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French Defeated at Dien Bien Phu
The French fail to retake indochina leading to their forces pulling out of Vietnam after the defeat at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. President Truman refused to send American forces in to help the French. Photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Victory_in_Battle_of_Dien_Bien_Phu.jpg -
Vietnam Split
Geneva Convention decided that Vietnam would be spilt at the 17th parallel for a short time until elections were held. This lead to the creation of two states that disliked each other. The elections never took place though. Photo:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Gen-commons.jpg/250px-Gen-commons.jpg -
Formation of SEATO
The South East Asia Treaty Organization was created to prevent South Vietnam and other South East Asian countries from falling under communist control. Photo:
http://i.colnect.net/images/f/197/919/Seato-Emblem.jpg -
American Build Up
By 1963 the United States had around 16,000 troops stationed in Vietnam in non-combat support roles that was done under President Kennedy. Photo:
http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.332215.1425236168!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_804/image.jpg -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
North Vietnamese gun boats fired on to a US ship in the Gulf of Tonkin. This allowed President Lyndon Johnson to authorize US troops to now get involved in the Vietnam crisis. Photo:
http://faculty.polytechnic.org/gfeldmeth/fightif.png -
Operation Rolling Thunder
After an attack on the U.S. base at Pleiku the President authorized the expansion of US troops in Vietnam to save the government down in Saigon. It was the first actual fighting between US and Vietcong forces. Photo:
http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2015-09-04-1441383682-1809560-planedroppingbombs.jpg -
Increasing Soldiers
By the end of 1967 the United States had around 485,000 troops stationed in the country trying to force back the Vietcong. Photo:
http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.167194.1430760973!/image/2616875304.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_804/2616875304.jpg -
The Tet Offensive
The Vietcong led a massive surprise attack on American forces in South Vietnam with a large cost of life. US forces repelled and retook all territory lost to the Vietcong but was seen back in the United States as a political defeat. Photo:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/images/00010113.jpg -
LBJ Looks for Peace
LBJ went on television to tell the American people he would not seek reelection and would try to find a peaceful ending to the war. Photo:
http://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2013/11/Lyndon_B_Johnson-AB.jpeg -
Nixon Becomes President
Nixon becomes President in 1969 promising to pull the United States out of Vietnam but not make it look like the US was admitting defeat. Photo:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/first-family/37_richard_m_nixon.jpg -
My Lai Massacre
US forces killed woman and children in the village of My Lai committing war crimes. This was later revealed to the public further fanning anti-war sentiment. Photo:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_01/VietsDM0510_468x483.jpg -
Peace Talks
Peace talks between all sides fail to reach an agreed to conclusion in Paris resulting in a deadlock. Photo:
http://a.abcnews.go.com/images/International/gty_paris_peace_accords_mi_130327_blog.jpg -
Nixon Doctrine
This doctrine basically said the US would support South East Asia in the might against communism but not with soldiers or man power. Photo:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Nixon_Cambodia.jpg -
Pentagon Papers
A named for a secret history of the war created by the US government. It revealed all the coverups and mistakes done by the US during the war. The release of these papers further outraged the US public against the Vietnam War. Photo:
http://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/images/NYTPentPapersOrg.jpg -
Peace Accords
The US finally reached peace with North Vietnam and began its pull out of forces. Soon after the Vietcong invaded and took over all of Southern Vietnam turning it into one communist country. Photo:
http://a.abcnews.go.com/images/International/gty_paris_peace_accords_mi_130327_blog.jpg -
Work Cited
Newman, J. J., & Schmalbach, J. M. (2016). United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination (3rd ed.). Perfection Learning.