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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Vietnam Historical Background}}
'''Origins:''' The Vietnamese trace the origins of their culture and nation to the fertile plains of the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam. After centuries of developing a civilization and economy
based on the cultivation of irrigated rice, in the tenth century the Vietnamese began expanding
southward in search of new rice lands. Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Vietnamese
gradually moved down the narrow coastal plain of the Indochina Peninsula, ultimately extending
their reach into the broad Mekong River Delta. Vietnamese history is the story of the struggle to
develop a sense of nationhood throughout this narrow, 1,500-kilometer stretch of land and to
maintain it against internal and external pressures.
China was the chief source of Vietnam's foreign ideas and the earliest threat to its national
sovereignty. As a result of a millennium of Chinese control beginning in about 111 BC, the
Vietnamese assimilated Chinese influence in the areas of administration, law, education,
literature, language, and culture. Even during the following nine centuries of Vietnamese
independence, lasting from the late tenth century until the second half of the nineteenth century,
the Chinese exerted considerable cultural, if not political, influence, particularly on the elite.
'''Colonial Period, Independence, and War:''' After 900 years of independence and following a
period of disunity and rebellion, the French colonial era began during the 1858–83 period, when
the French seized control of the nation, dividing it into three parts: the north (Tonkin), the center
(Annam), and the south (Cochinchina). In 1861 France occupied Saigon, and by 1883 it had
taken control of all of Vietnam as well as Laos and Cambodia. French colonial rule was, for the
most part, politically repressive and economically exploitative. The Japanese occupied Vietnam
during World War II but allowed the French to remain and exert some influence. At the war’s
end in 1945, Ho Chi Minh, leader of the communist Viet Minh organization, declared Vietnam’s
independence in a speech that invoked the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the French
Revolution’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. However, the French quickly
reasserted the control they had ceded to the Japanese, and the First Indochina War (1946–54)
was underway. French control ended on May 7, 1954, when Vietnamese forces defeated the
French at Dien Bien Phu. The 1954 Geneva Conference left Vietnam a divided nation, with Ho
Chi Minh's communist government ruling the North from Hanoi and Ngo Dinh Diem's regime,
supported by the United States, ruling the South from Saigon (later Ho Chi Minh City).
As a result of the Second Indochina War (1954–75), Viet Cong—communist forces in South
Vietnam—and regular People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces from the North unified
Vietnam under communist rule. In this conflict, the insurgents—with logistical support from
China and the Soviet Union—ultimately defeated the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, which
sought to maintain South Vietnamese independence with the support of the U.S. military, whose
troop strength peaked at 540,000 during the communist-led Tet Offensive in 1968. The North did
not abide by the terms of the 1973 Paris Agreement, which officially settled the war by calling
for free elections in the South and peaceful reunification. Two years after the withdrawal of the
last U.S. forces in 1973, Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, fell to the communists, and on
April 30, 1975, the South Vietnamese army surrendered. In 1976 the government of united
Vietnam renamed Saigon as Ho Chi Minh City, in honor of the wartime communist leader who
died in September 1969. The Vietnamese estimate that they lost nearly 3 million lives and
suffered more than 4 million injuries during the U.S. involvement in the war.
'''Unified Vietnam:''' In the post-1975 period, it was immediately apparent that the popularity and
effectiveness of Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) policies did not necessarily extend to the
party’s peacetime nation-building plans. Having unified North and South politically, the VCP
still had to integrate them socially and economically. In this task, VCP policy makers were
confronted with the South’s resistance to communist transformation, as well as traditional
animosities arising from cultural and historical differences between North and South. More than
a million Southerners, including about 560,000 “boat people,” fled the country soon after the
communist takeover, fearing persecution and seizure of their land and businesses. About a
million Vietnamese were relocated to previously uncultivated land called “new economic zones”
for reeducation.
The harsh postwar crackdown on remnants of capitalism in the South led to the collapse of the
economy during the 1980s. With the economy in shambles, Vietnam’s government altered its
course and adopted consensus policies that bridged the divergent views of pragmatists and
communist traditionalists. In 1986 Nguyen Van Linh, who was elevated to VCP general
secretary the following year, launched a campaign for political and economic renewal (Doi Moi).
His policies were characterized by political and economic experimentation that was similar to
simultaneous reform agendas undertaken in China and the Soviet Union. Reflecting the spirit of
political compromise, Vietnam phased out its reeducation effort. The government also stopped
promoting agricultural and industrial cooperatives. Farmers were permitted to till private plots
alongside state-owned land, and in 1990 the government passed a law encouraging the
establishment of private businesses.
Compounding economic difficulties were new military challenges. In the late 1970s, two
countries—Cambodia and China—posed threats to Vietnam. Clashes between Vietnamese and
Cambodian communists on their common border began almost immediately after Vietnam’s
reunification in 1975. To neutralize the threat, Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December 1978
and overran Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, driving out the incumbent Khmer Rouge
communist regime and initiating a prolonged military occupation of the country.
In February and March 1979, China retaliated against Vietnam's incursion into Cambodia by
launching a limited invasion of Vietnam, but the Chinese foray was quickly rebuffed. Relations
between the two countries had been deteriorating for some time. Territorial disagreements along
the border and in the South China Sea that had remained dormant during the Second Indochina
War were revived at the war's end, and a postwar campaign engineered by Hanoi to limit the role
of Vietnam's ethnic Chinese community in domestic commerce elicited a strong protest from
Beijing. China also was displeased with Vietnam because of its improving relationship with the
Soviet Union.
During its incursion into Cambodia in 1978–89, Vietnam’s international isolation extended to
relations with the United States. The United States, in addition to citing Vietnam's minimal
cooperation in accounting for Americans who were missing in action (MIAs) as an obstacle to
normal relations, barred normal ties as long as Vietnamese troops occupied Cambodia.
Washington also continued to enforce the trade embargo imposed on Hanoi at the conclusion of
the war in 1975. Soon after the Paris Agreement on Cambodia resolved the conflict in October
1991, however, Vietnam established or reestablished diplomatic and economic relations with
most of Western Europe, China, and other Asian countries. Vietnam normalized relations with
China in 1991 and with Japan in 1993. In February 1994, the United States lifted its economic
embargo against Vietnam, and in June 1995, the United States and Vietnam normalized relations.
In June 2005, a high-level Vietnamese delegation, led by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, visited
the United States and met with their U.S. counterparts, including President George W. Bush.
This was the first such visit in 30 years. Relations with China took another step forward after the
two countries settled their long-standing border dispute in 1999. China is now a major trading
partner, and Vietnam models its economic policies after China’s.
As of late 2005, a three-person collective leadership was responsible for governing Vietnam.
This triumvirate consisted of the VCP general secretary (Nong Duc Manh, April 2001– ), the
prime minister (Phan Van Khai, September 1997– ), and the president (Tran Duc Luong,
September 1997– ). General Secretary Manh headed up not only the VCP but also the 15-
member Politburo. President Luong was chief of state, and Prime Minister Khai was head of
government. The leadership is promoting a “socialist-oriented market economy” and friendly
relations with China, Japan, the European Union, Russia, and the United States. Although the
leadership is presiding over a period of rapid economic growth, official corruption and a
widening gap between urban wealth and rural poverty remain stubborn problems that are eroding
the VCP’s authority. A major goal is gaining full membership in the World Trade Organization
(WTO). Vietnam now hopes to join the WTO by mid-2006, although previously it had hoped to
achieve this goal by the end of 2005. Vietnam still needs to conclude bilateral agreements with
the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic in order to
qualify for membership.
'''Origins:''' The Vietnamese trace the origins of their culture and nation to the fertile plains of the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam. After centuries of developing a civilization and economy
based on the cultivation of irrigated rice, in the tenth century the Vietnamese began expanding
southward in search of new rice lands. Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Vietnamese
gradually moved down the narrow coastal plain of the Indochina Peninsula, ultimately extending
their reach into the broad Mekong River Delta. Vietnamese history is the story of the struggle to
develop a sense of nationhood throughout this narrow, 1,500-kilometer stretch of land and to
maintain it against internal and external pressures.
China was the chief source of Vietnam's foreign ideas and the earliest threat to its national
sovereignty. As a result of a millennium of Chinese control beginning in about 111 BC, the
Vietnamese assimilated Chinese influence in the areas of administration, law, education,
literature, language, and culture. Even during the following nine centuries of Vietnamese
independence, lasting from the late tenth century until the second half of the nineteenth century,
the Chinese exerted considerable cultural, if not political, influence, particularly on the elite.
'''Colonial Period, Independence, and War:''' After 900 years of independence and following a
period of disunity and rebellion, the French colonial era began during the 1858–83 period, when
the French seized control of the nation, dividing it into three parts: the north (Tonkin), the center
(Annam), and the south (Cochinchina). In 1861 France occupied Saigon, and by 1883 it had
taken control of all of Vietnam as well as Laos and Cambodia. French colonial rule was, for the
most part, politically repressive and economically exploitative. The Japanese occupied Vietnam
during World War II but allowed the French to remain and exert some influence. At the war’s
end in 1945, Ho Chi Minh, leader of the communist Viet Minh organization, declared Vietnam’s
independence in a speech that invoked the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the French
Revolution’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. However, the French quickly
reasserted the control they had ceded to the Japanese, and the First Indochina War (1946–54)
was underway. French control ended on May 7, 1954, when Vietnamese forces defeated the
French at Dien Bien Phu. The 1954 Geneva Conference left Vietnam a divided nation, with Ho
Chi Minh's communist government ruling the North from Hanoi and Ngo Dinh Diem's regime,
supported by the United States, ruling the South from Saigon (later Ho Chi Minh City).
As a result of the Second Indochina War (1954–75), Viet Cong—communist forces in South
Vietnam—and regular People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces from the North unified
Vietnam under communist rule. In this conflict, the insurgents—with logistical support from
China and the Soviet Union—ultimately defeated the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, which
sought to maintain South Vietnamese independence with the support of the U.S. military, whose
troop strength peaked at 540,000 during the communist-led Tet Offensive in 1968. The North did
not abide by the terms of the 1973 Paris Agreement, which officially settled the war by calling
for free elections in the South and peaceful reunification. Two years after the withdrawal of the
last U.S. forces in 1973, Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, fell to the communists, and on
April 30, 1975, the South Vietnamese army surrendered. In 1976 the government of united
Vietnam renamed Saigon as Ho Chi Minh City, in honor of the wartime communist leader who
died in September 1969. The Vietnamese estimate that they lost nearly 3 million lives and
suffered more than 4 million injuries during the U.S. involvement in the war.
'''Unified Vietnam:''' In the post-1975 period, it was immediately apparent that the popularity and
effectiveness of Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) policies did not necessarily extend to the
party’s peacetime nation-building plans. Having unified North and South politically, the VCP
still had to integrate them socially and economically. In this task, VCP policy makers were
confronted with the South’s resistance to communist transformation, as well as traditional
animosities arising from cultural and historical differences between North and South. More than
a million Southerners, including about 560,000 “boat people,” fled the country soon after the
communist takeover, fearing persecution and seizure of their land and businesses. About a
million Vietnamese were relocated to previously uncultivated land called “new economic zones”
for reeducation.
The harsh postwar crackdown on remnants of capitalism in the South led to the collapse of the
economy during the 1980s. With the economy in shambles, Vietnam’s government altered its
course and adopted consensus policies that bridged the divergent views of pragmatists and
communist traditionalists. In 1986 Nguyen Van Linh, who was elevated to VCP general
secretary the following year, launched a campaign for political and economic renewal (Doi Moi).
His policies were characterized by political and economic experimentation that was similar to
simultaneous reform agendas undertaken in China and the Soviet Union. Reflecting the spirit of
political compromise, Vietnam phased out its reeducation effort. The government also stopped
promoting agricultural and industrial cooperatives. Farmers were permitted to till private plots
alongside state-owned land, and in 1990 the government passed a law encouraging the
establishment of private businesses.
Compounding economic difficulties were new military challenges. In the late 1970s, two
countries—Cambodia and China—posed threats to Vietnam. Clashes between Vietnamese and
Cambodian communists on their common border began almost immediately after Vietnam’s
reunification in 1975. To neutralize the threat, Vietnam invaded Cambodia in December 1978
and overran Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, driving out the incumbent Khmer Rouge
communist regime and initiating a prolonged military occupation of the country.
In February and March 1979, China retaliated against Vietnam's incursion into Cambodia by
launching a limited invasion of Vietnam, but the Chinese foray was quickly rebuffed. Relations
between the two countries had been deteriorating for some time. Territorial disagreements along
the border and in the South China Sea that had remained dormant during the Second Indochina
War were revived at the war's end, and a postwar campaign engineered by Hanoi to limit the role
of Vietnam's ethnic Chinese community in domestic commerce elicited a strong protest from
Beijing. China also was displeased with Vietnam because of its improving relationship with the
Soviet Union.
During its incursion into Cambodia in 1978–89, Vietnam’s international isolation extended to
relations with the United States. The United States, in addition to citing Vietnam's minimal
cooperation in accounting for Americans who were missing in action (MIAs) as an obstacle to
normal relations, barred normal ties as long as Vietnamese troops occupied Cambodia.
Washington also continued to enforce the trade embargo imposed on Hanoi at the conclusion of
the war in 1975. Soon after the Paris Agreement on Cambodia resolved the conflict in October
1991, however, Vietnam established or reestablished diplomatic and economic relations with
most of Western Europe, China, and other Asian countries. Vietnam normalized relations with
China in 1991 and with Japan in 1993. In February 1994, the United States lifted its economic
embargo against Vietnam, and in June 1995, the United States and Vietnam normalized relations.
In June 2005, a high-level Vietnamese delegation, led by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, visited
the United States and met with their U.S. counterparts, including President George W. Bush.
This was the first such visit in 30 years. Relations with China took another step forward after the
two countries settled their long-standing border dispute in 1999. China is now a major trading
partner, and Vietnam models its economic policies after China’s.
As of late 2005, a three-person collective leadership was responsible for governing Vietnam.
This triumvirate consisted of the VCP general secretary (Nong Duc Manh, April 2001– ), the
prime minister (Phan Van Khai, September 1997– ), and the president (Tran Duc Luong,
September 1997– ). General Secretary Manh headed up not only the VCP but also the 15-
member Politburo. President Luong was chief of state, and Prime Minister Khai was head of
government. The leadership is promoting a “socialist-oriented market economy” and friendly
relations with China, Japan, the European Union, Russia, and the United States. Although the
leadership is presiding over a period of rapid economic growth, official corruption and a
widening gap between urban wealth and rural poverty remain stubborn problems that are eroding
the VCP’s authority. A major goal is gaining full membership in the World Trade Organization
(WTO). Vietnam now hopes to join the WTO by mid-2006, although previously it had hoped to
achieve this goal by the end of 2005. Vietnam still needs to conclude bilateral agreements with
the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic in order to
qualify for membership.
