First U.S. defoliation mission in Vietnam

The uprising in a mountainous district involved Kinh and Hre communities resisting government control and coercive practices. It became an early sign of rural revolt in central Vietnam. Accounts of...

A coordinated movement of demonstrations, local attacks, and community organizing began in Bến Tre and spread through the Mekong Delta. Women played visible roles in mobilization. It challenged the...

A series of rebellions against South Vietnamese state control involved several Indigenous communities in the Central Highlands. Local grievances included land, administration, and coercive policies....

Rebel units seized key sites in Saigon and demanded political change. Diệm negotiated, stalled, and loyal forces ultimately defeated the coup. The episode exposed fractures within the South Vietnamese...

The National Liberation Front (NLF) brought together communist-led and other southern groups opposing the Diệm government. It had substantial local roots and also received direction and support from...

National Security Action Memorandum 111 expanded U.S. assistance and advisory activity in South Vietnam. The United States increased its role while Diệm’s state faced armed opposition and deep rural...

The first U.S. Army helicopter units arrived at Saigon’s Tân Sơn Nhứt airfield as part of a major expansion of military assistance. Helicopters increased the mobility of U.S.-backed forces, bringing...

The U.S.-backed Diệm government accelerated a program to move rural residents into fortified hamlets, aiming to separate them from insurgents. In practice, coercive relocation, land and livelihood...

U.S. helicopters transported South Vietnamese troops in an assault near Tây Ninh. The mission illustrated the increasingly direct U.S. role in planning and enabling combat operations, despite public...

Washington created MACV to direct the expanding U.S. advisory effort in South Vietnam. Its establishment formalized a larger command structure before the mass deployment of U.S. ground combat...