History of Vietnam

Introduction to History of Vietnam

The region that is now Vietnam has been inhabited for thousands of years. In the New Stone Age, which began about 1500 B.C. in Southeast Asia, it was occupied by tribal groups of Indonesian racial stock. In the fourth century B.C., the ancestors of the modern Vietnamese, a Mongoloid people, migrated from southern China to what is now the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. There they encountered the Indonesian people, with whom they fought and later mixed. An important settlement of this period has been uncovered by archeologists at Dong Son.

Early Development

A number of small Vietnamese states developed. About 207 B.C., they were unified as the kingdom of Nam-Viet. In 111 B.C. the armies of the Han dynasty of China overran the kingdom, and the Chinese remained in control for almost a thousand years. During this period, the Vietnamese were profoundly influenced by Chinese customs and ideas. (The Chinese called them Annamese, from Annan , meaning "Pacify the South.")

In the 10th century A.D., the Vietnamese regained their independence, although China's overlordship was recognized. In 968 the country (occupying what is now northern Vietnam and part of central Vietnam) was unified under Dinh Bo Linh, who assumed the title emperor. Needing land for its increasing population, the empire pressed to the south. By 1471 it had absorbed most of the kingdom of Champa (now southeastern Vietnam), the home of an Indonesian people called the Chams.

Expansion of the empire brought rivalry between geographic sections. In the 16th century, Vietnamese power fragmented and the lands were split into northern and southern sections (later known as Tonkin and Annam). Despite the division, southward expansion continued. During the 18th century, the Vietnamese wrested the rich Mekong River Delta region (later called Cochin China) from the Cambodians.

Western Influence

The first contact with Europeans came early in the 16th century when Portuguese traders arrived. A century later, French missionaries appeared, laying a foundation for French penetration of the area. Over the years, France exerted increasing economic and political influence, particularly in Annam. The Nguyen family of Annam, with French aid, forced Tonkin under its rule and reunified the empire in 1802. Nguyen Anh proclaimed himself Emperor Gia Long and ruled, 1802–20, from the capital city of Hue. The Annamese Empire became the dominant power of the Indochinese Peninsula.

In the mid-19th century, France used the persecution of European missionaries as justification for military intervention. French troops were sent in 1858. By 1867 Saigon and adjacent areas had become the French colony of Cochin China. By 1884 protectorates had been established over Tonkin and Annam. Three years later, France combined Annam, Tonkin, Cochin China, and Cambodia into the Indochinese Union (also called French Indochina), and later it added Laos.

Growth of Nationalism

Early in the 20th century, a nationalist movement began to develop. There were several unsuccessful uprisings against French rule. In the 1930's, leadership of the nationalist movement fell to the Communist party of Vietnam, organized in 1930 by Ho Chi Minh.

In World War II, after the Japanese invaded French Indochina (1940), the Vietminh (Viet League), a nationalist-Communist coalition led by Ho Chi Minh, was organized to resist aggression and work for independence. After World War II ended in 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam, consisting of Tonkin and Annam, to be an independent republic with himself as president. The capital was set up at Hanoi.

Return of the French in late 1945 touched off armed resistance by the Vietminh. In 1946 France recognized Vietnam's autonomy within the Indochinese Federation, but opposed the proposed annexation of Cochin China to Vietnam. The Vietminh, demanding complete independence as well as Cochin China, continued fighting.

In 1949 France agreed to include Cochin China in a united Vietnam and established an anti-Communist government, under the former Annamese emperor, Bao Dai, at Saigon. He was named chief of state of the State of Vietnam.

The treaty granting Vietnam independence was confirmed in 1950. With the Vietminh still holding the north, the United States announced that it would extend military and economic aid to Vietnam to help it resist a Communist takeover. The French forces, who had stayed to help subdue the Vietminh, were sent military supplies by the United States. In 1954, however, the Vietminh inflicted a devastating defeat on the French at Dienbienphu. A conference was called at Geneva, Switzerland, to arrange a cease-fire.

Partition of Vietnam

Of the agreements reached at the 1954 Geneva Conference, the most significant was the decision to partition Vietnam—the north was given to the Vietminh while the Saigon government retained the south. Elections were planned to reunify the nation. ( .) South Vietnam, which objected to the partition, and the United States, which had no primary responsibility in Indochina, refused to sign the agreements.

Diem Rises to Power

Bao Dai appointed Ngo Dinh Diem premier of South Vietnam. The United States promised the Diem government military and financial aid; its intention of helping protect the new country from Communist aggression was reaffirmed at the formation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. In 1955 a group of United States military advisers took over the training of the South Vietnamese army.

In 1955, Diem rejected offers from North Vietnam to discuss elections to reunify the country; he claimed that no truly free elections could be held in Communist-ruled North Vietnam. He also noted that his government was not bound by the Geneva Agreements, since it had not signed them. A national referendum in South Vietnam deposed Bao Dai in favor of Diem, who became the first president of the Republic of Vietnam.

Vietcong Insurgency

Antigovernment guerrillas began operating in South Vietnam in 1957. Late in 1960 a Communist-led military force known as the Vietcong was organized for the "liberation of South Vietnam." The tempo of fighting increased, as did United States aid to the Diem government. Meanwhile, political opposition to Diem was being ruthlessly suppressed. In 1963 the government was overthrown in a military coup, during which Diem was assassinated.

The generals who took control were unable to achieve political stability. Military regimes rose and fell in rapid succession, and the effort against the Vietcong suffered. With increasing evidence of North Vietnamese assistance to the Vietcong, United States personnel began taking an active part in the fighting. Soon large numbers of American troops were involved. The conflict developed into a full-scale war. In 1968 the United States met in Paris with North Vietnam to begin peace negotiations, joined in 1969 by South Vietnam and the Vietcong. ( .)

Some stability was achieved during the regime of Nguyen Cao Ky, commander of the air force, who was installed as premier in 1965. A constitutional government was established with elections in 1967. Nguyen Van Thieu became president.

Meanwhile, North Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh died in 1969. Throughout the 1960's and early 1970's, the war severely hampered economic development in both North and South Vietnam. In 1972, North Vietnamese forces invaded the south and occupied some territory. At the negotiations in Paris, a cease-fire agreement was signed in 1973, and the United States withdrew from the war. A new North Vietnamese offensive in 1975 resulted in the conquest of South Vietnam. With the end of the war, economic reconstruction was begun. In 1976 the country was formally unified, and in 1978 most private enterprise in former South Vietnam was abolished. During the late 1970's, the totalitarian rule of the North Vietnamese and severe economic difficulties caused many thousands of Vietnamese to flee the country. They became refugees in France, the United States, and other countries.

Border warfare with Cambodia erupted repeatedly during the 1970's. In 1979 the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia and installed a regime friendly to Vietnam. Vietnamese troops supporting the regime remained in Cambodia for a decade afterwards. China, which had backed the ousted regime, invaded Vietnam, but soon withdrew. Government hostility against Vietnam's Chinese minority resulted in some 400,000 Chinese fleeing the country during the 1980's.

In 1995, Vietnam and the United States established diplomatic relations. The first U.S. ambassador to Hanoi was sent to Vietnam in 1997, and in 2000 Bill Clinton became the first U.S. President to visit Hanoi.