| 2nd century BC | The Chinese conquer Vietnam. |
| 939 | Vietnam expels the occupying Chinese armies. |
| 1500s | French traders and missionaries arrive. |
| 1857 | Unable to gain trade concessions, the Fr. attach Da Nang |
| 1867 | The French make So. Vietnam their colony |
| 1883 | The Fr. capture Hanoi and divide the North. into 2 regions |
| 1890 | Birth of Ho Chi Minh. |
| 1919 | Vietnamese living in Paris try to meet with Woodrow Wilson at Versailles to discuss independence. They're turned away. |
| 1940 | Japan occupies Vietnam, but lets Fr. rule continue |
| 1945 | The Japanese surrender Saigon to Fr. troops; Ho chi Minh declares Vietnamese independence, but the British impose martial law and return power to the French. |
| 1946 | The Viet Minh attack the Fr., beginning the Indochina War. |
| 1950 | The US sends the Fr. mission economic and military aid. |
| 1954 | The Fr. surrender at Dien Bien Phu leads to the Geneva Accords, by which VN is partitioned along the 17th Parallel. |
| 1959 | Communist attack on Bien Hoa kills 2 US military advisers. |
| 1961 | Pres. Kennedy sends Green Berets and military advisers to train S. Vietnamese troops. |
| 1963 | A coup overthrows Vietnamese Pres. Diem with tacit US approval. Diem is assassinated. Less than a month later JFK is assassinated. |
| 1964 | N. Vietnamese torpedo boats allegedly attack 2 US warships. Congress passes the Tonkin Gulf resolution, giving the military the means of protecting itself. |
| 1965 | Operation Rolling Thunder. US begins sustained aerial bombing of the North. |
| 1965 | 1st battalion of US ground troops arrives at Da Nang. |
| 1968 | Tet Offensive, a massive countrywide attack by Viet Cong forces. While a crushing defeat for the VC, it turned American public opinion against the war. Though the Marines weathered the 27 day siege of Khe Sanh, it was perceived by the media and the public as a defeat. |
| 1968 | My Lai. Lt. William Calley and his troops murder almost an entire So Vietnamese village, killing hundreds. |
| 1968 | President Johnson announces he will not seek reelection. |
| 1968 | First formal peace talks |
| 1968 | LBJ stops the bombing of the North |
| 1969 | Pres. Nixon authorizes the secret, illegal bombing of Cambodia |
| 1969 | First US troop withdrawals. |
| 1969 | Ho Chi Minh dies. |
| 1970 | US students stage massive protests against the bombing of Cambodia. National Guardsmen kill 4 demonstrators at Kent State University. |
| 1970-71 | Troop withdrawals continue. |
| 1972 | Nixon announces that his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger has been conducting secret peace talks since '69. |
| 1972 | The Easter Offensive. North forces attack bases in the south. |
| 1972 | Last American ground troops leave Vietnam. |
| 1972 | Nixon reelected. |
| 1972 | Major bombing of the North. |
| 1973 | Peace treaty reached. Cease-fire begins. |
| 1974 | The war between the North and South resumes without US intervention. |
| 1975 (April) | Saigon falls. Us Trade embargo imposed. In Cambodia, Phnom Penh falls to communist rebels. |
| 1977 | President Carter grants amnesty to draft evaders. |
| 1978 | Vietnam invades Cambodia |
| 1979 | VN defeats the Khmer Rouge, installs a friendly government in Phnom Penh. China invades northern Vietnam but is repelled. |
| 1982 | Dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC |
| 1994 | Pres. Clinton lifts trade embargo on Vietnam. |
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