Key Dates in the History of Viet Nam
... and America in Viet Nam, the French, etc.
(
*** John - I didn't copy over the footnote, I'll leave that up to you.
http://old.deanza.edu/faculty/swensson/vnhist.html
)
Map of Viet Nam at http://www.asiatravel.com/vietmap.html
40 A.D.
The Trung Sisters defeat the Chinese and restore VN's independence (for three years)
939 A.D.
Chinese finally driven out of Viet Nam (They return 1420-27, 1789, 1979)
1009-1225
Ly Dynasty
1225-1400
Tran Dynasty
1427-1789
Le Dynasty
1787
French missionary Pigneau de Behaine persuades French court to assist in restoration
of the Nguyen.
1788
Last Le emperor flees to China. Nguyen Hue proclaims himself emperor.
1798
Chinese invasion in support of the Le defeated.
1802
The Nguyen defeat last of Tay Son forces. Nguyen Anh accedes to throne as Gia Long
and establishes his capital at Hue.
1802-1945
Nguyen Dynasty
1820
Death of Gia Long. Succeeded by his highly sinicized son, Minh Mang. This is also
the approximate date of the publication of Nguyen Du's epic, THE TALE OF KIEU.
1845
USS Constitution lands in DaNang. A company of US Marines go ashore, move overland
to Hue, and recapture a French Bishop who had been captured by the Vietnamese. America's
first VN combat involvement; 120 years later two Battalions of US Marines will return
to the same port.
1847
French vessels bombard Da Nang.
September 1858
French forces seize Da Nang.
February 1859
French forces capture Saigon.
February 1861
The French defeat the Vietnamese army and gain control of Gia Dinh and surrounding
provinces.
June 5, 1862
Treaty of Saigon, which ceded three southern provinces-Bien Hoa, Gia Dinh, and Dinh
Tuong-to the French.
1887
Indochinese Union formally established.
1904
Phan Boi Chau founds Viet Nam Duy Tan Hoi (Vietnam Reformation Society).
October 1911
Ho Chi Minh departs Vietnam for Europe. Leaves from the Customs House in Saigon. Spends
one winter in the U.S. Becomes a pastry chef at the Hotel Carleton in London, working
under the great Escoffier. For a romantic account of this see Robert Olen Butler's
"A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain," the final short story in a collection by the
same name which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1993. Ho Chi Minh eventually
settles in Paris and goes into the Photography business. See also David Halberstam's
short Biography, HO.
1912
Phan Boi Chau founds Viet Nam Quang Phuc Hoi (Vietnam Restoration Society), replacing
Duy Tan Hoi.
1919
Nguyen Ai Quoc (Ho Chi Minh) attempts to meet with President Woodrow Wilson at the
Versailles Peace Conference to present a program for Vietnamese rights and sovereignty,
but is turned away.
1920
Ho Chi Minh participates in founding of the French Communist Party at Tours, France
1923
Ho Chi Minh's first visit to Moscow
1926
Ho Chi Minh forms Thanh Nien Cong San Doan (Communist Youth League) within the larger
Thanh Nien organization.
1927
Nguyen Thai Hoc founds the Vietnam Quoc Dan Dang (VNQDD, Vietnam Nationalist Party).
February 1930
Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP, Viet Nam Cong San Dang) founded in Hong Kong (name
changed to Indochinese Communist Party, Dong Duong Cong San Dang, in October).
August 1945
Japan surrenders and the Viet Minh commences the August Revolution, gaining effective
control over much of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh has worked for OSS during WWII as Agent
19, under supervision of Maj Archimedes Patti.
September 1945
Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam's independence in Hanoi. Reads from the U.S. Declaration
of Independence. Starvation kills over one million Vietnamese. A. Peter Dewey, head
of the OSS mission in Saigon, is shot by Vietminh troops, becoming the first American
to die in the Viet Nam war.
1946-1954
First Indochina War (The Viet Minh War). French forces arrive, many on U.S. ships.
These same ships move almost 1 Million mostly Catholic Vietnamese from North to South.
Dr. Tom Dooley is the chief medical officer in the Port of Haiphong.
1947
TRUMAN DOCTRINE pledges economic and military aid to any nation threatened by Communism
May 7, 1954
French surrender at Dien Bien Phu. One month earlier DDE had espoused the domino theory.
May 8, 1954
Geneva Conference on Indochina opens.
June-July, 1954
Ngo Dinh Diem comes from Maryknoll seminary in New York to become Prime Minister.
US sends 200 military advisors. Geneva Agreements adopted, Vietnam provisionally divided
at the 17th parallel. Ngo Dinh Diem appointed South Vietnam's premier by Emperor Bao
Dai (The last emperor of The Nguyen Dynasty and also of Vietnam).
January 1, 1955
Direct United States aid to South Vietnam begins. The US had financed most of the
French war, to the level of $300 million annually. Cold War begins. In March Diem
attacks Binh Xuyen and Hoa Hao. With US support, Diem also refuses general elections
called for by Geneva Accords.
October 26, 1955
Republic of Vietnam established with Ngo Dinh Diem as its first president. US advisors
grow to 1000 under Eisenhower.
January, 1961
John F. Kennedy inaugural address "We will pay any price, will bear any burden in defense of liberty. Also that month JFK approves a Viet Nam counterinsurgency plan. US troops in Viet Nam number 3,205 at end of 1961.
1962-63
John Paul Vann arrives in Viet Nam as a LTC, advisor to the ARVN 7th Division in March,1962,
and departs in April, 1963. The Battle of Ap Bac occurs on 2 Jan 1963. US advisors
grow to 16,000 by end of 1963.
November 1-2, 1963
Ngo Dinh Diem overthrown and assassinated (in an M113 Armored Personnel Carrier built
at Coleman Avenue in San Jose.). We now know that it was a US assisted operation,
supervised on the ground by Ambassador Lodge and the CIA. JFK had approved the coup,
but not the assassination of Diem. Kennedy himself assassinated on 22 November, just
after signing Top Secret NSM #263 ordering the withdrawal of the first 1000 US advisors.
1964
Westmoreland and Maxwell taylor replace Harkins and Lodge as heads of US incountry
team. Gulf of Tonkin incident. LTJG Everett Alvarez, Santa Clara graduate, becomes
first US POW.
1965
Operation Rolling Thunder (bombing of North) begins. Second (see 1845, above) group
of US Marines lands at DaNang. SDS holds first antiwar protest.VietCong attack US
airbase at Pleiku. John Paul Vann returns as a USAID advisor in Hau Nghia Province;
remains for the next seven years. Nguyen Cao Ky takes over VN govt. Battle of the
Ia Drang Valley. Joe Galloway is 19 year old UPI Bureau Chief--see http://www.lzxray.com. First secret Peace Talks begin in Paris--short lived. US Troop strength at end of
year is 184,300.
1966
US Troop strength goes to 385,000, including EWRT 2 teacher. US KIAs go to 6,644.
1967
Thieu and Ky elected as President and VP of Viet Nam. Martin Luther King's antiwar
sermon "A Time to Break Silence" delivered in April.
1968
Eugene McCarthy announces decision to run for US President. Seige of Khe Sanh. TET
Offensive, 29-30 Jan. 27 Feb Walter Cronkite says in evening news that war cannot
be won. Robert Kennedy declares his candidacy for US President. LBJ announces will
not run for second full term. MLK assassinated. RFK assassinated while running for
President on antiwar ticket. My Lai Massacre. (not publicly known until late 1969).
Hanoi agrees to shape of conference table at Peace Talks. Richard Nixon wins Presidency
with a "Secret Plan" to end the war. US KIAs at 30,610.
1969
Ho Chi Minh's death . American troop strength peaked at 543,300, including EWRT2 teacher.
First US troop withdrawals: 25,000 on 8 June. Massive War Moratorium demonstration
in US on 15 Oct. Repeated on 15 Nov with 250,000 antiwar marchers in DC. Troop strength
down to 475,200 by end of year.
1970
US invades Cambodian sanctuaries. Massive antiwar demonstrations. 4 students killed
at Kent State. Unsuccessful raid on Son Tay Prison Camp. US Congress prohibits US
troops in Cambodia and Laos.
1971
Lam Son 719, ARVN incursion into Laos. PENTAGON PAPERS published. US Troop strength
160,000. US Troops ordered to assume defensive role only.
1972
Nixon visits China. US mines Haiphong harbor. Secret peace talks. NVA invade South
Viet Nam. John Paul Vann, Senior Advisor, II Corps, killed in a helicopter crash.
Nixon wins reelection by landslide; he is opposed in primary by Palo Alto Congressman
Pete McCloskey (R) who, as a Navy Cross holder from Korea, runs on an antiwar platform.
Peace talk agreement then disagreement. Bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong
January 27, 1973
Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam signed in Paris. US POWs
repatriated. Last United States troops in Vietnam depart.
March 9, 1975
People's Army of Viet Nam (PAVN) offensive in the South begins. (Quoc Han). Battle
of Xuan Loc.
April 30, 1975.
Saigon surrenders.
September 20, 1977
Viet Nam admitted to United Nations.
December 21, 1978
PAVN forces initiate invasion of Cambodia.
February 17, 1979
China launches invasion of Viet Nam. Suffer approximately 50,000 casualties
March 5, 1979
Chinese forces withdrawn from Viet Nam.
Note: With the Chinese withdrawal from Viet Nam, General Vo Nguyen Giap has defeated the Japanese, the French, the Americans, the Cambodians, and the Chinese. Now somewhat out of favor with the government, he has recently been in charge of family planning. Birth control is treated as another form of warfare.
December,1986
Doi Moi , New Openness, declared. Free market economy begins. Greater personal freedom.
1990
Last Viet Nam troops withdraw from Cambodia
1994
US Embargo ends