Search results
Mar 18, 2024 · Vietnam emerged from the war as a potent military power within Southeast Asia, but its agriculture, business, and industry were disrupted, large parts of its countryside were scarred by bombs and defoliation and laced with land mines, and its cities and towns were heavily damaged.
- The U.S. Role Grows
To the new administration of U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy, who...
- Fall of Saigon
Vietnam War - Fall, Saigon, US Withdrawal: In early March...
- French Rule, Division, Conflict
The Vietnam War had its origins in the broader Indochina...
- My Lai Massacre
My Lai, a subdivision of Son My village, was located in the...
- Indochina Wars
Indochina wars, 20th-century conflicts in Vietnam, Laos, and...
- Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson put the Gulf of Tonkin...
- Gulf of Tonkin Incident
The Gulf of Tonkin incident was a complex naval event in the...
- Diem Regime, Viet Cong, Conflict
Leaders in the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C., were...
- Tet Brings The War Home
By 1967 growing numbers of Americans were becoming...
- The U.S. Role Grows
- Vietnam Background: Uneasy French Rule
- When Was The Vietnam War?
- The Geneva Accords
- America Enters The Vietnam War
- More Troops, More Deaths, More Protests
- North Vietnam Shocks America
- Gradual Withdrawal from Vietnam
- Vietnamization Falters, America Exits
- How Many Were Killed in The Vietnam War?
- Sources
• 1887: France imposes a colonial system over Vietnam, calling it French Indochina. The system includes Tonkin, Annam, Cochin China and Cambodia. Laos is added in 1893. • 1923-25: Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh is trained in the Soviet Unionas an agent of the Communist International (Comitern). • February 1930: Ho Chi Minh founds the Indochines...
• March 1947: 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. • June 1949: The French install former emperor Bao Dai as head of state in Vietnam. • August 1949: The Soviet Union ...
• July 1954: The Geneva Accords establish North and South Vietnam with the 17th parallel as the dividing line. The agreement also stipulates that elections are to be held within two years to unify Vietnam under a single democratic government. These elections never happen. • 1955: Catholic nationalist Ngo Dinh Diem emerges as the leader of South Vie...
• August 1964: USS Maddox on an espionage mission is attacked by North Vietnamese patrol torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. A second attack on the Maddox and another U.S. ship in the Gulf is alleged, but likely never occurred, according to National Security Agency documentsdeclassified in 2005. The incidents lead President Johnson to call for air...
• July 1965: President Johnson calls for 50,000 more ground troops to be sent to Vietnam, increasing the draft to 35,000 each month. • August 1965: In Operation Starlite, some 5,500 U.S. Marines strike against the First Viet Cong Regiment in the first major ground offensive by U.S. forces in Vietnam. The six-day operation diffuses the Viet Cong reg...
• January 1968: The Tet Offensivebegins, 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, including Hue and Saigon, and the U.S. Embassy is invaded. The effective, bloody attacks shock U.S. officials and mark a turning point in the war and th...
• 1969-1972: 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. U.S. troops in Vietnam are reduced from a peak of 549,000 in 1969 to 69,000 in 1972. • February 1970: U.S. National Security Advisor Henry...
• January-March 1971: In Operation Lam Son 719, ARVN troops, with U.S. support, invade Laos in an attempt to cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail. They are forced to retreat and suffer heavy losses. • June 1971: The New York Times publishes a series of articles detailing leaked Defense Department documents about the war, known as the Pentagon Papers. The ...
• August 1974: President Nixon resigns in the face of likely impeachment after the Watergate Scandal is revealed. Gerald R. Fordbecomes president. • January 1975: President Ford rules out any further U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. • April 1975: In the Fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam is seized by communist forces and the governme...
The Vietnam War: The Definitive Illustrated History, created in association with the Smithsonian Institution, published by DK | Penguin Random House, 2017. The Vietnam War: An Intimate History, by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns, based on the film series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, published by Penguin Random House, 2017. Vietnam Profile – Timelin...
- 4 min
Nov 2, 2023 · A Smithsonian magazine podcast. HISTORY. Healing the Wounds of the Vietnam War. Two perspectives on the 20th-century conflict look back, five decades after the fighting stopped, to discuss what...
The Vietnam War lasted about 40 years and involved several countries. Learn about Vietnam War protests, the Tet Offensive, the My Lai Massacre, the Pentagon Papers and more. Shows This Day...
Overview. The Vietnam War was a prolonged military conflict that started as an anticolonial war against the French and evolved into a Cold War confrontation between international communism and free-market democracy.
Jun 9, 2021 · The revelations in the Pentagon Papers infuriated a country sick of the war, the body bags of young Americans, the photographs of Vietnamese civilians fleeing U.S. air attacks and the endless...
(June 2023) The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 [A 1] to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was a major conflict of the Cold War.