Vietnam War (1954–75) - events

August 1964	USA, North Vietnam	The Tonkin Gulf incident moves the US Congress to authorize President Lyndon B Johnson to undertake ‘all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the USA and to prevent further aggression’. This so-called Tonkin Gulf Resolution provides President Johnson with the de facto consent to wage an undeclared war on North Vietnam.
8 February 1965	USA, South Vietnam, North Vietnam	US aircraft bomb North Vietnam following Vietcong attacks on US areas in South Vietnam. This begins a pattern of regular US bombing of North Vietnam known as Operation Rolling Thunder or Operation Flaming Dart.
8 March 1965	USA, South Vietnam	Two battalions of US Marines, 3,500 soldiers, land to defend Danang airbase in South Vietnam. They are the first US combat troops to enter the war.
June 1965	USA	The USA employs the B-52 bomber for the first time in a raid against Vietcong forces north of Saigon.
21 January–8 April 1968	North Vietnam, South Vietnam	5,000 US marines and South Vietnamese soldiers are besieged by two North Vietnamese army divisions at Khe Sanh in the north of South Vietnam, in one of the fiercest battles of the entire Vietnam War.
30 January–29 February 1968	North Vietnam, South Vietnam	The Vietcong launches the Tet offensive against South Vietnamese cities.
16 March 1968	USA, South Vietnam	US soldiers massacre 450 men, women, and children at the village of My Lai, in South Vietnam. When news of the massacre emerges, some twenty months later, the troops will insist that they acted under the orders of lieutenant William L Calley, Jr.
8 April 1968	North Vietnam, South Vietnam, USA	The USA and its South Vietnamese allies launch Operation Complete Victory, involving some 100,000 US troops, designed to put a definitive end to the Tet offensive.
31 October 1968	USA, North Vietnam, South Vietnam	In a nationally televised address, the US president Lyndon B Johnson orders a complete halt to the bombing of North Vietnam and announces an agreement on the composition of Vietnamese delegations for peace talks.
3 November 1969	USA, North Vietnam, South Vietnam	The US president Richard M Nixon promises the complete withdrawal of US ground forces from Vietnam, on a secret timetable. A further 50,000 troops are withdrawn on 15 December.
1 April 1970	North Vietnam, South Vietnam	The Vietcong launch major assaults throughout South Vietnam after a six-month lull.
20 April 1970	USA, North Vietnam, South Vietnam	The US president Richard M Nixon announces the withdrawal of a further 150,000 US troops from Vietnam.
2 May 1970	USA, North Vietnam	The USA bombs North Vietnam in the heaviest raids since November 1968.
13 February 1971	Laos, South Vietnam, North Vietnam	South Vietnamese troops invade Laos to close the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the North Vietnamese.
7 April 1971	USA, Vietnam	The US president Richard Nixon announces the withdrawal of 100,000 more troops from Vietnam by 1 December.
18 August 1971	Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam	Australia and New Zealand announce the withdrawal of their forces from the Vietnam War.
12 November 1971	USA	The US president Richard Nixon proclaims the end of the US offensive role in the Vietnam War and withdraws 45,000 more troops.
25 January 1972	USA, North Vietnam	The US president Richard Nixon reveals that his national security adviser Henry Kissinger has been conducting secret peace negotiations with North Vietnam, during the Vietnam War, since 1969.
29 March 1972	North Vietnam, South Vietnam	The North Vietnamese launch a major offensive in the Vietnam War in Quang Tri, South Vietnam's northernmost city.
1 May 1972	South Vietnam, North Vietnam	The South Vietnamese city of Quang Tri falls to North Vietnamese forces.
8 May 1972	North Vietnam, USA	The US president Richard Nixon orders the blockade and mining of North Vietnamese ports in the Vietnam War.
12 August 1972	North Vietnam, South Vietnam, USA	Heavy US air raids on North Vietnam accompany the departure of US combat infantry from South Vietnam.
7 September 1972	South Korea, South Vietnam	South Korea withdraws its remaining 37,000 troops from South Vietnam.
15 September 1972	South Vietnam, North Vietnam	South Vietnamese forces recapture the city of Quang Tri from the North Vietnamese.
27 January 1973	USA, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, France	The USA, North and South Vietnam, and the Vietcong (armed forces of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam) sign a Vietnam War ceasefire agreement in Paris, France.
30 March 1975	North Vietnam, South Vietnam	North Vietnamese forces capture Da Nang, South Vietnam's second-largest city.
29 April 1975	South Vietnam, USA	The last US personnel flee the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon (now Ho Ch Minh City), flying by helicopter from the US embassy compound.
30 April 1975	South Vietnam, North Vietnam	President Minh of South Vietnam surrenders the capital, Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), to the North Korean communist forces.