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Ho Chi Minh is born
He first emerged as an outspoken voice for Vietnamese independence while living as a young man in France during World War I. Inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution, he joined the Communist Party and traveled to the Soviet Union. -
Vietnam declares independence from France, but neither France nor the United States recognize Vietnam as a separate nation.
Ho Chi Minh had turned to communism. After this, many wars including the Vietnam War, broke out. -
The first combat troops arrive in Vietnam.
The US military advisory effort in Vietnam had a modest beginning in September of 1950, when the United States Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) , Vietnam, was established in Saigon. -
The Geneva Accords cause Vietnam to be split into North and South.
The 17th Parallel was the provisional military demarcation line between North and South Vietnam, established by the Geneva Accords of 1954. -
President Eisenhower declares "Domino Theory"
After Eisenhower's speech, the phrase "domino theory" began to be used a shorthand expression of the strategic importance of South Vietnam to the United States, as well as the need to contain the spread of communism throughout the world. -
The Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu
The United States respond to the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu by taking over the anticommunist fight which resulted into 20 more years of warfare in Vietnam. As the Cold War heated, the US became more involved in the conflict. -
Ngo Dinh Diem cancels elections in Vietnam
He decided to cancel elections as an attempt to unify the country. In North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh apologized for a disastrous land reform program he had initiated in 1955. -
The National Liberation Front is formed.
Also known as the National Front of the Liberation of the South Vietnamese. They occupied all of South Vietnam. -
The United States withdraws support of Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of South Vietnam.
President Diem of South Vietnamese deposed in a coup. He was deposed by a group of army officers who disagreed with his handling of both the Buddhist crisis and the Viet Cong threat regime. -
A South Vietnamese monk sets himself on fire.
This monk followed a Buddhist religion. He set himself on fire to protest alleged persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. -
President Kennedy is assassinated, leading to the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.
Kennedy would have pulled out of Vietnam, resisting pressure to escalate the war. This is assumed because just a few months before he was killed, he supported a coup that ended with the death of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem. -
President Johnson claims a U.S. ship had been fired upon by the North Vietnamese.
The ship that President Johnson claimed to be fired upon was the USS Maddox. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was the response to this event. This resolution is authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia.
