George Washington’s order awoke us soldiers, and we prepared for a rough night, as General Washington knew it would be more than strenuous to get the Continental Army, made up of 2,400 men, across the Delaware River especially in such harsh weather conditions. The plan was to attack in the morning since the Hessians would be celebrating Christmas tonight, they will hopefully be too tired to put up a fight tomorrow morning. The cold, brisk air intruded into the tent, as the rest of the soldiers arose from their slumber, not knowing what the day would bring them, or should I say, night.

    Read More

  • President Lyndon. B Johnson and the Vietnam War

    1385 Words  | 3 Pages

    The conflict in Vietnam for the United States started when President Dwight D. Eisenhower went along with the domino theory and sent in military advisors in South Vietnam to stop the communist movement from taking place in South Vietnam. The Vietnam conflict was between the communist’s and the United States. North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh, and Ho Chi Minh led the Viet Cong, a guerilla group to help spread communism. The United States were supporters of the South Vietnam because they wanted them to maintain their government rather than falling to the domino theory of communism. After Eisenhower’s term ended John F. Kennedy became president and took control of the situation of Vietnam but on November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated. Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded presidency and the problems of Vietnam were left to himself. In 1963, the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred where, the U.S.S Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese naval ships on august 2 1964. Two days later an even more controversial attack happened where it was reported another ship was attacked again but has later been proven false. Johnson used these events to gain congressional approval to enter into Vietnam. However the Tonkin Gulf Incident was questioned to have even happened which makes the war undoubtedly questionable Immediately after the incident . Many troops were killed in Vietnam and the United States eventually lost the war and does not achieve their goal to stop communism. Despite the large amount of conflict in Vietnam that needed to be resolved, escalating the war was the wrong idea by Johnson, as the many consequences of the war for the United States outweighed the potential spread of communism.

    Read More

  • Domino Vietnam War

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    Not until 1995 did Vietnam release its official estimate of war dead: as many as 2 million civilians on both sides and some 1.1 million North Vietnamese and VietCong fighters. The U.S. military has estimated that between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the war. On August 2, 1964, the United States was drawn further into the conflict when the USS Maddox, a destroyer cruising in the Gulf of Tonkin, was attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats 30 miles off the coast of North Vietnam. Two days later the Maddox and another destroyer were attacked.

    Read More

  • Guerrilla Warfare In The Vietnam War

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Vietnam War occurred in Vietnam, Southeast Asia and represented a successful attempt on the part of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam to unite and impose a communist system over the entire nation. Beginning in 1959, North Vietnamese launched their first guerrilla attacks against the South and American ground forces were directly sent in as allies for the South. The Vietnam War was particularly important due to the different forces of guerrilla tactics and how they differed from the popularly known conventional warfare. This is demonstrated through the history of conventional warfare compared to the upcoming guerrilla warfare, which goes hand in hand with why Vietnamese civilians decided

    Read More

  • The Vietnam War, Grandpa's Story

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Vietnam war was a costly and very long conflict that eroded the communist regime of North Vietnam and its allies against the South Vietnam and its ally, us the United States of America (Unknown Source).” The Vietnam War began on the eve of 1959, causing a struggle between two of our major national forces. These two forces were attempting to unify the country the both love, Vietnam.

    Read More

  • Vietnam War Turning Point

    1228 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Vietnam War started in 1954, and grew out of the Indochina War with Ho Chi Minh forming the Viet Minh, or the League for the Independence of Vietnam. The Viet Minh fought both the Japanese and French colonial administrations

    Read More

  • Vietnam During World War II

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    The VietMinh was set up in Vietnam by Ho Chi Minh in 1941. The Vietminh got their inspiration mainly from Ho Chi Minh who was known as a patriot and a Marxist-Leninist and was a devout communist. In the Years between 1946-1954 the North Vietnamese defeated the French army after the French returned to Indochina, where negotiations between France and the Vietminh on the status of Vietnam broke down, and in December 1946 war broke out. The Vietminh had popular support in the countryside while the French strength lay in urban areas.

    Read More

  • Media Influence On Vietnam War

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Vietnam War was harsh, brutal and horrific. It began in 1962, then ended in 1971. At first, there was general support from the news outlets and the public for the government's decision to get involved (Sqwirk, 2015). Soon however things began to change. The Vietnam War may have been fought in the jungles and rice fields of Indochina but it was lost in the lounge rooms on the television sets of the voters a home in the United States and America.

    Read More

More about Vietnam War Timeline Essay

Open Document