US president that decided to send ground troops to Vietnam after the Tonkin incident.
Lyndon B Johnson
Vietnam forces win their war with the French
May 7, 1954
A series of conflicts in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos involving France, and a precursor to the Vietnam War. Ho Chi Mihn used guerrilla warfare against the French who eventually withdrew.
The French Indochina war
A network of roads that North Vietnam used to supply themselves.
Ho Chi Mihn trail
US president elected on the promise of ending the Vietnam war, and eventually did. He implemented a policy of "Vietnamization" which meant withdrawing troops and letting the Vietnamese fight their war.
Richard Nixon
Vietnam is split along the seventh parallel
July 21, 1954
The USS Maddox and Turner Joy reported as being attacked by the North Vietnamese. This was reported to the US congress who eventually gave LBJ the power to escalate the war and start sending troops to Vietnam.
Tonkin Gulf Incident
500 unarmed men, women, and children and rounded up and murdered. This was covered up by the army.
My Lai
President of the democratic Republic of Vietnam/North Vietnam. He founded the Vietnamese Communist Party, and declared independence for Vietnam from the French, he would lead the Vietnamese against their fight with the French and later the Americans.
Ho Chi Mihn
Ngo Dihn Diem is assassinated
November 2, 1963
Planned by military leaders in Hanoi that hoped to win the war by knocking the US out of it. This plan stated that the North Vietnamese would attack major cities in the south on lunar new year, because that is traditionally a time of truce, and they hoped that they could take advantage of the Vietnamese traveling to meet their families.
The Tet Offensive
Capital of South Vietnam. Symbolic for the war effort, its fall marked the end of South Vietnam.
Saigon
President of south Vietnam. Led a cruel and oppressive regime that he was assassinated for. He was backed by the United States until they turned on him due to his policies causing instability in Vietnam.
Ngo Dinh Diem
US sends ground troops to Vietnam
March 8, 1965
An agreement made between the north and south Vietnamese, as well as the United States to withdraw all US troops and advisors from Vietnam and to dismantle all US bases in return for the release of all US prisoners of war. It also established that Vietnam would remain divided at the 17th parallel, but would eventually be peacefully reunited.
The Paris Peace Accords
Capital of North Vietnam. Major war decisions made here.
Hanoi
A US military commander. He wanted a war of attrition in Vietnam, but this failed because although the Vietnamese suffered heavy losses, they were able to make up for it. This weakened domestic support for the war.
William Westmoreland
Biggest protest in the history of the US
November 15, 1969
After the US withdrew from Vietnam, south Vietnam fell to the north. The country reunified into one country on July 2, 1976.
The fall of Saigon
Network of tunnels used by the Vietcong to surprise attacks opposing troops.
Cu Chi tunnels