VIETNAM (1964-73)
What triggered the US involvement: The Vietnam War has been, and always be, one of the most important events since World War II. Most historians say the Vietnam War started in the 1960s. However, the conflict in Southeast Asia had its roots in the French colonisation, when Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh forces defeated the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, on May 7, 1954, effectively ending the 7-1/2-year Indochina War.
Two months later, in July 1954, world powers agreed to a divided Vietnam a conference in Geneva. Communists, led by Ho Chi Minh, controlled the North. The US supported a government led by Ngo Dinh Diem in the South.
“As far as the US is concerned, we are ready to stop fighting tonight if they (North Vietnamese) are ready to stop fighting. But we are not ready to stop our side of the war only to encourage them to escalate their side of the war,” President Lyndon Johnson said on Dec. 19, 1967 Circumstances leading to withdrawal: On Nov. 5, 1968, Richard Nixon was elected president, promising to end the war in Vietnam. But on April 30, 1970, Nixon announced the expansion of the war into Cambodia. On May 4, 1970, four students at Kent State were shot by National Guardsmen during a protest.
“I have asked for this radio and television time tonight for the purpose of announcing that we today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honour in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia,” Nixon said on Jan. 23, 1973.
On Jan. 27, 1973 a ceasefire agreement was reached between US and North Vietnam, and US prisoners of war began to return home.
The last US combat troops left South Vietnam in 1973.
Final withdrawal date: March 29, 1973.