T H E
V I E T N A M W A R
Number of Americans that served (all branches of
military service): 2,944,000 Combat
Casualties: 47,253 Miscellaneous Deaths from Other Causes: 10,449 Wounded:
313,616 MIA (missing in action at war’s end): 1,940
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CHRONOLOGY
1945 - Japanese take control of French Indochina
during World War II; Vietnamese Emperor Bao Dai declares ‘independent’
Vietnam under Japanese supervison; President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies,
Harry Truman becomes President; at Potsdam Conference Britain, U.S., & Soviet Union split postwar
control of Vietnam between China (North) and Britain (South); Japan surrenders
to Allies after U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, gives up
control of Vietnam to Vietminh (Vietnamese liberation front formed by Ho Chi
Minh in1941); Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnamese independence from French
empire, provoking Britain to send troops into Vietnam to restore French
authority; Lt. Col. Peter Dewey is mistakenly killed by anti-French
partisans near Saigon, the first American to die in Vietnam;
1946 - China agrees to withdraw from North Vietnam;
France recognizes Vietnam as a “free state” within French Indochina, holds
referendum on uniting North and South; Emperor Bao Dai refuses to accept French
control or share authority with Vietminh, goes into exile as negotiations break
down; Indochinese ‘war of liberation’ begins as Vietminh guerrillas attack
French garrisons near Hanoi;
1949 - Exiled Emperor Bao Dai agrees to French
proposal to make united
1950 - Vietminh effectively take control of North
Vietnam; Ho Chi Minh repudiates all treaties with France, declares ‘Democratic
Republic of Vietnam,’ recognized by China & Soviet Union while Britain
& U.S. recognize only French-backed government of Bao Dai; President Truman
grants military aid to French as China begins sending weapons to Vietminh;
French army suffers first setback at Cao Bang near Chinese border; Korean War
begins as Soviet-backed North Korea invades U.S.-backed South; successful
counterattack by U.S.-led United Nations army drives North Koreans all the way
to Chinese border, draws China into conflict; Chinese send ‘human wave’
assaults across frontier, drive U.N. forces south to 38th parallel;
1951 - Ho Chi Minh forms ‘Lao Dong’ (Communist
Workers’ Party); Korean War deadlocked at 38th parallel as cease-fire
talks begin;
1953 - Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin dies;
cease-fire in Korea divides it along 38th parallel into
Soviet-backed communist North and U.S.-backed South; seeking end to Indochinese
war, France gives full autonomy to Laos; Prince Norodom Sihanouk of
Cambodia takes control of army, declares independence from French Indochina;
French army fortifies Dienbienphu (remote outpost in northwest Vietnam) to
retake control of North Vietnam; Vietminh forces under General Giap
enter Laos to evade French detection, prepare to encircle Dienbienphu;
1954 - U.S., Britain, France, & Soviet Union agree
to conference in Geneva, Switz., to settle Indochinese and Korean questions;
U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower (elected 1952) rejects further military
aid to French as Dienbienphu falls to Vietminh forces, marking end to French
empire in far east; Vietnamese Emperor Bao Dai selects Ngo Dinh Diem as
prime minister of Vietnam; France secretly negotiates with China while seeking
general cease-fire; at Geneva conference Western powers call for end to
conflict, temporary division of Vietnam into North and South along 17th
parallel pending national elections; Bao Dai rejects division, denounces Geneva Accords as French withdraw troops
from Vietnam; President Eisenhower pledges $100 million to Diem government;
400,000 refugees flee from North to South on U.S. Navy ships as Vietnamese
civil war begins;
1955 - U.S. begins training South Vietnamese army,
sends direct aid to Diem government; Diem starts campaign of internal
repression, blocks impending national elections which favored Ho Chi Minh; Ho
appeals to China and Soviet Union for aid; Diem deposes Bao Dai, stages
referendum to become chief of state with tacit U.S. approval, then proclaims
‘Republic of Vietnam’ with himself as president and brother Ngo Dinh Nhu
as chief advisor;
1956 - Diem begins systematic elimination of
opposition to regime; alarmed at growing conflict, Cambodian Prince Sihanouk
declares official neutrality toward Vietnamese civil war;
1957 - Imitating Geneva
Accords solution for
1959 - C.I.A.-backed plot to overthrow Sihanouk fails;
North Vietnam begins sending arms and men through Laos along “Ho Chi Minh”
trail into South Vietnam, supplies weapons to Pathet Lao (Laotian communists);
Diem intensifies repression of dissidents in South Vietnam; Major Dale Buis and
Sergeant Chester Ovnand killed at Bienhoa (the first Americans to die in
American phase of Indochinese War);
1960 - North Vietnam begins military conscription;
Diem ignores U.S. pleas to reform his government; coup in Laos restores
neutralists to power in spite of covert C.I.A. support for pro-Diem
interventionists; Diem thwarts attempted coup by his own officers; Ho Chi Minh
forms National Liberation Front for South Vietnam (“Vietcong”); U.S.-backed
interventionists in Laos attack Soviet-backed neutralists in streets of
Vientiane (Laotian capital); John F. Kennedy is elected U.S. President;
1961 - President Kennedy affirms support for
1962 - American military command formed in
1963 - Vietcong units defeat South Vietnamese for
first time at Ap Bac; North Vietnam moves toward alliance with China; Buddhist
monks publically burn themselves to death in protest after South Vietnamese
army and police fire on Buddhist demonstrators in Hue; Diem and brother Ngo
Dinh Nhu are assassinated by dissident generals with open U.S. approval;
American military personnel increase to 15,000; President John Kennedy is
assassinated in Dallas, Texas (Nov. 22), Vice-President Lyndon Johnson becomes
President;
1964 - Gen. Nguyen Khanh seizes control in
Saigon; U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara visits South Vietnam, vows
support and increased aid for Khanh; Pentagon strategists propose bombing of
North Vietnam; U.S. claims U.S. destroyer Maddox is attacked by North
Vietnamese in Gulf of Tonkin, begins bombing North Vietnam; U.S. Congress
passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
granting extraordinary war powers to President Johnson (re-elected 1964);
rioters protest General Khanh’s corrupt regime as Vietcong terrorists begin
bombing American facilities near Saigon;
1965 - President Johnson expands U.S. air raids
against North Vietnam as Vietcong intensify attacks in South; round-the-clock
bombing (Operation “Rolling Thunder”) begins; General Khanh flees Saigon, new
government forms under civilian Phan Huy Quat; two marine battalions (1
st American combat troops) land at Da Nang; peace proposal by Lyndon
Johnson backed by offer of U.S. aid is rejected by North Vietnamese; S.
Vietnamese Gen. Nguyen Cao Ky deposes Phan Huy Quat , appoints himself
prime minister; Johnson increases American troop strength to 200,000 by year’s
end to offset mounting S. Vietnamese army losses, then suspends bombing of
North Vietnam in vain attempt to induce negotiations;
1966 - Johnson orders bombing to resume after North
Vietnamese refuse to negotiate; American troop strength grows to 400,000 after
Johnson concludes war can only be won if
1967 - North Vietnamese demand an end to all bombing
before any talks, then broadcast secret exchange of letters between Johnson and
Ho Chi Minh to undermine American credibility; U.S. responds with demand for
“productive discussions;” U.S. supreme commander William Westmoreland
states “we are winning the war;” American troop strength swells to 500,000 as
antiwar protests in U.S. cities and on college campuses increase;
1968 - Cambodia’s Prince Sihanouk approves U.S.
pursuit of Vietcong in Cambodian territory; U.S.S. Pueblo seized by North
Koreans; “Tet ” offensive begins (N. Vietnamese and Vietcong simultaneously
attack major cities and military bases in S. Vietnam, suffer huge losses but
severely damage enemy morale); Gen. Westmoreland vainly lobbies for 200,000
more troops, is replaced by Gen. Creighton Abrams (former WWII tank
commander); President Johnson halts bombing of North Vietnam, announces he will
not seek re-election; Richard Nixon is elected President, appoints Henry
Kissinger national security advisor; American troop strength peaks at
540,000; U.S.-backed Nguyen Van Thieu is elected S. Vietnamese president
with Gen. Ky as vice-president;
1969 - Peace talks between U.S. and North Vietnam
expand to include South Vietnamese and Vietcong; Nixon orders secret bombing of
“Ho Chi Minh” trail in Cambodia while proposing simultaneous withdrawal of
Americans and N. Vietnamese from South Vietnam; Henry Kissinger meets secretly
with North Vietnamese in Paris; Ho Chi Minh dies in Hanoi at age 79; massive
anti-war demonstrations break out in U.S. as details of civilian massacre in
village of My Lai become known; Nixon orders American troop strength reduced by
60,000;
1970 - Henry Kissinger begins secret peace talks with
N. Vietnamese envoy Le Duc Tho in Paris; Cambodian Prince Sihanouk is
ousted by Gen. Lon Nol as Americans, S. Vietnamese cross border to
attack “Khmer Rouge” (Cambodian communist) sanctuaries; U.S. National Guardsmen
kill four students at Kent State Univ. (Ohio) during antiwar protest; Nixon
proposes mutual cease-fire while bombing continues in Cambodia; American troop
strength reduced to 280,000;
1971 - South Vietnamese invade Laos to attack “Ho Chi
Minh ” trail; The New York Times newspaper prints Pentagon Papers exposing Kennedy’s and Johnson’s plans to escalate
war; Nixon’s staff organizes “plumbers” to investigate press leaks, discredit
reporters hostile to Nixon’s handling of Vietnam; Gen. Thieu is re-elected
president of S. Vietnam as American troop strength drops to 140,000;
1972 - Nixon reveals Kissinger’s secret negotiations
as North Vietnamese reject Paris accords, cross into South Vietnam; Nixon
authorizes mining of Haiphong harbor near Hanoi, more bombing as Quangtri
province near border falls to North Vietnamese; Kissinger ignores South
Vietnamese protests, drafts cease-fire agreement with Le Doc Tho; talks break
down as bombing of Hanoi continues;
1973 - Peace talks resume after Nixon halts bombing;
cease-fire agreement is signed in Paris as American troops prepare to pull out
of South Vietnam; Congress ends military conscription in the U.S.; Nixon aides
charged with criminal trespass, obstructing justice as White House role in
Watergate apartment break-in (Dem. Party Nat’l. H.Q.) is made public; Congress
blocks further bombing in Cambodia, repeals Gulf
of Tonkin Resolution; Nixon appoints Kissinger Secretary of State; scandal
forces resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew, Congressman Gerald Ford
becomes Vice-President;
1974 -
1975 - North Vietnamese begin final push to Saigon as
Cambodian capital Phnom Penh falls to “Khmer Rouge” forces; South Vietnamese
president Thieu departs for Taiwan as North Vietnamese drive to outskirts of
Saigon; U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin and remaining Americans are
hastily evacuated as Saigon falls (April 30); Vietnam’s civil war and long war
of liberation against foreign conquerors both come to an end, and with them
America’s thirty-year military involvement in Vietnam (1945-75).
Sources:
John Bowman, ed., TheVietnam
War Day by Day,