"No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now."
- Richard Nixon
⎯⎯⎯ Start ⎯⎯⎯
Ho Chi Minh forms the Viet Minh as a communist organization to overtake Vietnam. The US and Johnson backed South Vietnam and Diem for democracy. Viet Minh attack two US destroyers leading to a US attack.
⎯⎯⎯ > ⎯⎯⎯
⎯⎯⎯ Tet ⎯⎯⎯
The Viet Cong attacks 13 cities in South Vietnam on the Vietnamese holiday of Tet. They attacked cities, towns, government buildings, and military bases. This was the turn of the war against the US.
⎯⎯⎯ > ⎯⎯⎯
⎯⎯⎯ Vietnamization ⎯⎯⎯
A policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end the US involvement in the Vietnam War. The idea was to train and equip South Vietnam soldiers to take the place of the US soldiers who were to leave Vietnam.
⎯⎯⎯ > ⎯⎯⎯
⎯⎯⎯ End ⎯⎯⎯
US involvement in Vietnam ended in August 1973. The capture of Saigon by North Vietnam in April 1975 was the official end of the war. The North and South were the reunified as one country the following year.