With more than 58, 000 casualties and 300, 000 wounded, at a cost of more than $130 billion, the Vietnam War became one of the most divisive conflicts in American history. The scars left by the war can still be felt today, making it crucial that we have the facts about this watershed event. Vietnam War Almanac contains a chronological history of the war in Vietnam, with day-by-day listings of the war on the ground, in the air, and at sea; international and U.S. events; and a biographical dictionary of major military and civilian figures. It may be impossible to fully understand such a complicated and horrible struggle, but for the families of veterans and for historians, the thorough presentation here, along with its extensive bibliography and index, is an excellent place to start. Coverage here includes: • The Tet Offensive • Walter L. Cronkite • The Battle of Dien Bien Phu • Vo Nguyen Giap • Ngo Dinh Diem • The Battle of Ia Drang Valley • Robert S. McNamara • The Battle of Hamburger Hill • Abbie Hoffman • The Battle of An Loc • And much morePresident Nixon claimed that the war was "misreported then, and it is misremembered now." This almanac will ensure that it is remembered correctly.
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Yes, you can access Vietnam War Almanac by James H. Willbanks in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Military & Maritime History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Legendary Hung Vuong founds the kingdom of Van Lang, establishing the Hung dynasty.
1800–1400 B.C.
Phung Nguyen culture, the Early Bronze Age.
258 B.C.
Thuc Phan, king of Au Viet, conquers Van Lang, establishing the new kingdom of Au Lac, taking the name An Duong Vuong, and locating his capital at Phuc An.
208 B.C.
Chinese general Chao T’o (Trieu Da) conquers Au Lac and establishes the independent kingdom of Nam Viet (“Southern Viet”) under his rule.
111 B.C.
Chinese Han dynasty conquers Nam Viet, marking the beginning of a thousand years of direct Chinese rule. During this time, the Viet people will develop a fierce resistance against outside rule.
A.D. 39–43
Trung sisters lead unsuccessful revolt against Chinese rule, but eventually become legendary martyrs after the Chinese regain control.
542–544
Ly Bi leads uprising against China’s Liang dynasty to create independent kingdom of Van Xuan.
938
Vietnamese under Ngo Quyen defeat Chinese at the Battle of Bach Dang River.
939
Ngo Quyen becomes king of new, independent Nam Viet and begins 900-year March to the South (Nam Tien) that will eventually extend Vietnamese control through Champa (south-central coastal area of present day Vietnam) and ultimately into the Mekong River Delta.
968
Dinh Bo Linh declares himself emperor, naming his empire Dai Co Viet.
970–975
Dinh Bo Linh gains Chinese recognition of Nam Viet’s independence by negotiating a nonaggression treaty with China’s Song (Sung) dynasty in exchange for tribute to be paid to the Chinese every three years.
1009
Ly Thai To becomes emperor, establishing Ly dynasty.
1010
Hanoi established.
1054
Emperor Ly Thanh Ton renames the country Dai Viet (“Greater Viet”), the name by which it will commonly be known until the 19th century.
1225
Tran dynasty replaces Ly dynasty.
1288
April Vietnamese under Tran Hung Dao defeat invading Mongols at Second Battle of Bach Dang River.
1407
Chinese Ming dynasty reoccupies Dai Viet after toppling the Ho dynasty.
1418
Le Loi organizes the Lam Son Uprising in opposition against Chinese rule.
1428
Le Loi defeats Chinese, reestablishing independent Dai Viet and becoming king under the name of Le Thai To. Under the Le dynasty, Vietnamese expansion to the south continues.
1471
Le Thanh Tong defeats the southern army of the kingdom of Champa and establishes a protectorate over the kingdom, greatly expanding Vietnamese territory and dominion.
1527
Vietnam fragments politically; Nguyen family in the south and Trinh family in the north divide control of Vietnam at approximately the 17th parallel, issuing in a period of internal strife and bloody fighting that will not be resolved until the 19th century.
1535
Portuguese sailors under the command of Captain Antonio da Faria land at Danang Bay. This first wave of Europeans to reach Vietnam fails to achieve a foothold in the area. They are followed by the Dutch, English, and French, who are no more successful at this time.
1543
Descendants of the Le dynasty occupy the country’s southern capital after a series of fierce battles. The southern court is founded near Thanh Hoa.
1592
The death of Mac dynasty’s last king, Mac Mau Hop, ends the succession wars.
1627
French missionary Alexandre de Rhodes codifies quoc ngu, an adoption of the Roman alphabet to the Vietnamese language.
1672
Lord Trinh consents to partition the country at the Linh River.
1771
Tay Son Rebellion begins under Nguyen Hue, who leads a peasant uprising against the Nguyen dynasty in the south. The uprising will last for seven years and result in deposing both the Nguyen family and the Trinh family in the north.
1778
December Nguyen Hue declares himself emperor.
1779
January Nguyen Hue attacks and defeats invading Chinese forces at Thang Long (Hanoi) during Tet holiday.
1802
June Nguyen Anh, one of the last surviving Nguyen Lords, overthrows the Tay Son forces with the aid of French missionary Pigneau de Behaine and French mercenaries. He takes control of a reunified Vietnam that extends from Hanoi to Saigon and declares himself Emperor Gia Long, founding the Nguyen dynasty. He renames the country Vietnam and establishes his capital at Hue. Gia Long allows French missionaries to remain in Vietnam, but regards Christianity as potentially subversive.
1857
September Unable to gain a foothold in Vietnam peacefully, the French send a fleet under Admiral Rigault de Genouilly to attack Tourane (Danang). The fleet bombards the city and then lands troops, capturing Danang and gaining control of the area by 1858. Although decimated by disease, the French forces push south.
1861
French forces capture Saigon and later defeat the Vietnamese army, gaining control of Gia Dinh and surrounding provinces.
1862
June Emperor Tu Duc cedes the three eastern provinces of Cochin China to France under the Treaty of Saigon.
1863
August France imposes protectorate on Cambodia.
1867
France occupies the three western provinces of Cochin China.
1883
August 25 Vietnam signs Treaty of Hue with France, creating French protectorates in Annam and Tonkin, effectively establishing French control of Vietnam.
1885
A general uprising by the Vietnamese against French rule fails. In Tonkin, the French begin a 12-year “pacification” program.
1887
The French form the Indochinese Union, which consists of Tonkin, Annam, Cochin China, and Cambodia. These colonies are to be administered by a governor-general under the Ministry of Colonies in Paris.
1893
Emperor Ham Nghi and Phan Dinh Phung organize a royalist movement and stage an unsuccessful uprising at Ha Tinh. France imposes protectorate on Laos, which becomes part of the Indochinese Union.
1904
Phan Boi Chau forms anticolonialist Modernization Society.
1905
Japanese victory over Russia convinces Vietnamese nationalists that Western power is no longer invincible.
1907
Eastward Movement is established by Phan Boi Chau and Cuong De, but is discovered and crushed by the French.
During the Versailles Peace Conference, a number of Vietnamese residing in Paris draw up an eight-point petition requesting independence for Vietnam. One of them, Nguyen Ai Quoc (“Nguyen the Patriot,” later known as Ho Chi Minh), unsuccessfully tries to meet with President Woodrow Wilson to plead the Vietnamese case. The Vietnamese petition for independence is never given serious consideration by the conferees at Versailles.
1920
Nguyen Ai Quoc (Ho Chi Minh) participates in the founding of the French Communist Party.
1923
Nguyen Ai Quoc goes to Moscow to be trained as an agent of the Communist International.
1925
Twelve-year-old emperor Bao Dai ascends the throne. In Canton, China, Nguyen Ai Quoc founds the Revolutionary Youth League of Vietnam, the first truly Marxist organization in Indochina. At the same time, the Vietnam Quoc Dan Dang (VNQDD), or Vietnam Nationalist Party, is founded in opposition to the Revolutionary Youth League.
1930
An uprising in Yen Bay, northwest of Hanoi, is put down by French authorities and the Vietnam Nationalist Party (VNQDD) is all but destroyed. In Kowloon, Nguyen Ai Quoc forms the Communist Party of Vietnam; in Hong Kong, the Indochinese Communist Party is formed, also under the leadership of Nguyen Ai Quoc.
1932
French authorities prevent young emperor Bao Dai, just returned from studying in France, from carrying out his plan to shape a political role for the royal court. Nationalist groups of various political persuasions continue to organize and resist French rule from within and outside the country.
1940
September 22 Japan occupies French Indochina. Heavy fighting results at Lang Son and Dong Dang, but Japanese reach agreement with Vichy government officials whereby French resistance ceases and the French colonial administration is left intact to “rule.” Ultimately, the Japanese occupy and control Vietnam for the course of the war.
1941
May 10 Indochinese Communist Party creates Viet Minh or Vietnam Independence League (Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh) as a united front of organizations opposed to Japanese and French rule. Under the direction of Vo Nguyen Giap, the Viet Minh organize guerrilla and intelligence networks to operate against the Japanese and the French.
1942–1943
Nguyen Ai Quoc goes to China in 1942 to solicit aid from Chiang Kai-shek in the fight against the Japanese, but he is arrested by the Nationalist Chinese and held prisoner for 13 months. Promising to work to further Chinese interests, which include designs on Vietnam, he returns to Vietnam in the spring of 1943. Taking the name of Ho Chi Minh (“Ho, the Enlightened One”), he and the Viet Minh assist the OSS (U.S. Office of Strategic Services) in rescuing downed American and other Allied pilots, sabotaging Japanese efforts and generally keeping them off balance in Vietnam.
1944
December 22 With Ho Chi Minh’s support, Vo Nguyen Giap sets up an armed propaganda brigade of 34 Vietnamese and begins to attack French outposts in northern Vietnam.
1945
March 9 Japanese occupation troops remove French officials in Indochina and recognize an “independent” Vietnam with Emperor Bao Dai as nominal ruler under Japanese protection.
August 13–14 Japan formally accepts unconditional surrender. Japanese forces in Indochina remain in control for the interim.
August 15 Charles de Gaulle appoints Admiral Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu as high commissioner for Indochina, with instructions to restore French sovereignty over France’s colonies in Southeast Asia.
August 16–29 In Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and his People’s Congress create a National Liberation Committee of Vietnam to form a provisional government. On the 18th, the Japanese transfer power in Indochina to the Viet Minh. On the 23rd, Bao Dai, thinking that the Viet Minh are still working with the OSS and can guarantee independence for Vietnam, abdicates his throne and becomes First Citizen Vinh Thuy. On the 29th, Ho and the Liberation Committee establish a provisional government and include Bao Dai as “supreme advisor.” This becomes known as the August Revolution. Meanwhile, Ho writes at least eight letters to President Harry S. Truman and the U.S. State Department asking for recognition of the new government and American aid in gaining Vietnam’s independence from France. The U.S. government...
