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Ho Chi Minh is born.
Ho Chi Minh helped to establish communism in the North. He also started the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. This was important to the war because he was a key figure in introducing communism in Vietnam. This eventually lead to the United State's involvement. -
President Johnson claims a U.S. ship had been fired upon by the North Vietnamese.
The ship that was supposedly attacked was the U.S.S. Maddox. The government's response was to get involved in Vietnam and bring troops in. It is thought to have been staged in order to rally public support for the introduction of troops into Vietnam. This event was significant because it brought us into the war, by making the need to occupy Vietnam urgent (because they directly attacked the U.S.). -
Vietnam declares independence from France, but neither France nor the United Sates recognize Vietnam as a separate nation.
Vietnam wants to be free, so their rebel groups begin to fight back against the french. The Vietnamese people are tired of being a French colony, and take after the United State's Declaration Of Independence (With Ho Chi Minh including a few lines from the text itself into his speech!). This is important because North Vietnam responds by trying to unify the country by spreading communism, which the U.S. is afraid of. -
President Eisenhower declares “Domino Theory”
The idea behind the Domino Theory is that if one Asian nation falls to communism, it will spread to the other countries and the rest will fall as well. This was significant because it made entering the war seem urgent, and started another "Red Scare" as Americans were very afraid of communism spreading, so they thought they should do anything they can to prevent that from happening. -
The Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh defeat the French at Dien Bein Phu.
The United States responded by deciding that they need to get involved in order to prevent the spread of communism. They knew that the French would need help fighting off the 'rebels' and they decided to give more support. This is significant because it roped the U.S. into the war, to where we began to consider bringing in troops. -
The Geneva Accords cause Vietnam to be split into North and South.
Vietnam was split in two parts at the 17th parallel. This was known as a "demilitarized zone", so it was supposedly a safe spot between the two nations. This was important because it made it obvious to the people that the nation would no longer be unified. -
Ngo Dinh Diem cancels elections in Vietnam.
Diem wants to cancel the elections because he knows the communists will win. The elections are to figure out who will lead the country, and whether or not the people want a communist leader in charge or not. This is important because they were cancelled to prevent the spread of communism. -
The National Liberation Front is formed.
This group would later be called the Viet Cong. They occupied South Vietnam and were a rebel group.This is important because this group was the start of the communist movement. -
A South Vietnamese monk sets himself on fire.
The man was a Buddhist monk named Thích Quang Duc. He set himself on fire as a way to prove that change needed to happen in his country. There was little religious freedom for the Buddhists to practice their faith, and this martyr wanted to show how urgent the need was. This event was significant because it lead other monks to die for their country this same way, and got the attention of the press and the government. -
The United States withdraws support of Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of South Vietnam.
The U.S. decides to stop supporting Diem after he refuses to sign the Geneva Accords, and wants to cancel the elections. He was later assassinated because of this decision. This is significant because it limited the power of the people. -
President Kennedy is assassinated, leading to the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.22
If Kennedy had lived, the U.S. probably would've been pulled out of Vietnam. He didn't really want to go to war in the first place, but was torn between the isolationist foreign policy, and the idea of containment. The significance of this event was that if JFK had lived, there would be a completely different outcome to the war in Vietnam. -
The first combat troops arrive in Vietnam.
In September of 1950, the first military advisors were sent to Vietnam. This is significant because it was the government's way of getting involved in the war, without a legal declaration. This made the Americans in Vietnam appear to just be providing aid.
