📅 30 April 1975
The South Vietnamese government collapsed and the war ended with Vietnamese reunification under the revolutionary government. The outcome was widely read across the Global South as a defeat of a major...
📅 30 January 1968
North Vietnamese and NLF forces launched coordinated attacks during the Tết holiday across South Vietnam. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces later regained most territory, but the offensive undermined...
📅 30 April 1970
Nixon announced a cross-border ground incursion aimed at North Vietnamese and NLF base areas. The action broadened the war, provoked mass protests in the United States and led Congress to restrict...
📅 8 February 1971
Operation Lam Sơn 719 sent South Vietnamese forces into Laos to disrupt supply routes, with U.S. air support but no U.S. ground combat units. The operation suffered major losses and demonstrated the...
📅 30 March 1972
The People’s Army of Vietnam launched a major conventional offensive across the demilitarized zone and into the Central Highlands. South Vietnamese forces resisted with substantial U.S. air support....
📅 10 March 1975
The attack began a rapid series of military reversals for South Vietnam; the town fell on March 11. President Thiệu’s withdrawal decisions and command breakdown accelerated the collapse of...
📅 21 April 1975
Thiệu resigned and left the country as South Vietnamese forces lost territory and the government faced imminent defeat. His departure did not stop the advance or secure a negotiated settlement.
📅 26 October 1972
U.S. National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger publicly said that a peace agreement was near after secret negotiations with Lê Đức Thọ. President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu rejected key terms and the...
📅 6 January 1975
North Vietnamese forces took Phước Long city and province. The United States did not intervene militarily, signaling to leaders in Hanoi that Washington was unlikely to return to direct combat. The...
📅 26 March 1975
South Vietnamese defenses collapsed and Huế came under the control of revolutionary forces. The rapid loss of the city accelerated the crisis facing the Saigon government and displaced civilians...
📅 3 September 1967
Voters elected Nguyễn Văn Thiệu president and selected a legislature under conditions shaped by war, restrictions, and political contestation. The election created a constitutional framework for the...
📅 8 June 1969
At Midway, Nixon and Nguyễn Văn Thiệu announced the first planned U.S. troop withdrawal. The policy became known as Vietnamization: shifting more combat responsibility to South Vietnamese forces while...
📅 14 March 1975
President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu ordered a withdrawal from the Central Highlands. The retreat, undertaken on difficult routes, became disorganized and contributed to mass civilian flight and the collapse of...
📅 21 April 1975
Thiệu resigned as the Republic of Vietnam’s military position deteriorated. In a televised address he criticized the U.S. withdrawal of support, revealing the consequences of a war effort built around...
📅 28 April 1975
Dương Văn Minh assumed the presidency as the Republic of Vietnam faced imminent defeat. He later called for a ceasefire and surrender, seeking to prevent further destruction in the capital.
