Vietnam War Timeline

It would be tempting to say that the Vietnam War began when North Vietnamese fired torpedos at USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964, and finished with the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973. Those dates encompass most of the U.S. military involvement in the war, and the Vietnam War timeline is thick with events in that nine-year period. But the conflict began long before then, and didn’t finish until 1975. Neither was the U.S. involvement restricted to the period between Tonkin and Paris.

AD 905 – 1862: Independence

Vietnam has a long, rich history extending back for over two millennia. For most of the past thousand years it has been an independent nation, with only two exceptions. The first was a brief 20-year period in the 15th century, when the Ming Chinese took advantage of political instability in Vietnam during a chaotic transition from one dynasty to another. The second began in 1858, when French Emperor Napoleon III launched a naval campaign against Vietnam, with the excuse of protecting Catholic priests. France’s influence in Asia was less than some of its European rivals, and Indochina made a good prize. In 1862, Emperor Tu Duc signed a treaty with France, and the French colonial period began.

1862 – 1946: French Rule and Vietnamese Resistance

French colonialism began in 1862, and by 1893, France would control all of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. There were a number of Vietnamese resistance and independence efforts during this period.

In the 1920s, the Vietnamese Nationalist Party (Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng) was formed. In the fashion of many early 20th century revolutionary movements, it favored socialist policies and an end to colonialism. Its campaign was initially based around publishing material to spread its ideas, but this was shut down by French censorship. By the end of the decade it had conducted numerous assassinations, and in 1929 the French imprisoned hundreds of party members. In 1930, an armed revolt was attempted in conjunction with rebellious Vietnamese soldiers, but was quickly put down by the French, and the movement never regained its former strength.

In 1930, while exiled in China, Ho Chi Minh founded the Indochinese Communist Party (Đảng Cộng Sản Đông Dương), incorporating two other rival communist groups. This organization would eventually go on to become what is now the Communist Party of Vietnam.

In 1940, with France occupied by Germany, Vietnam came under the rule of Vichy France, which was the French puppet government under the control of Germany. But Vietnam had strategic value to Japan, since controlling ports and other means of transport in Vietnam enabled Japan to blockade China’s access to the outside world. Vichy France conceded to Japanese military presence in Vietnam. The Japanese effectively controlled Vietnam, but left the Vichy French with titular rule.

In 1941, the Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) was formed, for the purpose of ending French rule by fighting against the Vichy French. The Japanese also became the target of the Viet Minh. As a result, the Viet Minh was assisted with money and expertise from China and the U.S. Indeed the OSS (the U.S. Office of Strategic Services – the predecessor to the CIA) was already active in the region, coordinating and collaborating in guerilla operations against the Japanese throughout South-East Asia, and partnered with the Viet Minh.

During a brief 5-month period in 1945, Japan ended French rule and created its own puppet state: the Empire of Vietnam under the rule of Emperor Bao Dai. In August 1945, as Japan surrendered to the Allies, it handed control of Vietnam over to the Vietnamese. Ho Chi Minh, who was by this stage the leader of the Viet Minh, proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, an independent state with an elected national assembly, Ho Chi Minh as head of government, and Bao Dai as supreme advisor. This independence was short-lived, with French troops arriving in Saigon in October 1945.

1946 – 1954: First Indochina War

Hostilities between Viet-Minh and French forces rapidly escalated, and in 1946 the First Indochina War started, between the communist-controlled North under Ho Chi Minh, and the French-controlled South. In the hope that he could broker a peace, the French made Bao Dai emperor again in 1949, but the war continued.

The First Indochina War ended after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. In an attempt to defeat the Viet Minh in a decisive major battle, the French moved 15,000 soldiers into Dien Bien Phu, in the heart of Viet Minh territory. However, the Viet Minh surrounded the French force with 55,000 soldiers, and bombarded them with artillery for 55 days before the French forces surrendered on May 7 1954. On July 20, France and the Viet Minh signed the Geneva Accords, ending the war.

1954-1964: The U.S. Advisory Phase in South Vietnam

According to the terms of the Geneva Accords, Vietnam was partitioned into North and South, with a demilitarized zone between them at the 17th parallel. Elections were supposed to be held within two years to reunite the country under one government. However, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem argued that there was no way a free election would be held in the communist North, hence the South could not participate in such an election. Instead, Diem held a rigged referendum to choose the form of government for the South, resulting in the Republic of Vietnam with himself as President. Although the U.S. was apparently not a party to the rigging of the election, it supported the referendum and was instrumental in Diem’s election campaign.

The U.S. wasn’t necessarily enamored with Diem’s government, but it was very averse to a communist take-over of Asia. In the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s, communism, seen as the ideological antithesis of American and Western freedom, seemed to be taking control of the world at an alarming rate. In the wake of World War II, communist governments had been installed throughout Eastern Europe. In 1949, the Communist Party of China won the Chinese Civil War, and China became the People’s Republic of China. In 1950, communist North Koreans invaded South Korea. Even domestically, America was paranoid of an internal 5th column of communists attempting to take control of the U.S. The U.S. stationed military advisors in South Vietnam, and provided financial and practical assistance in building and training the South Vietnamese army.

Throughout the Diem period, conflict gradually increased between the South and the North. Many former Viet Minh troops rebelled. In 1960, the anti-government National Liberation Front formed. This insurgency was also known as the Viet Cong, and carried out assassination and sabotage. U.S. involvement gradually increased, with 1,200 advisors in South Vietnam in 1962, and 16,000 in 1963, as well as air support in the form of helicopter transports and planes flying combat and escort missions.

Diem’s regime was unpopular and oppressive. It rooted out communists, which didn’t necessarily make it popular, but it also jealously hunted down and repressed its opponents, and oppressed Buddhists and other non-Catholics. In November 1963, Diem’s government was overthrown and Diem was executed. The U.S. reluctantly approved the coup. Although it wanted strong opposition to the communists, the U.S. was unhappy with the poor leadership of the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) under Diem, and uncomfortable with Diem’s violent oppression of the Buddhist population. What followed was a nineteen-month period of political instability as leadership of the country changed on an almost monthly basis.

1964-1973: The U.S. Military Phase

Major U.S. involvement began on August 2nd 1964, when the USS Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese patrol boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. On August 4th, another attack on the Maddox was reported (it would later be determined that no such attack actually occurred), and on August 7th Congress unanimously passed the Southeast Asia Resolution, also known as the “Gulf of Tonkin Resolution”, authorizing President Johnson to use military force in Vietnam.

Thus began the massive escalation of the war between North and South Vietnam, with the South backed by the U.S. and the North backed by China and the U.S.S.R. From the beginning, President Johnson knew the war was un-winnable in a conventional sense. But he also feared the implications of U.S. retreat and a communist victory. The prevailing theory at the time was that this would set off a cascade of communist takeovers throughout Asia (called the “domino effect”). His only hope as he saw it was to escalate to try to inflict enough damage to force the North Vietnamese to sign a peace treaty and retreat from South Vietnam and, thereby halting the advance of communism in Asia.

But by 1969, despite tactical victories in every battle fought by the U.S., and despite having half-a-million U.S. personnel in South Vietnam, the North Vietnamese were no closer to withdrawal. Under President Nixon (whose first term began in January 1969), the U.S. began a gradual withdrawal of troops from Vietnam, and increased training and equipping of South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) to take over U.S. activities. In 1970, he ordered the invasion of Cambodia in order to rout the 40,000 North Vietnamese troops who were tucked away over the border and theoretically out of reach. This campaign proved to be domestically unpopular in the U.S., where the public saw it as an escalation of a war they were trying to get out of. Nixon also ordered extensive bombing of North Vietnamese strategic targets in 1972, in order to force North Vietnam to negotiating a treaty.

The treaty, known as The Paris Peace Accords, was agreed in January 1973. In the agreement, North and South Vietnamese forces could stay in place under a cease fire. All foreign troops were to withdraw and U.S. prisoners of war were to be released. The reunification of the country was to take place gradually and peacefully. The political future of South Vietnam was to be decided by free and fair elections under international observation. By July, U.S. POWs had been returned, and there were less than 250 U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam. The U.S. had successfully extricated itself from a terrible war under what seemed to be reasonable treaty terms.

1974-1975: The Withdrawal of the U.S. and Fall of South Vietnam

However, the cease fire was breached numerous times by both North and South in various raids. Then in December 1974, full scale fighting resumed when North Vietnam began a major offensive, invading the Phuoc Long province, which is 50-100 miles north of Saigon. By this time, U.S. policy towards Vietnam had changed considerably. President Nixon had resigned from office, to be replaced by President Ford, and Congress was not sympathetic to any further involvement in the Vietnam conflict. South Vietnam was on its own. On January 8th 1975, Phuoc Long became the first province to fall to communists since 1954. Other victories rapidly followed as the North Vietnamese forces pressed their way through South Vietnam. The progress was more rapid than the North had expected, and by April 27th they were attacking Saigon. The U.S., in its final operation of the war, mounted a massive helicopter airlift evacuating 4,400 people to warships that were stationed offshore.

At midday on April 30th 1975, North Vietnamese tanks occupied the presidential palace in Saigon, and South Vietnam surrendered. The war was over.