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  Americans serving in Vietnam
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  The Flag of South Vietnam
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  An African-American soldier serving in Vietnam
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  Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Communist Revolutionaries
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  The Flag of North Vietnam
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  A map of modern day Vietnam
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  Soldiers of North Vietnam, also known as the Viet Cong

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The 19th Century

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1858 — The French Conquest of Vietnam begins at the behest of Napoleon III

1862 — France completes the conquest of the southern portion of Vietnam, creating the colony of French Cochinchina

1884 — France completes its conquest of Vietnam

1887 — Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia are used by France to form the Indochinese Union

1897 — Paul Doumer is appointed Governor-General of French Indochina and severely limits the power of the Vietnamese in the government of their country

The 20th Century

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1907 — The Free School of Tonkin is founded around the ideas of Vietnamese nationalism espoused by Phan Boi Chau

1910 — Phan Boi Chau travels to China and establishes a government-in-exile to gain support for Vietnamese independence

1925 — Phan Boi Chau is arrested by the French, convicted of treason, and placed under house arrest until his death

1930 — Ho Chi Minh forms the Indochinese Communist Party

1945 — The League for the Independence of Vietnam, later the Viet Minh, seize control of Hanoi and declare independence. Emperor Bao Dai abdicates the throne and swears fealty to the newly formed Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

1946 — France attempts to reclaim Vietnam and the First Indochina War ensues

1954 — The Geneva Peace Conference sees Vietnam split into the Communist North and Anti-Communist South

1955 — Bao Dai is ousted as king of Vietnam, and Ngo Dinh Diem is made president of South Vietnam

1963 — Diem is deposed in a military coup

1965 — Nguyen Van Thieu is elected president of South Vietnam

1965 — Lyndon B. Johnson orders the bombing of North Vietnam and begins sending troops into South Vietnam

1968 — The Tet Offensive begins, and the Southern and American troops begin losing ground.

1968 — Peace talks begin in Paris

1973 — The Paris Peace Accords are signed and the United States withdraws its troops from Vietnam

1975 — Saigon falls to the Viet Cong and Vietnam is unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

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William Eichler ’19