40 The Vietnamese Trung sisters rebel against the rule of the Chinese Emperor Guangwu of Han
43 The warrior Trung Sisters commit suicide after their resistance is defeated at Nam Viet in Vietnam.
192 The kingdom of Champa begins to control south and central Vietnam (approximate date).
939 Vietnam, under the name Dai Co Viet, became independent from China.
1009 The Ly dynasty, Vietnam's first independent dynasty, is proclaimed.
1010 The Ly Dynasty in Vietnam is established (or 1009).
1070 The Temple of Literature established in the capital of Vietnam.
1174 Vietnam is given the official name of Annam by China.
1175 Ly Cao Ton becomes ruler of Vietnam
1285 Tran Hung Dao leads Vietnamese forces in victory over an invading Yuan dynasty Mongol army.
1288 Vietnamese general Tran Hung Dao sinks the entire fleet of an invading Yuan dynasty Mongol army by placing steel-tipped bamboo stakes in the Bach Dang River, near Halong Bay.
1700 Vietnamese gain control of entire Indochina peninsula.
1888 "Kingdom of Sedang" formed in modern-day Vietnam
1945 Vietnam War: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
1945 Ho Chi Minh promulgates the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, and unity from the north to the south.
1946 Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
1946 Martial law in Vietnam
1950 President Harry Truman sends United States military personnel to Vietnam to aid French forces.
1954 President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam
1954 First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam
1955 Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam a republic with himself as president.
1960 March 6
1962 Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to not make an optimistic public comment on the war's progress.
1965 Vietnam War: 3,500 United States Marines arrive in South Vietnam, becoming the first American combat troops in Vietnam.
1965 Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
1965 Vietnam War: Just miles from Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by wave after wave of Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas. Among the dead, a sketch of Marine positions is found on the body of a 13-year-old Vietnamese boy who sold drinks to the Marines the day before.
1965 Vietnam War: In New York City, 22-year old Catholic Worker Movement member Roger Allen LaPorte sets himself on fire in front of the United Nations building in protest of the war in Vietnam (this was the second such incident in a week; on November 2 32-year-old Quaker member Norman Morrison did the same thing in front of The Pentagon).
1965 Vietnam War: Battle of the Ia Drang begins - In the Ia Drang Valley of the Central Highlands in Vietnam, the first major engagement of the war between regular American and North Vietnamese forces begins.
1965 Vietnam War: The Pentagon tells U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson that if planned major sweep operations to neutralize Viet Cong forces during the next year are to succeed, the number of American troops in Vietnam will have to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000.
1965 Vietnam War: In response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's call for "more flags" in Vietnam, Philippines President Elect Ferdinand Marcos announces he will send troops to help fight in South Vietnam.
1966 Vietnam War: Australia announces it is going to substantially increase its number of troops in Vietnam.
1966 U.S. troops in Vietnam total 250,000.
1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson barely defeats antiwar candidate Eugene J. McCarthy in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, a vote which highlights the deep divisions in the country, as well as the party, over Vietnam.
1968 Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will be sending about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours.
1969 My Lai Massacre: Lieutenant William Calley is charged with 6 counts of premeditated murder, for the deaths of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.
1969 Vietnam War: The ''Cleveland Plain Dealer'' publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
1970 In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes large floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
1970 Vietnam War: The United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24 soldiers died that week, which was the fifth consecutive week the death toll was below 50; 431 were reported wounded that week, however).
1971 Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
1971 Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The total number of American troops still in Vietnam drops to a record low of 196,700 (the lowest since January 1966).
1971 Vietnam War: Vietnamization - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
1972 Prime minister of Sweden, Olof Palme compares the American bombings of North Vietnam to Nazi massacres. The US breaks diplomatic contact with Sweden.
1972 U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that no new draftees will be sent to Vietnam.
1972 Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam due to the fact that troop levels are now down to 27,000.
1973 U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
1973 Vietnam War: The first release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes pla
1973 The last United States soldiers leave Vietnam.
1976 North Vietnam and South Vietnam unite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - a Communist country.
1978 Vietnam attacks Cambodia.
1978 Vietnam launches a major offensive against the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.
1979 Vietnam and Vietnam-backed Cambodian insurgents announce the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the collapse of the Pol Pot regime. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge retreat west to an area along the Thai border.
1979 The People's Republic of China invades northern Vietnam, launching the Sino-Vietnamese War.
1989 Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
2000 Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting US President to visit Vietnam.
2005 A bus crash in Vietnam's Central Highlands kills 30 Vietnamese war veterans.