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Ho Chi Minh is born.
He was a popular communist who allowed the people of North Vietnam to eat and live while the established government could not. His forces eventually overthrew the French and United States armies. Finally, he had declared Vietnam as an independent country. -
Vietnam declares independence from France, but neither France nor the United States recognize Vietnam as a separate nation.
Began to spread communism throughout the southern part of Vietnam. -
President Eisenhower declares the "Domino Theory"
This theory believes that if one country falls to communism, so will the others around it. The U.S. thought if Vietnam fell to communism, so would surrounding countries like Laos and Cambodia. -
The Geneva Accords cause to be split into North and South.
Was to settle issues from the Korean and First Indochina War. Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel. -
The Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu.
The Viet Minh over ran the French army at the strategic military area known as Dien Bien Phu. The United States then began to send military advisors after Vietnam was split into a North and South portion along the 17th parallel. -
Ngo Dinh Diem cancels elections in Vietnam.
He did not want the countries to unite as one because it would fully turn into a communist nation. The north would have won because there was more people who lived there. -
The United States withdraws support of Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of South Vietnam.
There was a military coup in 1960 in South Vietnam as the people began to oppose Diem and his regime. Air force pilots bombed his palace trying to kill him. He was assassinated in Saigon on November 2, 1963. -
The National Liberation Front is formed.
Also known as the Vietcong, they performed operations in South Vietnam using guerrilla warfare. -
A South Vietnamese monk sets himself on fire.
The Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire because of Ngo Dinh Diem's laws against Buddhism and pro-catholic policies. This got the attention of the U.S. president John F. Kennedy and the United States would soon step in. -
President Kennedy is assassinated, leading to the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson
Lee Harvey Oswald shot President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas while he was riding in an open roof car in a motorcade. Later that day, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president on board of the plane Air Force One. If JFK would have lived, the U.S. would have soon pulled out of Vietnam. LBJ actually put more troops and resources into Vietnam so he would not lose the war. -
President Johnson claims a U.S. ship had been fired upon by the North Vietnamese.
Also known as the Tonkin Gulf incident, the USS Maddox was supposedly fired at by three North Vietnamese submarines armed with torpedos. As a response to this, President Johnson increased the amount of troops in Vietnam using the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. This stated a president could wage a war, but the war is not officially declared by Congress. -
The first combat troops arrive in Vietnam.
The United States sent 3,500 men from the 173rd Airborne Brigade. They first brought military advisors in the September of 1950.
