President Truman

Timeline of the Vietnam War

Historical Timeline of the War: 1941 - 1949
1941	Ho Chi Minh returns to Vietnam and organizes the Viet Minh (Vietnam Independence League). U.S. military intelligence’s Office of Strategic Services (OSS) allies with Ho to work against Japanese who occupied Vietnam during the Second World War and to assist in the rescue of American pilots downed in combat during the war.	Ho Chi Minh
March 9, 1945 Summer 1945 July 1945 August 1945	Provisional Government is created by the Japanese. Emperor Bao Dai abdicates. Severe famine hits Vietnam with 2 million deaths due to starvation. After the end of the Second World War in Europe, Vietnam is divided at the 16th parallel. The intention is for the Chinese Nationalists to disarm the Japanese north of the parallel and for the British to do the same in the south. The French request and receive the return of all French pre-war colonies in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia). Japanese surrender, ending the Second World War in the Pacific. Treaty signed with Japan.	Emperor Boa Dai
September 2, 1945 September 13, 1945 September 22, 1945 September 26, 1945	Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam’s independence, sets up a provisional government in Hanoi by quoting from the text of the American Declaration of Independence (“We hold the truth that all men are created equal…”). Ho requests recognition by U.S. but is ignored by President Truman. British land in Saigon and return Vietnam’s authority to the French. 14,000 French soldiers held in Japanese internment camps released by the British and go on a rampage as they enter Saigon. Innocent civilians are killed. Lt. Col. A. Peter Dewey mistakenly killed by Viet Minh troop who thought he was French. Before his death Dewey filed a report recommending U.S. get out of Southeast Asia.	Harry S. Truman
October 1945 February 1946 March 1946	35,000 French troops arrive in Vietnam to restore French rule. The Chinese under Chiang Kai-shek agree to leave North Vietnam in return for concessions in Shanghai and Chinese ports. France accepts Vietnam as a “free state” within the French Union. French replace Chinese troops in the north of the country.	Chiang Kai-shek
May through September 1946	Ho Chi Minh in France to negotiate for full independence and unification of Vietnam. Negotiations come to an end between France and Vietnam.
June 1946	French declare a separatist government in South Vietnam.
November 1946 December 19, 1946 October 7 through December 22, 1947 1949	French bomb Haiphong harbor and take Hanoi. Ho Chi Minh’s forces escape into the jungle. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam attacks the French with 30,000 troops. The First Indochina War begins. French continue to attack the Viet Minh in the north in a series of battles known as Operation Lea. More than 9,000 Viet Minh die. The Viet Minh move north of Hanoi. The French under General Etienne Valluy fail to stop the Viet Minh. Bao Dai of Vietnam and Vincent Auriol of France sign the Elysee Agreement in which the French agree to assist in the building of a national anti-Communist army.	Vincent Auriol
October 1949	Mao’s troops defeat Chiang Kai-shek’s army in the Chinese Civil War. Anti-communist sentiment builds in Washington. U.S. declares a policy of “containment” of communism in Southeast Asia.	Mao Zedong

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1950 - 1954

Historical Timeline of the War: 1950-1954
January 195	Ho Chi Minh’s Democratic Republic of Vietnam recognized by The People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union. China sends military advisors and weapons to Viet Minh. Most of the armament American-made and formerly supplied to Chiang Kai-shek.	Joseph McCarthy
February 1950	U.S. recognizes Bao Dai and the French-controlled South Vietnamese government. Viet Minh begins offensive against French in North Vietnam. Senator Joseph Mc Carthy of Wisconsin claims that the U.S. State Department harbors communists.	Joseph McCarthy
June 30, 1950	President Truman orders U.S. troops into Korea following invasion of North Korean troops into the south.
July 26, 1950	Truman authorizes $15 million in military aid to the French for Vietnam. American military advisors assigned to help the French. By 1954 the U.S. will spend $3 billion dollars more on the war and provide 80% of all war supplies.	General Vo Nguyen Giap
September 16, 1950	Viet Minh under General Vo Nguyen Giap begin troop movement against French at Chinese border. Mre than 6,000 French lose their lives and a large store of supplies.	General Vo Nguyen Giap
September 27, 1950	U.S. Military Assistance Group (MAAG) established in Saigon to help the French.	Jean de Lattre
January 13, 1951	Viet Minh begin attacks in the Red River Delta. French troops under General Jean de Lattre successfully strike back.
March-June, 1951	Giap leads several failed attacks against the French at Mao Khe and the Day River. Thousands of troops lose their lives.
June 9, 1951	Viet Minh troops withdraw from the Red River Delta.	Raoul Salan
September 1951	General de Lattre seeks more aid from U.S.
November 1951	General de Lattre attempts to involve Giap in battle at Hoa Binh. General de Lattre returns to France having been diagnosed with cancer. He is replaced by General Raoul Salan.
December 9, 1951	Giap changes Viet Minh tactics and wages hit-and-run attacks followed by retreat into the jungle.
January—February, 1952	French supply lines along the Black River and Route Coloniale 6 are cut. French withdraw. Large numbers of casualties on both sides.
October 1952 November 14 - Novermber 17,1952 January 20, 1953 March 5, 1953	French launch Operation Lorraine in an attempt to target Viet Minh supply bases. Giap draws French out from the De Lattre Line and attacks between the Red and Black Rivers. Operation Lorraine is cancelled. Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated 34th President of U.S. During his term he increases military aid to the French and cites the “Domino Theory” as reason for U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia. Josef Stalin dies. Nikita Khrushchev replaces him as head of the Soviet Union.	Dwight D. Eisenhower
July 27, 1953	Korean War ends and country is divided at the 38^th parallel. Korea is seen as a model for ending the Vietnam conflict.
November 20, 1953	French General Henri Navarre begins Operation Castor, the construction of outposts protecting a small air base in the jungle valley at Dien Bien Phu in northwest Vietnam. General Giap masses troops and equipment and prepares to confront the French.
March 13, 1954	Viet Minh troops, outnumbering the French 5 to 1, move in on the Dien Bien Phu Air Base. General Giap shuts down the only runway and then begins the construction of tunnels and trenches.
March 30-May 1, 1954	French troops are trapped at Dien Bien Phu. France appeals to U.S. for help. U.S. decides not to respond.
May 7, 1954	10,000 French soldiers surrender at Dien Bien Phu; prisoners are marched 500 miles to a camp, nearly half die during the march or in captivity. France withdraws from Vietnam. 400,000 soldiers and civilians die on all sides during the eight-year struggle.
May 8, 1954	Geneva Conference begins to decide the fate of Vietnam. The Geneva Accords divide the country at the 17^th parallel. Ho Chi Minh gets the north, Bao Dai, the south. It is determined elections will be held in two years to reunify the country.
October 1954	Ho Chi Minh returns from hiding in the jungle to take control of North Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Diem installed as prime minister of South Vietnam. Diem, a Catholic, asks Catholics living in the North to come to the south. Nearly a million do so, and 90,000 communists go north. However, 10,000 Viet Minh are instructed to quietly stay behind.