Vietnamese History Timeline

Events 1 - 200 of 259

• 1788-12-19 Chinese troops occupy capital Thang Long Vietnam
• 1788-12-21 Hue Tay Son becomes emperor Quang Trung of Vietnam
• 1789-02-01 Chinese troops driven out of Vietnam capital Thang Long

• 1803-01-01 Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn Dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam.
• 1882-09-03 French/Vietnamese/Chinese battle at Hanoi, 100s die
• 1930-02-03 The Indochinese Communist Party of Vietnam is established
• 1945-03-10 Japan grants occupied Vietnam independence

• 1945-08-22 Vietnam conflict begins as Ho Chi Minh leads a successful coup
• 1945-09-02 Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independent from France (National Day)
• 1946-01-06 Vietnam holds its first ever general election
• 1946-03-02 Ho Chi Minh is elected President of North Vietnam
• 1946-03-06 France recognizes Vietnam statehood within Indo-Chinese federation
• 1946-11-23 French Navy fire in Haiphong, Vietnam, kills 6,000

• 1949-07-02 The State of Vietnam is internationally recognised, governing the southern half of Vietnam, with Bảo Đại as chief of state
• 1950-02-07 United States formally recognizes the State of Vietnam as the legitimate government of Vietnam, with Bảo Đại as leader
• 1950-05-21 Vietnamese troops of Ho Chi-Minh attack Cambodia
• 1950-06-27 US sends 35 military advisers to South Vietnam
• 1950-07-19 French/Vietnamese offensive against Viet Minh
• 1950-08-13 US President Harry Truman gives military aid to Vietnamese regime of Bảo Đại
• 1950-09-16 Viet Minh offensive against French bases in Vietnam
• 1950-12-30 Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia become Independent states within the French Union

• 1954-04-21 USAF flies French battalion to Vietnam
• 1954-06-04 France grants Vietnam independence inside French Union

• 1954-07-21 Geneva Accords for Indochina signed, dividing French colonial territories into the countries of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam), Cambodia, and Laos
• 1954-07-27 Armistice divides Vietnam into two countries
• 1954-10-24 Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States' support to South Vietnam
• 1954-10-25 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower offers aid to the Prime Minister of South Vietnam Ngô Đình Diệm [1]
• 1955-02-12 President Eisenhower sends 1st US advisors to South Vietnam
• 1955-10-26 Ngô Đình Diệm proclaims Vietnam a republic with himself as President
• 1956-04-28 Last French troops leave Vietnam
• 1956-06-08 Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr. killed by another USAF airman in Vietnam, becoming the first American killed in the Vietnam War
• 1956-10-26 Vietnam promulgates its constitution
• 1957-05-08 South Vietnamese President, Ngô Đình Diệm, arrives in the United States on a state visit
• 1960-11-12 Military coup against Republic of Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm fails
• 1960-12-20 The National Liberation Front, better known as the Viet Cong, is officially formed in South Vietnam
• 1961-10-18 Emergency crisis proclaimed in South Vietnam due to communist attack

• 1961-11-18 JFK sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam
• 1961-12-11 JFK provides US military helicopters & crews to South Vietnam
• 1962-01-12 Operation Chopper begins, America's first combat mission in the Vietnam War

• 1962-01-18 US begins spraying foliage in Vietnam to reveal Viet Cong guerrillas
• 1962-02-27 South Vietnam President Ngô Đình Diệm's palace bombed by dissident air pilots in a failed assassination attempt
• 1962-03-09 US advisors in South-Vietnam join the fight

• 1963-08-21 Martial law declared in South Vietnam, following raids on Buddhist pagodas
• 1963-11-02 Ngô Đình Diệm, the President of South Vietnam, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup by the South Vietnamese Army
• 1964-01-30 Military coup of Gen Nguyen Khanh in South Vietnam
• 1964-06-23 General Maxwell Taylor appointed US ambassador in South Vietnam
• 1964-07-30 US naval fire on Hon Ngu/Hon Mo, North Vietnam
• 1964-08-02 North Vietnam fires at US Navy destroyer USS Maddox in what becomes known as the Gulf of Tonkin incident which would eventually escalate US involvement in the Vietnam War
• 1964-08-04 North Vietnam purportedly engage US Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin for a second time, resulting in US Congress passing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting authority to assist any Southeast Asian facing "communist aggression"; later investigation deemed the second attack never happened as shipboard communications were misinterpreted
• 1964-08-05 US begins bombing North Vietnam in response to the real and imagined attacks on US Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin

• 1964-10-30 Tran Van Huong appointed premier of South Vietnam
• 1964-12-05 Captain Roger Donlon is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the Vietnam War for successfully repelling a large Viet Cong attack
• 1965-01-26 South Vietnam military coup under general Nguyen Khanh
• 1965-02-07 US begins regular bombing & strafing of North Vietnam
• 1965-02-08 President Johnson deploys 1st US combat troops to South Vietnam, with 3500 marines sent to protect key US airbase near Da Nang
• 1965-03-02 US Air Force begins Operation Rolling Thunder, a three year sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam
• 1965-03-08 First US combat forces arrive in Vietnam, on the beaches of Da Nang
• 1965-03-30 Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others
• 1965-04-20 People's Republic China offers North Vietnam military aid
• 1965-04-29 Australian government announces it would send troops to Vietnam
• 1965-05-05 First large-scale US Army ground units arrive in South Vietnam
• 1965-05-16 Bomb destroys USAF base Bien Hoa, South Vietnam
• 1965-06-08 US troops ordered to fight offensively in Vietnam
• 1965-06-10 Vietnam War: Battle of Dong Xoai begins, a major engagement between the Viet Cong and South Vietnamese forces
• 1965-06-12 South Vietnam Gen Nguyen Cao Ky succeeds Phan Huy Quat as premier
• 1965-06-13 Vietnam War: Battle of Dong Xoai ends in a Viet Cong victory
• 1965-06-28 1st US ground combat forces in Vietnam authorized by President Lyndon B. Johnson
• 1965-07-28 LBJ sends 50,000 more soldiers to Vietnam (total of 125,000)
• 1965-08-02 Morley Safer's sends 1st Vietnam report indicating the US is losing
• 1965-09-11 The 1st Cavalry Division of the United States Army arrives in Vietnam
• 1965-11-08 Vietnam War: US, Australian and New Zealand forces launch Operation Hump, a search-and-destroy operation near Bien Hoa in South Vietnam
• 1965-11-14 US government sends 90,000 soldiers to Vietnam
• 1965-11-27 15-25,000 demonstrate against war in Vietnam in Washington, D.C.
• 1965-12-25 US President Lyndon B. Johnson orders a halt to bombing operations in North Vietnam, hoping to spur peace talks
• 1966-01-10 The Georgia House of Representatives votes 184-12 to deny Julian Bond his seat as a result of his opposition to the Vietnam War
• 1966-01-12 LBJ says US should stay in South Vietnam until communist aggression ends
• 1966-03-02 215,000 US soldiers in Vietnam
• 1966-03-10 North Vietnamese capture US Green Beret Camp at Ashau Valley
• 1966-03-26 Large-scale anti-Vietnam War protests take place in the United States, including in New York, Washington, D.C. and Chicago
• 1966-04-12 1st B-52 bombing on North Vietnam
• 1966-05-15 South Vietnamese army battle Buddhists, about 80 die
• 1966-05-26 Buddhist sets himself on fire at US consulate in Hué, South Vietnam
• 1966-05-30 300 US airplanes bomb North Vietnam
• 1966-06-29 US planes bomb the North Vietnamese capital Hanoi and the port city of Haiphong for the first time in the Vietnam War
• 1966-07-30 US airplanes bomb the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam
• 1966-08-06 US citizens demonstrate against war in Vietnam
• 1966-10-13 173 US aircraft bomb North Vietnam
• 1966-10-14 175 US airplanes bomb North Vietnam
• 1966-12-04 Military Working Dog "Nemo" saves the life of his handler Airman Robert A. Throneburg during the Vietnam War, surviving a gunshot wound to the nose
• 1966-12-24 USAF C144 military charter aircraft crashes near Binh Thai, Vietnam, killing 129
• 1967-02-22 25,000 US and South Vietnamese troops launch Operation Junction City against the Viet Cong. Largest US airborne assault since World War II.

• 1967-03-24 University of Michigan holds 1st "Teach-in" after bombing of North Vietnam

• 1967-05-10 Stockholm Vietnam Tribunal declares US aggression in Vietnam and Cambodia
• 1967-05-20 10,000 demonstrate against war in Vietnam
• 1967-08-03 45,000 US soldiers sent to Vietnam
• 1967-08-26 Dutch 2nd Chamber demands US stop bombing North Vietnam

• 1967-10-21 Tens of thousands of anti-Vietnam War protesters march on the Pentagon, besieging the military headquarters for two days
• 1967-10-31 Nguyễn Văn Thiệu takes oath of office to become the 1st President of the Second Republic of South Vietnam
• 1967-11-03 Vietnam War: The Battle of Dak To begins, becoming one of the bloodiest battles of the war
• 1967-11-05 US troops conquer Loc Ninh South Vietnam
• 1967-11-21 Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."

• 1967-12-20 474,300 US soldiers in Vietnam
• 1968-01-21 The Battle of Khe Sanh - one of the most publicized and controversial battles of the Vietnam War - begins at the Khe Sanh Air Base
• 1968-01-24 Operation Coburg begins, an Australian and New Zealand military action during the Vietnam War
• 1968-01-30 Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese launch the Tet offensive against South Vietnames and US forces
• 1968-02-06 Dutch 2nd Chamber condemns US bombing of North Vietnam
• 1968-02-13 US sends 10,500 additional soldiers to Vietnam
• 1968-02-18 Thousands of people in West Berlin demonstrate against US involvement in the Vietnam War
• 1968-02-24 US troops reconquer Hue Vietnam

• 1968-03-10 North Vietnamese and communist Laotion troops overrun a secret US radar facility, Lima Site 85, on a Laos mountaintop
• 1968-03-16 My Lai massacre occurs when American soldiers kill ~400 unarmed Vietnamese civilians, in one of the most controversial incidents of the Vietnam War
• 1968-03-31 US President Lyndon B. Johnson authorizes a troop surge in Vietnam, bringing the total number of US soldiers to a peak of 549,500
• 1968-04-03 N Vietnam agrees to meet US reps to set up preliminary peace talks
• 1968-05-10 Vietnam peace talks began in Paris between the US and North Vietnam
• 1968-08-21 PFC James Anderson Jr is 1st African American Marine to win Medal of Honor (Vietnam War)
• 1968-10-31 US President Lyndon B. Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam
• 1969-01-02 Operation Barrier Reef begins in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
• 1969-01-10 Sweden is the 1st Western country to recognize North Vietnam
• 1969-01-18 Expanded 4 party Vietnam peace talks began in Paris
• 1969-01-25 US-North Vietnamese peace talks begin in Paris
• 1969-04-03 Vietnam War: U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start a policy of "Vietnamization", reducing American involvement
• 1969-04-05 Massive anti-Vietnam War demonstrations occur in many U.S. cities
• 1969-05-10 US troops begin attack on Hill 937 ("Hamburger Hill"), Vietnam
• 1969-05-20 US troop capture Hill 937/Hamburger Hill in Vietnam
• 1969-06-02 Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne slices US destroyer USS Frank E Evans in half, killing 74 (South Vietnam)
• 1969-06-08 Nixon says 25,000 US troops would leave Vietnam by end of August
• 1969-07-08 US troop withdrawal begins in Vietnam
• 1969-09-24 Ton Duc Thang is elected President of North Vietnam
• 1969-10-15 Vietnam Moratorium Day; millions nationwide protest the war
• 1969-11-12 US army announces investigating William Calley for alleged massacre of civilians at Vietnamese village of My Lai in March, 19
• 1969-11-14 2nd Vietnam Moratorium Day in US

• 1969-11-16 1968 Mỹ Lai massacre of between 347 and 504 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians by US soldiers is first reported
• 1969-11-24 US Army Lt William L Calley charged with massacre of over 100 civilians in My Lai Vietnam in March 1968, ordered to stand trial by court martial
• 1970-04-29 US and South Vietnamese forces launch an incursion into Cambodia, expanding the Vietnam War
• 1970-05-08 Thousands of students protest against the Vietnam War following the Kent State University shootings in Ohio
• 1970-05-20 100,000 march in NY supporting US policies in Vietnam

• 1970-11-16 South Vietnamese Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky defends operations in Cambodia because communist forces could overrun South Vietnam "within 24 hours" if troops operating there were withdrawn
• 1971-02-08 Operation Lam Son 719 begins, a limited South Vietnamese incursion into Laos
• 1971-02-13 12,000 South Vietnamese troops cross into Laos
• 1971-03-14 South Vietnamese troops flee Laos
• 1971-03-29 1st Lt William L Calley Jr found guilty in My Lai (Vietnam) massacre
• 1971-04-05 US Lt William Calley sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 22 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre
• 1971-04-25 About 200,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters march on Washington, D.C.
• 1971-06-08 North Vietnam demands US end aid to South Vietnam
• 1971-06-13 "The New York Times" begins publishing excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, classified documents on the long history of the U.S. in Vietnam

• 1971-10-11 Switzerland recognizes North Vietnam
• 1972-03-30 North Vietnam launches a major conventional offensive against South Vietnam
• 1972-05-01 North Vietnamese troops occupy Quang Tri Activities Committee
• 1972-05-04 Vietcong forms revolutionary government in Quang Tri, South Vietnam
• 1972-06-06 US bombs Haiphong, North-Vietnam; 1000s killed
• 1972-08-12 Last American combat ground troops leave Vietnam
• 1972-08-27 Operation Lion's Den: US Navy bombards Haiphong Harbor, North Vietnam from the sea, firing over 700 rounds in 33 minutes [1]

• 1972-11-11 US Army turns over Long Bihn base to South Vietnamese army

• 1972-12-30 US President Richard Nixon halts bombing of North Vietnam & announces peace talks
• 1973-01-08 Secret peace talks between US & North Vietnam resumed near Paris
• 1973-01-15 US President Richard Nixon suspends all US offensive action in North Vietnam
• 1973-01-22 US, North & South Vietnam & Vietcong sign boundary accord
• 1973-01-23 US President Richard Nixon announces an accord has been reached to end the Vietnam War
• 1973-01-27 Paris Peace Accords signed by US Secretary of State William P. Rogers, (North) Vietnam Minister for Foreign Affairs Nguyen Duy Trinh, Republic of South Vietnam Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyễn Thị Bình, and Republic of Vietnam Minister for Foreign Affairs Trần Văn Lắm, ending America's then longest war and it's military draft.
• 1973-02-04 An International inspection team is sent to Vietnam to observe progress on the Paris truce agreement
• 1973-02-05 Funeral held for US Army Lt. Col. William Nolde, last US soldier killed in Vietnam War
• 1973-02-12 1st US POWs in North Vietnam released; 116 of 456 flown to Philippines

• 1973-03-29 US troops leave Vietnam, 9 yrs after Tonkin Resolution
• 1973-03-30 Ellsworth Bunker resigns as US ambassador to South Vietnam
• 1973-04-09 Netherlands recognizes North Vietnam
• 1973-04-12 France recognizes North Vietnam
• 1973-10-16 US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho controversially awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam that later failed
• 1974-01-19 China and South Vietnam clash over the Paracel Islands, resulting in a Chinese victory
• 1974-02-05 John Murtha of Pennsylvania becomes the first Vietnam War veteran elected to the United States Congress
• 1974-09-15 Air Vietnam flight 727 is hijacked, then crashes while attempting to land with 75 on board.

• 1975-03-12 Vietcong conquer Ban me Thuot, South Vietnam
• 1975-04-02 Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from the Quang Ngai Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
• 1975-04-04 138 killed as a USAF plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashes on approach during an emergency landing at Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base in South Vietnam
• 1975-04-21 Last South Vietnam President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigns after 10 years in power
• 1975-04-28 South-Vietnam Gen Duong Van Minh sworn in as president till April 30
• 1975-04-29 Charles McMahon and Darwin Judge are the last two United States servicemen killed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War

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• Bảo Đại
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