VIETNAM

Vietnam lies on the eastern coastline of the South-East Asia peninsular. The area used to be three regions, Tonkin in the north, Annam in the centre and south and Cochin China at its most southern point.

China conquered the area in 111BC and ruled it till 939. then the people of Tonkin and Annam drove the Chinese out.

By the 16th century two dynasties were established in the two regions. Annam took over Cochin China in the 18th centuries.

In 1802 the two states Tonkin and Annam were reunited by the Annam general Nguyen Anh with the help of French military. The French continued their influence during the 19th century and Vietnam became part of the French Indochina by 1883.

In the Second World War Japan conquered the regions but VICHY France administered it till 1945.

In 1941 a communist guerrilla movement Vietminh formed in Vietnam fighting the French and Japanese. In 1945 the founder Ho Chi Minh established a republic with Hanoi as its capital. The Vietminh resisted the French returning and ended their rule in by defeating them at Dien-Bien Phu in 1954.

The Geneva Conference in 1954 partitioned Vietnam into two military areas. Communist Democratic Republic with capital Hanoi in the north and a non-communist republic with Saigon in the South. The emperor Rao Dai stepped down in 1955.

Ho Chi Minh remained to unite the country under communist rules.

In South Vietnam opposition to the president Ngo Dinh Dim by the Vietcong, also called National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, founded in 1960.

In 1963 the USA signed a military and economical treaty with South Vietnam. Vietcong led to a declaration of emergency by Diem following his overthrow by military force. Communists tried to take advantage of the situation to capture the country which led to a massive US intervention in the next year.

After a supposed Vietnamese attack on USA warships in the Gulf of Tokin in 1964 President Lyndon Johnson got the go-ahead for military action. During 1960s and 1970s the Vietnam War raged with heaviest losses on USA sides and even the heavy US bombardment could not stop the communists.

By 1967 the USA deployed 400,000 troops but a heavy protest in the USA helped to accelerated the withdrawal.

In 1975 after an abortive peace negotiation the North Vietnamese and Vietcong finally took the Port of Saigon in South Vietnam and a united Socialist Republic of Vietnam was announced.

Although the economy due to the war was badly damaged but the Communists followed the aggressive pro-Soviet foreign policy. They dominated Laos and overthrew the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in 1975. It had been said that USA supported the Khmer Rouge who created nothing but a bloodbath.

In 1979 they suffered heavily at a short border war with China.

Flood and droughts caused agricultural damages and rice shortages. The restructure Soviet-style caused huge Vietnamese refugees and the country depended more on the Soviet Union.

In 1989 Vietnamese troops withdrew from Cambodia and after the collapse of the Soviet Union Vietnam is improving the relationship with China and USA.

A politics were adopted in 1992 incorporating major economic and political reforms. Economic links with USA, Britain and Japan were established. especially to exploit Vietnamese oil and gas.
The Communist Party remains Vietnamese sole party