VIETNAM

From the 2nd century BC until the 10th century AD, Vietnam was a province of the Chinese Empire. In the year 939, the Viets broke free to establish an independent kingdom. China made two attempts to reconquer its lost province, but the Vietnamese defeated them in jungle guerrilla wars.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Vietnam was involved in a dynastic war. The Prince Nguyen Anh accepted military assistance in this struggle from France.
Nguyen Anh triumphed and was proclaimed Emperor of Vietnam. In the succeeding years, the French became major figures in Vietnamese government, business, trade and military affairs.
In the 1850s, the Emperor Thieu Tri, alarmed by European colonial adventures in Asia, sought to limit the activities of foreigners in Vietnam. These limitations included restrictions on Catholic missionary activity. These restrictions became the reason for a French invasion.
In 1883, the emperor was forced to sign a humiliating treaty. Although he remained the head of state in name only, Vietnam had become a French colony. This is what happened next:

1. 1885-1916 - Vietnamese mount a series of unsuccessful rebellions.

2. 1919 - At the Versailles Conference, a Vietnamese delegation presents a petition for an end to French colonialism. It is kept from the conference.

3. 1920 - Ho Chi Minh joins the French Communist Party. He later travels to Moscow, where he receives approval to lead a Vietnamese Communist Party.

4. 1932 - Bao Dai becomes Emperor of Vietnam and seeks reforms. He appoints Ngo Dinh Diem his prime minister.

5. 1933 - Diem resigns. Fearing arrest, he seeks political asylum (protection) in Japan.

6. 1940-1944 - Vietnam is occupied by Japan during WWII. Viet Minh fights a guerrilla war against the Japanese.

7. 1945:
A. July - Allied leaders debate Vietnam’s postwar future. They agree to a temporary partitioning, with the south under British control and the north under the Chinese.

B. August - Viet Minh captures Hanoi (city) and proclaims the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). Bao Dai abdicates (leaves). The Chinese withdraw.

C. September - British troops occupy Saigon (city).

D. October - British return control of southern Vietnam to France. French troops arrive in United
States naval vessels.

8. 1946 - Viet Minh war against France begins.

9. 1949 - France offers Vietnam limited independence and asks Bao Dai to form a government. Viet Minh refuses to recognize Bao Dai.

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10. 1950 - U.S. grants France $10 million in military aid.

11. 1952 - U.S. establishes a 35-man military mission in Saigon.

12. 1953 - French concentrate troops at Dienbienphu.

13. 1954:
A. February - U.S. grants France $785 million in military aid. The U.S. is now paying 80% of
French war costs.

B. March - April - The Battle of Dienbienphu.

C. May - Dienbienphu surrenders. Of a French army of 16,500, only 3,000 survive.

D. July - Viet Minh and France sign an armistice (end of fighting). All combatants withdraw to
either side of a line of demarcation. All French troops are to leave Vietnam by July 1956,
when elections are to be held to choose a national government. The agreement states
that “the military demarcation is provisional ad should not in any way be interpreted as
constituting a territorial or political boundary.”

E. August - U.S. military staff increases to 200. Bao Dai names Ngo Dinh Diem his prime
minister.

14. 1955:
A. July - Diem calls a referendum on the future of southern Vietnam.

B. October - Referendum results in the creation of the Republic of Vietnam (“South Vietnam”),
distinct from the DRV (“North Vietnam”). Diem deposes Bao Dai.

15. 1956 – Diem assumes dictatorial powers. Viet Minh forces in the south begin an uprising.

16. 1960 - Viet Minh and other anti-Diem forces ally in the National Liberation Front (NLF). Diem
dismisses the NLF as “Viet Cong” (Vietnamese Communists).

17. 1961 - VIETNAM WAR BEGINS! 900 U.S. special Forces (counter-insurgency) troops arrive to act
as advisers to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN).

18. 1962:
A. February - U.S. troop strength increases to 8,000.

B. June - U.S. begins aerial spraying of herbicides (defoliants/agent orange) over large areas
of rural Vietnam.

C. December - U.S. troop strength increases to 11,000.



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19. 1963:
A. May - Buddhist clergy lead a protest against the Diem government. Diem responds with
mass arrests. Buddhist monks begin publicly burning themselves to death.

B. October - U.S. troop strength increases to 17,000.

C. November - ARVN stages coup d’etat. Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, head of police,
are murdered. U.S. president John Kennedy is assassinated.

20. 1964:
A. August 2 - U.S. president Lyndon Johnson announces that the destroyer Maddox, on patrol
in international waters, has been attacked by DRV torpedo boats.

B. August 4 - Johnson alleges a second attack against the destroyers Maddox and C. Turner
Joy. He orders a strike by American aircraft against the DRV.

C. August 7 - Congress grants Johnson the authority to “repel aggression.” The Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution will be cited as the legal authority for all future U.S. military involvement in
Vietnam.

D. November - NLF shells U.S. bases at Bien Hoa and Pleiku, the first direct attacks against
American forces. NLF now controls 75% of South Vietnamese territory.

21. 1965:
A. March - U.S. strategic bombing campaign against the DRV begins. First U.S. combat troops
arrive. U.S. troop strength increases to 82,000.

B. June - U.S. soldiers go into combat. U.S. troop strength increases to 125,000.

C. December - U.S. troop strength increases to 200,000.

22. 1966:
A. April - U.S. troop strength increases to 250,000.

B. December - U.S. troop strength increases to 375,000.

23. 1967 - U.S. troop strength increases to 463,000. General William Westmoreland asks for 70,000
more as “minimum essential force.”

24. 1968:
A. January - The Tet Offensive. NLF launches attacks against 100 towns and cities in South
Vietnam.

B. February – Senator William Fulbright reveals that investigation has established that the
destroyers Maddox and C. Turner Joy were in DRV waters and engaged in combat
support of South Vietnamese gunboats when attacked. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,
having been obtained by misrepresentation, is declared null and void. President
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Johnson no longer has legal authority for military operations in Vietnam. General
Westmoreland requests 200,000 more troops. Westmoreland is recalled.

C. March - U.S. soldiers destroy the village of My Lai, South Vietnam. 100 to 200 villagers are
executed. Johnson announces that he will not stand for reelection. He offers to stop
bombing if the DRV will agree to peace talks.

D. April - DRV agrees to peace talks.

E. November - U.S. bombings of DRV cease. There have been 107,700 bombing raids,
dropping 2,600,000 tons of explosive - more than twice the tonnage dropped by all
Allied air forces in Europe during WWII.

25. 1969:
A. January - Peace talks begin in Paris.

B. March - U.S. president Nixon orders secret bombing of Cambodia.

C. June - Nixon announces a plan to shift all responsibility for the war to the ARVN. He
increases aid while withdrawing U.S. troops. 25,000 American soldiers are shipped
home.

26. 1970:
A. April - U.S. invades Cambodia. Peace talks are stalemated on issue of the sovereignty of
South Vietnam.

B. May - Ohio National Guardsmen fire on anti-war demonstrators at Kent State University,
killing 4 students. U.S. and ARVN troops invade Laos.

27. 1972 - With most U.S. troops withdrawn, the DRV invades the south. U.S. responds with renewed
bombing.

28. 1973:
A. January 2 - U.S. Congress announces that it will approve no further military aid to South
Vietnam.

B. January 27 - U.S. negotiators abandon demands for guarantee of the sovereignty of South
Vietnam. The peace treaty is signed. U.S. participation in the war is now over, but
fighting continues between the DRV and South Vietnam.

C. March - Last U.S. combat troops leave Vietnam.

29. 1975:
A. 8:00 a.m., April 30th - Last U.S. nationals flee Saigon. Troops of the NLF and DRV capture
the city. The long war is over.


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THE FINAL FIGURES: 1961-1975


58,135 American soldiers died in Vietnam. 2,500 were listed as missing in action (MIA). 35,000 U.S. civilians were killed. 303,616 American soldiers were wounded.

Vietnam, north and south, counted 2 million dead and more than 3 million wounded. 10 million Vietnamese, one half the population of the country, were homeless in 1975.

18 billion gallons of herbicides were sprayed across South Vietnam, destroying approximately 200,000 acres of forest and farm land.

The direct costs of the war to the United States totaled $168.1 billion.