July 20, 1954
- The Geneva Conference declares a demilitarized zone at the 17th
parallel
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1955 - Ngo Dinh Diem organizes the Republic of Vietnam as
an independent nation and declares himself president
1955 - US president Dwight D. Eisenhower sends civilian and
military advisers to Vietnam to assist South Vietnamese president
Diem
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July, 1959 - Two US military advisers are killed in Vietnam
- the first American casualties
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1960 - In South Vietnam, the National Liberation Front
(Viet Cong) is formed
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February, 1962 - The US establishes the 4,000-person
Military Assistance Command in Vietnam
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November, 1963 - South Vietnamese president Diem and his
brother are killed in a military coup led by Major General Duong
Van Minh
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May, 1964 - The US imposes a trade embargo on North Vietnam
August, 1964 - A US destroyer is reportedly attacked by the
North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin; US president Lyndon B.
Johnson orders retaliatory attacks; US Congress approves the Gulf
of Tonkin resolution, which gives Johnson the authority to wage
war against North Vietnam
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March, 1965 - The US begins a bombing offensive against
North Vietnam; the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade reaches South
Vietnam
June, 1965 - Air Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky takes control of
South Vietnam in a second military coup; the US launches an
offensive operation by ground forces into Viet Cong territory near
Saigon
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April & May, 1967 - The US attacks North Vietnamese
airfields and wages air battles over Hanoi and Haiphong
September, 1967- Nguyen Van Thieu is elected president, and
Air Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky vice-president, of South Vietnam
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January, 1968 - North Vietnam launches the Tet Offensive,
with 70,000 troops attacking over 100 cities and towns in South
Vietnam
March, 1968 - The US' Charlie Company commits the My Lai
massacre, in which hundreds of civilians in the hamlet of My Lai
are killed; Lt. William Calley is later convicted of murder for
the massacre; US president Johnson halts bombing in much of North
Vietnam in an attempt to initiate peace talks with the North
Vietnamese
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February, 1969 - US president Richard Nixon authorizes the
bombing of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong bases in Cambodia
June, 1969 - Nixon meets with South Vietnamese president
Thieu and announces plans to withdraw more than 200,000 troops in
an effort to turn the war effort over to the South Vietnamese
September, 1969 - Ho Chi Minh, who led North Vietnam in its
wars against both France and the US, dies
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April, 1970 - The US and South Vietnamese invade Cambodia
in a bid to destroy Communist bases and supply lines supporting
the North Vietnamese
May, 1970 - Four students are killed in a protest at Kent
State University in Ohio
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January, 1972 - US president Nixon announces that 70,000
troops will be pulled out of Vietnam by May
March, 1972 - More than 20,000 North Vietnamese troops
cross the Demilitarized Zone into South Vietnam
June, 1972 - The US ceases ground combat in Vietnam,
leaving a force of 60,000 American technicians, advisers and
flight crews in the country
December, 1972 - The US launches a 12-day bombing campaign
against North Vietnam
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January, 1973 - The US, North Vietnam, the Viet Cong and
South Vietnam sign the Paris Peace Agreement, which calls for the
withdrawal of US forces and the release of American prisoners of
war by April
August, 1973 - US warplanes cease bombing missions,
completing the American pullout from Vietnam
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March, 1975 - North Vietnamese forces deploy 100,000
soldiers into major cities in South Vietnam, capturing Hue and
Danang
April 29, 1975 - South Vietnamese president Thieu resigns;
US helicopters evacuate Americans and South Vietnamese from the US
Embassy in Saigon
April 30, 1975 - The mass evacuation of Americans ends;
South Vietnamese leader General Duong Van Minh announces the
surrender of the nation; the Viet Cong flag is raised over the
presidential palace in Saigon.
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