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Conquered by the armies of China's Han dynasty in 111 BC,
it was not until 939 AD that the Vietnamese were able to expel
the Chinese and begin a southward domination that, by the
mid-18th century, had reached the Gulf of Siam. The 17th and
18th centuries were marked by the power struggles between
feuding families in the north and south, as they attempted
to control the largely ineffectual kings of the Le dynasty.
Vietnam finally fell to French colonial rule in 1884, after
fierce resistance. Integral to Vietnam's eventual independence
was Ho Chi Minh, who was one of many who established the Viet
Minh - a broad coalition of anti-French groups. When Japan
ousted France from power in March 1945, the Viet Minh began
to infiltrate the countryside from their mountain bases in
the north.
Following Japan's surrender, Viet Minh leaders announced
the formation of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam, (DRV) and
on September 2, 1945, proclaimed Vietnam's independence. The
arrival of Allied forces, however, pushed Vietnam back into
the hands of the French. After negotiations between the DRV
and the French collapsed in December 1946, the Viet Minh attacked
French forces in Hanoi and ignited an eight year war that
culminated in the historic French military defeat at Dien
Bien Phu in 1954.
Vietnam was split in two by the 1954 Geneva Accords: the
Communist north, and the anti-Communist, US-supported, south.
Political and ideological opposition fermented, and again
turned into armed struggle, obliging the US and other countries
to commit combat troops in 1965. This led to a prolonged and
costly war, which at its 1969 peak, saw over half a million
US combat troops stationed in South Vietnam.
The Paris peace talks, begun in May 1968, eventually led
to the US withdrawing troops from June 1969. However, the
US continued to provide air and sea support to the South Vietnamese
until a peace agreement was signed on January 27, 1973. Tens
of thousands of North Vietnamese troops infiltrated the south
to join the 160,000 already there at the time of the cease-fire
and, at the beginning of 1975, they began a major offensive
that led to the fall of Saigon on 30th April 1975. On 25th
April 1976, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was renamed
the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In 1977, Vietnam became
a member of the United Nations.
War with Cambodia, isolation, trade embargoes, and devastating
natural disasters, all added to Vietnam's difficulties in
forging ahead. However, despite the collapse of the former
Soviet Union, its major trading partner, economic growth rates
still managed to average over 8% per year in the early nineties.
Vietnam has now established diplomatic relations with 164
countries, trade relations with over 100 countries, and has
attracted foreign investment from more than 50 countries and
territories. The tremendous capacity of its people to meet
the most desperate challenges, is likely to lead Vietnam to
a bright future.
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