Vietnam War Timeline

Visiting Hanoi in 2009 was the first time that I learned about the Vietnam War.  After visiting the Hanoi Hilton, a notorious prison that held and tortured American Prisoners of War, I had a slightly better understanding of what life was like for the soldiers who fought bravely during the War.  After gazing at President Ho Chi Minh’s embalmed body in the communist capital, iconic images of the communist leader that I had seen only online or read in books, became much more realistic.  After visiting the Cu Chi tunnels, where the Viet Cong hid during the War and where numerous battles that I had only read about in history textbooks took place, I learned about the horrific atrocities endured by boys not a lot older than me, and I greater empathized with all of the soldiers who fought on both sides during the War.

Spending time in Vietnam emotionally tied me to the American War, as the Vietnamese refer to it, as opposed to being just another event in American history printed monochromatically on my textbook page.  I felt overwhelmed by all that I had learned over the course of our stay in Vietnam, but was hungry for more. This is why I wanted to learn exclusively about the Vietnam War and its impact on the world we live in today as I contemplated a project topic for my virtual high school’s world history. And this is what I learned: