Timeline of Vietnam History
By Quang-Tuan Luong © 2001 (edited by Bob Botsch
in 2010)
- 111 BC: The Nam Viet kingdom
(spreading from the Red River delta to north of Canton) is annexed by the
Han and becomes the Chinese district of Giao-chi. The next thousand years is
marked by progress in civilization, but also in the national sentiment.
Numerous uprisings most notably the Trung sisters (40-43) and Ly Bon
(542-545) rebellions, are crushed. During the entire Vietnam history, China
remains both a model and a threat.
- Period of about 1,500 years of invasion
and revolution with the Chinese
- 602: Chinese rule is now a protectorate,
the capital being Dai La Thanh (Hanoi)
- 939: Ngo Quyen frees the country (Dai Co
Viet) by vanquishing Chinese armies at the Bach Dang River.
- 968: Dinh Bo Linh pacifies the country,
and reorganizes it following the Chinese model. Mandarins are recruited
by literary contests from 1075 (Van Mieu temple) to 1919. The capital
moves to Hoa Lu with the Dinh and first Le dynasties.
- 1010: The Ly dynasty moves the capital
to Thanh Long (Hanoi). During their reign, Chinese, Khmer, and Cham
attacks are repelled (most notably by Ly Thuong Kiet). The expansion
towards the South begins, with territories conquered from the Cham (this
resulted in the destruction of their culture).
- 1226: Tran dynasty.
- 1288: After thirty years of periodic
invasions, the Mongols (an army of 300,000) are defeated by Tran
Hung Dao at the Bach Dang River.
- 1407: Chinese occupation Ming.
- 1428: The Golden Age. After his
victory against the Chinese armies, with the aid of Nguyen Trai, Le Loi
begins the second Le dynasty, which sees further annexations in the South.
- 1524: Beginning of a long period of
political instability. While the Le governs only nominally, a feudal war
rages between the Trinh from the North (Thang Long) and the Nguyen from the
South (Hue). North/South conflicts are an important part of Vietnamese
history.
- 1651: Beginning of French Intervention.
Will take 200 + years to completely conquor Vietnam. It is best seen
as a combination of religious zeal plus economic incentives aided by
military might all paid for by the French taxpayers.
- Jesuit Alexandres de Rhodes publishes in Roma a Latin Vietnamese catechism and
creates the Ngoc Ngu, the Roman-based script currently used for Vietnamese
(Vietnam is only one of three countries in Asia which uses a roman-based
script).
- 1771: The Tay Son brothers start a rebellion
causing heavy warfare in the next thirty years. One of the brothers, Nguyen
Hue, reigns as Quang Trung and defeats the Chinese army at Dong Da.
- 1802: After pushing back the Tay Son with
the help of French mercenaries recruited by Jesuit Pigneau de Behaine,
Nguyen Anh (the only survivor from the massacre of the Nguyens by the Tay
Son brothers) changes his name to Gia Long and starts the Nguyen dynasty.
The capital of the unified country is now Hue.
- 1858: The French navy attacks Da Nang.
- 1867: Cochinchina (the South) becomes a
French Colony.
- 1883: Tonkin (the North) and Annam (the
Center) become French protectorates.
- 1887: Creation of the Indochina Union,
Cochinchina, Annam, Tonkin, Cambodia, and latter Laos. A low level
resistance continues fighting the French.
- 1932: Bao Dai, the last emperor, begins his
reign as an infant.
- 1940: Invasion of Indochina by Japan.
The French administrations collaborate and continue to run the government.
- 1941:
Ho Chi Minh starts the Viet
Minh. Leninism is thought of as an ideological weapon to serve Vietnamese
nationalism against French colonialism.
- 1945 (March 9): The Japanese end up French
authority. (Aug 19): The Viet Minh starts a general popular insurrection.
Bao Dai abdicates. (Sept 2): Ho Chi Minh declares independence in Hanoi
reading the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, worded closely on
the American Declaration. US agents stand at his side. (Sept 23): The French
authorities reoccupy the South and the U.S. sides with France in maintaining
its colony. Lt Col Peter Dewey is killed accidentally by the Viet
Minh, possibly the first causality of the Vietnam War.
- 1946: Start of French War with Viet Minh.
After the failed Fontainebleau conference between Ho Chi Minh and the French
government, notably about the question of the status of Cochinchina, and the
bombing of Haiphong (6000 civilians killed), the war between the French
troops and the Viet Minh for the control of Vietnam begins.
- 1954: The bulk of the French army is
defeated at
Dien Bien Phu. This is the first time in history a
colonial power is militarily defeated, a massive decolonization follows
worldwide. At the Geneva conference, the country is partitioned at the 17th
parallel as an interim stage. The North becomes the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam, a communist state supported by China and the USSR. The strict
communist ideology began to prevail at the 2nd congress of the Vietnamese
labor party in 1951.
- 1955: Beginning of US 30 year conflict in
Vietnam. Refusing to implement the Geneva accords, Ngo Dinh Diem
proclaims himself president of the Republic of South Vietnam with backing
from the West.
- 1959: The communist party decides to start
military operations in the South. Construction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
- 1961: John F. Kennedy increases US military
aid to South Vietnam, first in the form of military advisors (16,000 by
1965).
- 1963: Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated in a
US-initiated coup.
- 1964: Although elected as a dovish candidate
against Goldwater, Johnson lays plans to escalate the war. All but two US
senators pass the "Tonkin Gulf resolution", which gives blank checks to US
presidents over Vietnam.
- 1965 (Feb): Lyndon Johnson expands
the war. First US aerial raids against the North. The tonnage of bombs,
including chemical arms, used during the US intervention (mostly against
civilian targets) in Vietnam exceeds that used during the whole WW II.
(March). First US troops in Danang. Their number will grow up to more
half a million. Nguyen Van Thieu is elected president.
- 1968 (Jan 31): The Viet Cong's Tet
offensive, although a military failure, stuns the West and becomes a
psychological turning point as it makes the public aware of the nature of
the war and the impasse. Anti-war movements begin in the West, and are
fuelled in the US by the revelation of the "Pentagon papers" in 1971
which show how US presidents had deceitfully handled the matter.
Negotiations begin in Paris, but in the while military escalation continues.
- 1973: After the ratification of the Paris
accords, the US military withdraws.
- 1975 End of American Military Involvement (April 30): Viet Cong troops enter
Saigon, after a two-month campaign in spite of the Paris accords.
- 1976: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is
officially proclaimed.
- 1978: Vietnam joins the USSR-lead Comecon.
The tragedy of the Hai Hong, old cargo boat overloaded with refugees brings
to the world attention about the "boat people" fleeing the new regime. They
will total more than half a million people.
- 1979 (Jan): Vietnamese troops enter Phnom
Penh and end the murderous Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. (Feb): A
retaliatory invasion from China is repelled during a month-long war.
- 1987: A law on foreign investments marks the
beginning of the liberalization of the economy (but not of politics, see
also China and other Asian countries). The first tourists visit the country.
- 1989: Withdrawal from Cambodia. This is the
first time for half a century that Vietnam is not engaged in any war.
- 1991: Relationships are normalized with
China (note that this year saw the collapse of the USSR).
- 1995: Diplomatic relationships are fully
normalized with the US, one year after the end of the US embargo.
Thanks for Nguyen Minh Thu for correcting
mistakes in a previous version