Historical Timeline of the War: 1941 - 1949
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1941 | Ho Chi Minh returns to Vietnam and organizes the Viet Minh (Vietnam Independence League). U.S. military intelligence’s Office of Strategic Services (OSS) allies with Ho to work against Japanese who occupied Vietnam during the Second World War and to assist in the rescue of American pilots downed in combat during the war. |  Ho Chi Minh
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March 9, 1945
Summer 1945
July 1945
August 1945
| Provisional Government is created by the Japanese. Emperor Bao Dai abdicates.
Severe famine hits Vietnam with 2 million deaths due to starvation.
After the end of the Second World War in Europe, Vietnam is divided at the 16th parallel. The intention is for the Chinese Nationalists to disarm the Japanese north of the parallel and for the British to do the same in the south. The French request and receive the return of all French pre-war colonies in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia).
Japanese surrender, ending the Second World War in the Pacific. Treaty signed with Japan. |  Emperor Boa Dai
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September 2, 1945
September 13, 1945
September 22, 1945
September 26, 1945
| Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam’s independence, sets up a provisional government in Hanoi by quoting from the text of the American Declaration of Independence (“We hold the truth that all men are created equal…”). Ho requests recognition by U.S. but is ignored by President Truman.
British land in Saigon and return Vietnam’s authority to the French.
14,000 French soldiers held in Japanese internment camps released by the British and go on a rampage as they enter Saigon. Innocent civilians are killed.
Lt. Col. A. Peter Dewey mistakenly killed by Viet Minh troop who thought he was French. Before his death Dewey filed a report recommending U.S. get out of Southeast Asia.
| Harry S. Truman |
October 1945
February 1946
March 1946 | 35,000 French troops arrive in Vietnam to restore French rule. The Chinese under Chiang Kai-shek agree to leave North Vietnam in return for concessions in Shanghai and Chinese ports.
France accepts Vietnam as a “free state” within the French Union. French replace Chinese troops in the north of the country.
|  Chiang Kai-shek |
May through September 1946 | Ho Chi Minh in France to negotiate for full independence and unification of Vietnam. Negotiations come to an end between France and Vietnam.
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June 1946 | French declare a separatist government in South Vietnam.
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November 1946
December 19, 1946
October 7 through December 22, 1947
1949 | French bomb Haiphong harbor and take Hanoi. Ho Chi Minh’s forces escape into the jungle.
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam attacks the French with 30,000 troops. The First Indochina War begins.
French continue to attack the Viet Minh in the north in a series of battles known as Operation Lea. More than 9,000 Viet Minh die. The Viet Minh move north of Hanoi. The French under General Etienne Valluy fail to stop the Viet Minh.
Bao Dai of Vietnam and Vincent Auriol of France sign the Elysee Agreement in which the French agree to assist in the building of a national anti-Communist army.
| Vincent Auriol |
October 1949 | Mao’s troops defeat Chiang Kai-shek’s army in the Chinese Civil War. Anti-communist sentiment builds in Washington. U.S. declares a policy of “containment” of communism in Southeast Asia. |  Mao Zedong |