* 1946-1954 French Viet Minh (first vietnam war): China and USSR support Ho Chi Minh while the US supports the French as a way to contain communism.

 * 1955-1956: Diem deposes former emperor Bao Dai and declared himself President of South Vietnam then he refused to hold national elections so he could hold his position. During that same year he gained the support of the US and they began sending military advisors.

 * 1960: The National Liberation Front forms as an Anti-Diem and Anti-US force in the South.

 * 1964: The US is informed that North Vietnamese patrol boats fired upon a United States destroyer in the Golf of Tonkin, because of this President Lyndon Johnson decides to send US troops to North Vietnam.

 * 1965: United States combat troops arrive in Vietnam, beginning (Second) Vietnam War.

 * 1969: Nixon comes into office and begins "Vietnamization" (trying to take US troops out of Vietnam in exchange for increased funding for South Vietnam) and he begins secret bombings of Cambodia.

 * 1973: Paris Peace Agreements agreed upon by Nixon and Kissinger, US withdraws troops following the agreement but the war continues on.

 * 1974: Nixon resigns, and President Ford is hesitant to sustain aid to South Vietnamese forces.

 * 1975: The last US citizens are evacuated. Communists take over. President Ford says the was is "finished" as far as the US is concerned.

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