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France imposes a colonial system over Vietnam, calling it French Indochina.
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Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh is trained in the Soviet Union as an agent of the Communist International
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Nazi Germany takes control of France.
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Ho Chi Minh and communist colleagues establish the League for the Independence of Vietnam. Known as the Viet Minh, the movement aims to resist French and Japanese occupation of Vietnam.
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Ho Chi Minh declares an independent North Vietnam and models his declaration on the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 in an unsuccessful effort to win the support of the United States.
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Ho Chi Minh rejects a French proposal granting Vietnam limited self-government and the Viet Minh begins a guerrilla war against the French.
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In an address to Congress, President Harry Truman states that the foreign policy of the United States is to assist any country whose stability is threatened by communism. The policy becomes known as the Truman Doctrine.
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The United States, identifying the Viet Minh as a Communist threat, steps up military assistance to France for their operations against the Viet Minh.
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U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower says the fall of French Indochina to communists could create a “domino” effect in Southeast Asia.
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The Geneva Accords establish North and South Vietnam with the 17th parallel as the dividing line.
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Catholic nationalist Ngo Dinh Diem emerges as the leader of South Vietnam, with U.S. backing, while Ho Chi Minh leads the communist state to the north.
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The first U.S. soldiers are killed in South Vietnam when guerrillas raid their living quarters near Saigon.
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The National Liberation Front is formed. The United States views the NLF as an arm of North Vietnam and starts calling the military wing of the NLF the Viet Cong short for Vietnamese communists.
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In Operation Ranch Hand, U.S. aircraft start spraying Agent Orange and other herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam to kill vegetation that would offer cover and food for guerrilla forces.
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USS Maddox is allegedly attacked by North Vietnamese patrol torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.
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President Johnson orders the bombing of targets in North Vietnam in Operation Flaming Dart in retaliation for a Viet Cong raid at the U.S. base in the city of Pleiku.
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President Johnson launches a three-year campaign of sustained bombing of targets in North Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Operation Rolling Thunder.
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President Johnson calls for 50,000 more ground troops to be sent to Vietnam, increasing the draft to 35,000 each month.
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U.S. troop numbers in Vietnam rise to 400,000.
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French troops are humiliated in defeat by Viet Minh forces at Dien Bien Phu. The defeat solidifies the end of French rule in Indochina.
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Huge Vietnam War protests occur in Washington, D.C., New York City and San Francisco.
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The Tet Offensive begins, encompassing a combined assault of Viet Minh and North Vietnamese armies. Attacks are carried out in more than 100 cities and outposts across South Vietnam.
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Republican Richard M. Nixon wins the U.S. presidential elections on the campaign promises to restore “law and order” and to end the draft.
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At the U.S. massacre at Mai Lai, more than 500 civilians are murdered by U.S. forces. The massacre happens amid a campaign of U.S. search-and-destroy operations that are intended to find enemy territories, destroy them and then retreat.
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The Nixon administration gradually reduces the number of U.S. forces in South Vietnam, placing more burden on the ground forces of South Vietnam’s ARVN as part of a strategy known as Vietnamization.