| 1858 |
French land in Da Nang |
| 1890 |
Ho Chi Minh born 19 May
[died 3 September 1969]. Name means 'He Who Enlightens.'
Educated in France, travelling there initially in 1910. Attended the
Versailles Peace Conference in 1919 seeking an audience with any of the
Allied leaders to press for independence of his country. Is ignored
by all the western leaders including Woodrow Wilson. Does not return
to Viet Nam until 1940 |
| 1930 |
Viet Namese revolt again
the French: crushed in 1931. French then install member of an old
ruling family, Chai Dien, as emperor. He died in 1932 and his son,
Bao Dai, becomes emperor of Viet Nam. |
| 1941 |
Viet Minh formed to fight
against the Japanese. They received much of their training and
weapons from the OSS [US Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the
CIA]. |
| 1945 |
Ho Chi Minh established a
government for Viet Nam consisting of members of many nationalist
groups. He also writes a Declaration of Independence, modelling it
on the US's. It was read to the nation on the day that the Japanese
signed the surrender accords on board the USS Missouri. According to
Archemedies Petti [OSS station chief in Hanoi]: "Ho Chi Minh and the
Viet Minh are in our hands in 1945." |
|
On 23 September, control
of Viet Nam was returned to the French with the full support of the United
States and Great Britain. |
|
OSS officer Lt. Col.
Peter Dewey continues working with the Viet Minh and on 1 October is
killed in an accident. He becomes the first US casualty in Viet Nam. |
| 1946 |
Ho Chi Minh negotiates a
pact with the French in March which allowed a few French troops into Viet
Nam to help protect the northern border against the Chinese Nationalists
who had troops with Viet Nam. |
|
In November, the French
shell the port city of Haiphong thus beginning the 1st Viet Namese
War. The French expected the war to be over in 8 days: it took 8
years, and the French lost. |
| 1950 |
The People's Republic of
China in January becomes the first country to recognise the Democratic
Republic of Viet Nam. The Soviet Union follows two weeks
later. In February, the United States recognised the French client
government, the State of Viet Nam, with its capital in the south, in
Saigon, with the ex-emperor Bao Dai as its president. |
|
President Harry S Truman
in May authorised $10 million in aid to the French for their war in Viet
Nam. By January 1951, $150 million had been given in aid. |
| 1951 |
War changes from a
guerrilla war to a more conventional one. |
| 1952 |
French public support for
the war is beginning to fail rapidly. The French for a national army
for the State of Viet Nam to give Bao Dai credibility and to cut French
casualties. |
| 1953 |
The US is supporting the
French in the amount of $1 billion per year--33% of all US foreign
aid--which is 80% of the total cost to the French. US Secretary of
State, John Foster Dulles first voices the 'Domino Theory': if one country
in Southeast Asia falls to the Communists, they will all fall, one by one. |
| 1954 |
13 March the Battle of
Dien Bien Phu begins in northern Viet Nam. In January, the 'Great
Powers' had set 26 April as the beginning of a Geneva Conference to
discuss Asian questions including Viet Nam and Ho Chi Minh wanted a
military victory prior to this conference ending. |
|
The French troops at Dien
Bien Phu have supplies air dropped to them from US planes, flown by US Air
Force crews, and serviced by US Air Force ground crews. US planes
and crews are also used to fly additional French re-enforcements to Viet
Nam. The French ask the US to use tactical nuclear weapons against
the Viet Minh. President Dwight D. Eisenhower meets with the
National Security Council on 4 April and agree not to intervene in any
further manner. |
|
7 May, Viet Minh troops
under the command of General Vo Nguyen Giap succeed in capturing Dien Bien
Phu following the French surrender. |
|
Col. Edward Lansdale, a
CIA officer, arrives in Saigon in June with a team to engage in
paramilitary actions and psychological-political warfare against the Viet
Minh. |
|
The Geneva Convention
divides the country of Viet Nam at the 17th Parallel into North and South
Viet Nam with 20 July 1956 as the date for a unification election: a
freely held election to determine who would rule a unified Viet Nam.
All the parties involved signed the agreement except the United
States. The US believed in 1956 that Ho Chi Minh would have won any
election held in Viet Nam and used their influence over the government of
the State of Viet Nam to ensure that the election was not held |
| 1960 |
On 20 December, the
National Liberation Front [NLF]--better known in the US as the Viet
Cong--is founded. They will fight against the South Viet Namese Army
and their US advisors: 300 in May 1960 to 16,000 in December 1963. |
| 1962 |
Ho Chi Minh, in an
interview, stated: "I think the Americans greatly underestimate the
determination of the Viet Namese people. The Viet Namese people have
always shown great determination when they were faced with a foreign
invader." No American president ever gave enough weight to this
warning. |
| 1963 |
Tuan Duc becomes the
first in a series of Buddhist monks who will engage in self-emollition to
protest against the South Viet Namese government. |
| 1964 |
On 2 & 4 August, two
US naval destroyers, the USS Maddox and the USS C. Turner Joy were
attacked by North Viet Namese gunboats in the Gulf of Tonkin. The US
Congress votes authorisation to President Lyndon B. Johnson to take action
against the North Viet Namese: it is an authorisation to take the US into
a war without declaring one. The vote, on 7 August, is 410 to 0 in
the House of Representatives and 88 to 2 in the Senate--only Senators
Ernest Grueing of Alaska and Wayne Morse of Oregon vote against the
resolution. It will later be admitted by the US military that the
attack never took place. |
| 1965 |
Operation 'Rolling
Thunder,' the bombing of the North, takes place during February. |
|
First US ground combat
troop land at Da Nang on 8 March. |
|
First use of US ground
troop for offensive action. Johnson offers Ho Chi Minh massive US
aid if he will stop the fighting in South Viet Nam. |
|
Norman Morrison, an
activist with the Society of Friends [Quakers] sets himself on fire in
front of Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara's office at the Pentagon. |
| 1966 |
During the fall, the US
begins its 'strategic hamlet' policy--relocating the civilian population
within fortified villages. With the population thus contained the US
begins the first tests of a new defoliant known as Agent Orange.
This test is called 'Operation Cedar Falls,' in honour of 2nd Lt. Robert
J. Hibbs who had graduated in May 1965 from the University of Northern
Iowa and had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for an action
on 6 March which during which he was killed. Operation Cedar Falls
was a success and the use of Agent Orange was expanded and labelled
'Operation Phoenix.' |
| 1967 |
Anti-war sentiment in the
United States begins to grow. |
| 1968 |
In January during the
Buddhist New Year, Tet, the NLF attacked numerous sites in the south--5
major cities, 64 district capitals, and 36 provincial capitals. This
was known as the Tet Offensive.
Although they were defeated everywhere, it demonstrated to the world the
lengths they were willing to go to drive what they regarded as 'foreign
invaders' out of their country. This action will virtually destroy
the NLF: from this point on, the brunt of the fighting will be borne by
regular North Viet Namese troops. |
|
Senator Eugene McCarthy
opposes President Johnson in Democratic primaries for the nomination,
winning 42.2% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary. |
|
On 16 March, US troop
enter the South Viet Namese village of My Lai and kill over 100 [official
figure is 122] of the inhabitants: men, women, and children. |
|
President Johnson
announces in a televised address on 31 March that he would reduce US
bombing of North Viet Nam and would agree to meet with the North Viet
Namese "anywhere, anytime" to begin peace talks. He also
announced that he ". . . would not seek, nor accept the nomination of
his party for the presidency. . . ." |
| 1969 |
Peace talks between the
North Viet Namese and the United States begin in Paris on 25 January. |
|
First Moratorium to
protest the war in Viet Nam is held on 15 October. |
|
250,000 people march
against the war in Washington, D.C. on 1 November. |
| 1970 |
On 29 April, Army of the
Republic of Viet Nam [ARVN] troops enter Cambodia in search of North Viet
Namese troops and staging areas. |
|
Us troops enter Cambodia
on 1 May. Demonstrations opposed to what was seen by many as a
widening of the war spread rapidly across the United States. |
|
During a demonstration at
Kent State University in Ohio, the National Guard troops present open fire
on the student demonstrators and kill four: Allison Kruse, Jeffrey Miller
[the only two actually taking part in the demonstration], William
Schroeder, and Sandy Scheuer. |
|
At Jackson State College
in Mississippi on 15 May, one student, Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, and one
high school student taking a short cut across the campus, James Earl
Green, were shot and killed by National Guard troops. |
|
The US Senate repeals the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. |
|
The last US troops leave
Cambodia on 29 June. |
| 1971 |
During April and May,
continuous demonstrations are held in Washington, D.C. in an attempt to
shut the city down--they fail. In the 'last gasp' of large
demonstrations, 500,000 people march in Washington, D.C. with a group from
the University of Northern Iowa in the lead. |
| 1972 |
US resumes bombing of
North Viet Nam on 4 April after a 3 1/2 year halt. |
|
North Viet Namese
waterways and harbours are mined by the US beginning on 8 May. |
|
From 18-30 December the
'Christmas Bombing' of Hanoi and Haiphong is carried out by the US. |
| 1973 |
US bombing of North Viet
Nam is halted on 15 January. |
|
North Viet Nam launches a
series of attacks against hundreds of South Viet Namese villages prior to
the signing of the peace accords in Paris and the resultant cease-fire. |
|
Peace accords are signed
by Henry Kissinger, US negotiator, and Le Duc Tho, North Viet Namese
negotiator, in Paris. |
|
South Viet Nam launches
counter-attacks on 27 January against the North Viet Namese troops and
refuses to stop after cease-fire goes into effect. 3rd Viet Namese
War begins? |
|
Us resumes bombing of
Cambodia on 9 February. |
|
On 17 April, the US
breaks off economic aid promised to North Viet Nam citing
"numerous" cease-fire violations by the North Viet Namese. |
|
US bombing of Cambodia
ended by Congressional action on 15 August. |
|
North Viet Nam announces
in October that since negotiations with South Viet Nam are deadlocked, the
"struggle in the South must proceed along the path of revolutionary
violence." |
|
Henry Kissinger and Le
Duc Tho are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 16 October: Kissinger
accepts, but Le Duc Tho declines saying that peace had not yet been
accomplished. |
| 1974 |
The North Viet Namese
offensive in the south begins on 10 March. |
|
By 16 March, the central
highlands are lost by the South Viet Namese. |
|
Da Nang falls on 30
March. |
|
Entire northern part of
South Viet Nam falls to North Viet Namese troops. |
|
On 30 April, the United
States completes its evacuation of all personnel and Saigon falls. |
| 1982 |
1,750,000 US Viet Nam
veterans are officially described as being ". . . in need of
psychiatric counselling." |
|
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