The Kỳ Cùng (Vietnamese: Sông Kỳ Cùng ) is a major river of northeastern Vietnam . It flows through Lạng Sơn Province . Tributaries include the Bắc Giang River and the Bắc Khê River . The source of the river is at an altitude of 1166 metres in northern Đình Lập District . Historically the valleys in which the river passes through have been important for agricultural production and were inhabited for centuries by the Bac Son peoples. During the Lý dynasty an extensive market for trade between the Vietnamese and the Chinese was established at Lạng Sơn on the Kỳ Cùng River.
155-604: This article about a location in Lạng Sơn province , Vietnam is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in China is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in Vietnam is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Vietnam in ASEAN (dark grey) Vietnam , officially
310-624: A plantation economy to promote export of tobacco , indigo , tea and coffee . However, they largely ignored the increasing demands for civil rights and self-government . An increasing dissatisfaction, even led to half-hearted, badly co-ordinated, and still worsely executed plots to oust the French, like the infamous Hanoi Poison Plot of 1908. A nationalist political movement soon emerged, with leaders like Phan Bội Châu , Phan Châu Trinh , Phan Đình Phùng , Emperor Hàm Nghi , and Hồ Chí Minh fighting or calling for independence. This resulted in
465-655: A unitary socialist state under the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 1976. An ineffective planned economy , a trade embargo by the West , and wars with Cambodia and China crippled the country further. In 1986, the CPV initiated economic and political reforms similar to the Chinese economic reform , transforming the country to a socialist-oriented market economy . The reforms facilitated Vietnamese reintegration into
620-493: A bombing campaign in the north, and a number of other factors. Whilst these challenges would have been faced by any President in office at the time, it is ultimately Johnson's individual decisions and attitudes that brought America into the Vietnam War. Historians have been sympathetic towards Johnson's situation, but others believe that the inevitability of war and Johnson's trapping by previous Presidents like John F. Kennedy
775-536: A chief justice, is the country's highest court of appeal , though it is also answerable to the National Assembly. Beneath the Supreme People's Court stand the provincial municipal courts and many local courts . Military courts possess special jurisdiction in matters of state security . Vietnam maintains the death penalty for numerous offences. In 2023, a three-person collective leadership
930-405: A complicated situation from his predecessor, John F. Kennedy . Consequently, Johnson faced a difficult situation regarding whether the costs of intervening outweighed the benefits. In essence, America had reached the point of no return. The pride of America and the pride of Johnson as a strong President means that the individual actions and responses of Johnson in Vietnam are somewhat responsible for
1085-457: A hierarchy of good and bad within the American imagination, which affected US policymakers view of how intervention would materialise. Jacobs states: Americans at the mid century considered some Asians tough and therefore dependable anticommunist allies while consigning other to the ranks of those who, in the words of a State Department working paper "will not fight for themselves" much less for
1240-740: A modern independent Vietnam. But the Provisional Government of the French Republic did not act on these requests, including the idea of independence, and dispatched the French Far East Expeditionary Corps to restore colonial rule. This resulted in the Việt Minh launching a guerrilla campaign against the French in late 1946. The resulting First Indochina War lasted until July 1954. The defeat of French colonialists and Vietnamese loyalists in
1395-632: A more conventional, large-unit war, switched back to small-unit operations in the face of U.S. military capabilities. The struggle moved to the villages, where the "hearts and minds" of the South Vietnamese peasants, whose cooperation was absolutely necessary to military success, would be won or lost. The U.S. had given responsibility for this struggle to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), whose troops and commanders were notoriously unfit for
1550-531: A plan for a two-stage escalation of the bombing of North Vietnam. In February 1965, a U.S. air base at Pleiku , in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, was attacked twice by the NLF, resulting in the deaths of over a dozen U.S. personnel. These guerrilla attacks prompted the administration to order retaliatory air strikes against North Vietnam . Operation Rolling Thunder was the code name given to
1705-578: A policy of " Vietnamization ", training the South Vietnamese army so it could defend the country and starting a phased withdrawal of American troops. By 1972, there were only 69,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, and in 1973 the Paris Peace Accords were signed, removing the last of the troops. In 1975, the South fell to an invasion from the North, and Vietnam was reunited in 1976. The costs of fighting
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#17327866882561860-524: A political voice. The repression of the protests sparked the so-called Buddhist crisis , during which several monks committed self-immolation , which was covered in the world press. The communists took full advantage of the situation and fueled anti-Diệm sentiment to create further instability. In August, the State Department stated: We wish to give Diem reasonable opportunity to remove Nhu, but if he remaisn obdurate, then we are prepared to accept
2015-527: A presence there after several violent encounters with the locals. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) only managed to establish official relations with Tonkin in the spring of 1637 after leaving Dejima in Japan to establish trade for silk . Meanwhile, in 1613, the first English attempt to establish contact with Hội An failed following a violent incident involving the East India Company . By 1672
2170-577: A provisional government, which asserted national independence on 2 September. In July 1945, the Allies had decided to divide Indochina at the 16th parallel to allow Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China to receive the Japanese surrender in the north while Britain's Lord Louis Mountbatten received their surrender in the south. The Allies agreed that Indochina still belonged to France. But as
2325-478: A result, training programs were shortened. Some NCOs were referred to as " Shake 'N' Bake " to highlight their accelerated training. Unlike soldiers in World War II and Korea, there were no secure rear areas in which to get rest and relaxation. One unidentified soldier said to United Press International that there was nothing to do in Vietnam and therefore many of the men smoked marijuana . He said, "One of
2480-575: A rise in income inequality and gender disparities. In 2021, General Secretary of the Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong , was re-elected for his third term in office, meaning he is Vietnam's most powerful leader in decades. Vietnam is located on the eastern Indochinese Peninsula between the latitudes 8° and 24°N , and the longitudes 102° and 110°E . It covers a total area of 331,210 km (127,881 sq mi) or 331,699 km (128,070 sq mi). The combined length of
2635-706: A sustained strategic bombing campaign targeted against the North by aircraft of the U.S. Air Force and Navy that was inaugurated on March 2, 1965. Its original purpose was to bolster the morale of the South Vietnamese and to serve as a signaling device to Hanoi . U.S. airpower would act as a method of "strategic persuasion", deterring the North Vietnamese politically by the fear of continued or increased bombardment. Rolling Thunder gradually escalated in intensity, with aircraft striking only carefully selected targets. When that did not work, its goals were altered to destroying North Vietnam's will to fight by destroying
2790-602: A viable and increasingly democratic society, and to initiate, on an accelerated basis, a series of mutually supporting actions of a military, political, economic, psychological, and covert character designed to achieve this objective. Nevertheless, the Kennedy administration held onto its fundamental belief in nation building. Kennedy was intrigued by the idea of utilizing United States Army Special Forces for counterinsurgency conflicts in Third World countries threatened by
2945-622: Is a dubious proposal. Fredrick Logevall believes there were choices available to him debate and fluidity was more of a reality than a Cold War consensus as key figures such as Senator Richard Russell Jr. opposed the war: "exact numbers are hard to come by, but certainly in the Senate a clear majority of Democrats and moderate Republicans were either downright opposed to Americanisation or were ambivalent". Robert Dean says Robert Mcnamara recognises that Johnson could have avoided war in his 1995 memoirs. Dean believes "the basic explanation McNamara offers
3100-496: Is a low-level plain no more than 3 metres (9.8 ft) above sea level at any point. It is criss-crossed by a maze of rivers and canals, which carry so much sediment that the delta advances 60 to 80 metres (196.9 to 262.5 ft) into the sea every year. The exclusive economic zone of Vietnam covers 417,663 km (161,261 sq mi) in the South China Sea . Southern Vietnam is divided into coastal lowlands,
3255-518: Is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, with 55% of its population living in low-elevation coastal areas. As the country is located within the Indomalayan realm , Vietnam is one of twenty-five countries considered to possess a uniquely high level of biodiversity . This was noted in the country's National Environmental Condition Report in 2005. It is ranked 16th worldwide in biological diversity, being home to approximately 16% of
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#17327866882563410-572: Is that the Kennedy and Johnson policy makers were blinded by their own rigid anti-communist ideology". Arnold R. Isaacs says that there was limited public pressure to escalate war whilst his political position was already safe because of an electoral vote of 486 in the 1964 presidential election . Isaacs says that engaging in the war would be more damaging politically to Johnson and the Democrats than disengagement because an expensive war meant Great Society reforms would be damaged. According to Isaacs,
3565-464: Is the legacy of the use of the chemical herbicide Agent Orange , which continues to cause birth defects and many health problems in the Vietnamese population. In the southern and central areas affected most by the chemical's use during the Vietnam War, nearly 4.8 million Vietnamese people have been exposed to it and suffered from its effects. In 2012, approximately 50 years after the war,
3720-676: Is widely held that the average U.S. serviceman was nineteen years old, as evidenced by the casual reference in a pop song (" 19 " by Paul Hardcastle ); the figure is cited by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman ret. of the Killology Research Group in his 1995 book On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (p. 265). However, it is disputed by the Vietnam Helicopter Flight Crew Network Website, which claims
3875-606: The Catholic minority—of which Diệm was a part—at the expense of the Buddhist majority. This contributed to the impression of Diệm's rule as an extension of the French Colonial regime. Promised land reforms were not instituted, and Diệm's strategic hamlet program for village self-defense (and government control) was a disaster. The Kennedy administration grew increasingly frustrated with Diệm. One major frustration among
4030-545: The Demilitarised Zone , roughly along the 17th parallel north (pending elections scheduled for July 1956 ). A 300-day period of free movement was permitted, during which almost a million northerners, mainly Catholics, moved south, fearing persecution by the communists. This migration was in large part aided by the United States military through Operation Passage to Freedom . The partition of Vietnam by
4185-765: The First Indochina War , from which Vietnam emerged victorious in 1954. As a result of the treaties signed between the Viet Minh and France, Vietnam was also separated into two parts. The Vietnam War began shortly after, between the communist North Vietnam , supported by the Soviet Union and China , and the anti-communist South Vietnam , supported by the United States . Upon the North Vietnamese victory in 1975, Vietnam reunified as
4340-767: The Gulf of Tonkin when it was attacked by three P-4 torpedo boats of the North Vietnamese Navy. Reports later reached the Johnson administration saying that the Maddox was under attack. Two nights later, after being joined by the destroyer USS Turner Joy , the Maddox again reported that both vessels were under attack. Regardless, President Johnson addressed Congress asking for more political power to utilize American military forces in South Vietnam, using
4495-604: The Khmer Rouge government of Cambodia ordering massacres of Vietnamese residents in the border villages in the districts of An Giang and Kiên Giang , the Vietnamese military invaded Cambodia and removed them from power after occupying Phnom Penh . The intervention was a success, resulting in the establishment of a new, pro-Vietnam socialist government, the People's Republic of Kampuchea , which ruled until 1989. However, this worsened relations with China, which had supported
4650-576: The Khúc family . In AD 938, the Vietnamese lord Ngô Quyền defeated the forces of the Chinese Southern Han state at Bạch Đằng River and achieved full independence for Vietnam in 939 after a millennium of Chinese domination. By the 960s, the dynastic Đại Việt ( Great Viet ) kingdom was established, Vietnamese society enjoyed a golden era under the Lý and Trần dynasties. During the rule of
4805-761: The Late Pleistocene have been found at Dong Can, and from the Early Holocene at Mai Da Dieu, Lang Gao and Lang Cuom. Areas comprising what is now Vietnam participated in the Maritime Jade Road , as ascertained by archeological research. By about 1,000 BC, the development of wet- rice cultivation in the Ma River and Red River floodplains led to the flourishing of Đông Sơn culture , notable for its bronze casting used to make elaborate bronze Đông Sơn drums . At this point,
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4960-670: The Nguyễn dynasty , ruling under the name Gia Long . In the 1500s, the Portuguese explored the Vietnamese coast and reportedly erected a stele on the Chàm Islands to mark their presence. By 1533, they began landing in the Vietnamese delta but were forced to leave because of local turmoil and fighting. They also had less interest in the territory than they did in China and Japan. After they had settled in Macau and Nagasaki to begin
5115-634: The Nguyễn dynasty . In the second year of his rule, he asked the Jiaqing Emperor of the Qing dynasty to confer on him the title 'King of Nam Việt / Nanyue' ( 南越 in Chinese character) after seizing power in Annam. The Emperor refused because the name was related to Zhao Tuo 's Nanyue, which included the regions of Guangxi and Guangdong in southern China. The Qing Emperor, therefore, decided to call
5270-597: The Philippines . The U.S. paid for (through aid dollars) and logistically supplied all of the allied forces. As the manpower demand increased to meet these obligations McNamara initiated Project 100,000 which witnessed a significant reduction in recruiting standards for the U.S. military. Meanwhile, political affairs in Saigon were finally settling down — at least as far as the Americans were concerned. On February 14
5425-589: The Republic of Vietnam (RVN or South Vietnam), bringing the total American troop level to 21,000. Shortly thereafter an incident occurred off the coast of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) that was destined to escalate the conflict to new levels and lead to the full scale Americanization of the war. On the evening of August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox was conducting an electronic intelligence collection mission in international waters (even as claimed by North Vietnam) in
5580-580: The Republic of Vietnam in the south—supported by the United States, France, Laos , Republic of China and Thailand—and Hồ's Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north, supported by the Soviet Union, Sweden, Khmer Rouge , and the People's Republic of China . From 1953 to 1956, the North Vietnamese government instituted agrarian reforms including " rent reduction " and " land reform ", which resulted in significant political repression . This included 13,500 to as many as 100,000 executions. In
5735-549: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia , with an area of about 331,000 square kilometres (128,000 sq mi) and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's fifteenth-most populous country . One of the two Marxist–Leninist states in Southeast Asia, Vietnam shares land borders with China to the north, and Laos and Cambodia to
5890-790: The United Nations Security Council twice. The name Việt Nam ( pronounced [viə̂tˀ nāːm] , chữ Hán : 越南 ), literally "Viet South", means "Viet of the South" per Vietnamese word order or "South of the Viet" per Classical Chinese word order. A variation of the name, Nanyue (or Nam Việt, 南越 ), was first documented in the 2nd century BC. The term " Việt " (Yue) ( Chinese : 越 ; pinyin : Yuè ; Cantonese Yale : Yuht ; Wade–Giles : Yüeh ; Vietnamese : Việt ) in Early Middle Chinese
6045-479: The Vietnamese Fatherland Front and worker and trade unionist parties. The National Assembly of Vietnam is the unicameral state legislature composed of 500 members. Headed by a chairman , it is superior to both the executive and judicial branches, with all government ministers being appointed from members of the National Assembly. The Supreme People's Court of Vietnam , headed by
6200-465: The collapse of Diệm's relationship with the United States , and ultimately to a 1963 coup in which he and Nhu were assassinated . The Diệm era was followed by more than a dozen successive military governments, before the pairing of Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ and General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu took control in mid-1965. Thiệu gradually outmaneuvered Kỳ and cemented his grip on power in fraudulent elections in 1967 and 1971. During this political instability,
6355-515: The constitution , the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) asserts their role in all branches of the country's politics and society. The president is the elected head of state and the commander-in-chief of the military, serving as the chairman of the Council of Supreme Defence and Security, and holds the second highest office in Vietnam as well as performing executive functions and state appointments and setting policy. The general secretary of
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6510-490: The first dynasty emerged in 939. Successive monarchical dynasties absorbed Chinese influences through Confucianism and Buddhism , and expanded southward to the Mekong Delta , conquering Champa . During most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnam was effectively divided into two domains of Đàng Trong and Đàng Ngoài . The Nguyễn —the last imperial dynasty—surrendered to France in 1883. In 1887, its territory
6665-673: The global economy and politics . Vietnam is a developing country with a lower-middle-income economy. It has high levels of corruption , censorship , environmental issues and a poor human rights record . It is part of international and intergovernmental institutions including the ASEAN , the APEC , the CPTPP , the Non-Aligned Movement , the OIF , and the WTO . It has assumed a seat on
6820-816: The ground water in the Mekong and Red River Deltas has also become a major concern. And most notoriously, unexploded ordnances (UXO) pose dangers to humans and wildlife—another bitter legacy from the long wars. As part of the continuous campaign to demine /remove UXOs, several international bomb removal agencies from the United Kingdom, Denmark, South Korea and the US have been providing assistance. The Vietnam government spends over VNĐ1 trillion ($ 44 million) annually on demining operations and additional hundreds of billions of đồng for treatment, assistance, rehabilitation, vocational training and resettlement of
6975-658: The saola , giant muntjac and Tonkin snub-nosed monkey have also been discovered, along with one new bird species, the endangered Edwards's pheasant . In the late 1980s, a small population of Javan rhinoceros was found in Cát Tiên National Park. However, the last individual of the species in Vietnam was reportedly shot in 2010. In agricultural genetic diversity , Vietnam is one of the world's twelve original cultivar centres. The Vietnam National Cultivar Gene Bank preserves 12,300 cultivars of 115 species. The Vietnamese government spent US$ 49.07 million on
7130-489: The siege of Tourane in 1858, France was aided by Spain (with Filipino, Latin American , and Spanish troops from the Philippines ) and perhaps some Tonkinese Catholics. After the 1862 Treaty , and especially after France completely conquered Lower Cochinchina in 1867, the Văn Thân movement of scholar-gentry class arose and committed violence against Catholics across central and northern Vietnam. Between 1862 and 1867,
7285-541: The "neutrality" of Laos and Cambodia would be respected, and Rolling Thunder would not resemble the bombing of Germany and Japan during the Second World War. These limitations were not foisted upon the military as an afterthought. Before the first U.S. soldiers came ashore at Da Nang, the Pentagon was cognizant of all of the parameters that would be imposed by their civilian leaders, yet they still agreed that
7440-445: The 1930 Yên Bái mutiny by the Vietnamese Nationalist Party (VNQDĐ), which the French quashed. The mutiny split the independence movement, as many leading members converted to communism . The French maintained full control of their colonies until World War II, when the war in the Pacific led to the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in 1940. Afterwards, the Japanese Empire was allowed to station its troops in Vietnam while
7595-454: The 1950s and greatly escalated in 1965 until its withdrawal in 1973. The U.S. military presence in Vietnam peaked in April 1969, with 543,000 military personnel stationed in the country. By the end of the U.S. involvement, more than 3.1 million Americans had been stationed in Vietnam, and 58,279 had been killed. After World War II ended in 1945, President Harry S. Truman declared his doctrine of " containment " of communism in 1947 at
7750-410: The 1954 battle of Điện Biên Phủ allowed Hồ to negotiate a ceasefire from a favourable position at the subsequent Geneva Conference . The colonial administration was thereby ended and French Indochina was dissolved under the Geneva Accords of 21 July 1954 into three countries—Vietnam, and the kingdoms of Cambodia and Laos . Vietnam was further divided into North and South administrative regions at
7905-600: The 7th and 4th centuries BC, 'Yue'/'Việt' referred to the State of Yue in the lower Yangtze basin and its people. From the 3rd century BC, the term was used for the non-Chinese populations of southern China and northern Vietnam, with particular ethnic groups called Minyue , Ouyue , Luoyue (Vietnamese: Lạc Việt ), etc., collectively called the Baiyue (Bách Việt, Chinese : 百越 ; pinyin : Bǎiyuè ; Cantonese Yale : Baak Yuet ; Vietnamese : Bách Việt ; lit. 'Hundred Yue/Viet'). The term 'Baiyue'/'Bách Việt' first appeared in
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#17327866882568060-408: The CPV performs numerous key administrative functions, controlling the party's national organisation. The prime minister is the head of government , presiding over a council of ministers composed of five deputy prime ministers and the heads of 26 ministries and commissions. Only political organisations affiliated with or endorsed by the CPV are permitted to contest elections in Vietnam. These include
8215-446: The Central Highlands . The two imported adversaries first faced one another during Operation Silver Bayonet , better known as the Battle of the Ia Drang . During the savage fighting that took place, both sides learned important lessons. The North Vietnamese began to adapt to the overwhelming American superiority in air mobility, supporting arms, and close air support by moving in as close as possible during confrontations, thereby negating
8370-405: The Chinese coast and across the Gulf of Tonkin, picking up considerable moisture. The average annual temperature is generally higher in the plains than in the mountains, especially in southern Vietnam compared to the north. Temperatures vary less in the southern plains around Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta, ranging from between 21 and 35 °C (70 and 95 °F) over the year. In Hanoi and
8525-446: The Chinese-supported Mạc dynasty challenged the Lê dynasty's power. After the Mạc dynasty was defeated, the Lê dynasty was nominally reinstalled. Actual power, however, was divided between the northern Trịnh lords and the southern Nguyễn lords , who engaged in a civil war for more than four decades before a truce was called in the 1670s. Vietnam was divided into North (Trịnh) and South (Nguyễn) from 1600 to 1777. During this period,
8680-459: The English did establish relations with Tonkin and were allowed to reside in Phố Hiến . Between 1615 and 1753, French traders also engaged in trade in Vietnam. The first French missionaries arrived in 1658, under the Portuguese Padroado . From its foundation, the Paris Foreign Missions Society under Propaganda Fide actively sent missionaries to Vietnam, entering Cochinchina first in 1664 and Tonkin first in 1666. Spanish Dominicans joined
8835-443: The French were weakened by the German occupation , British-Indian forces and the remaining Japanese Southern Expeditionary Army Group were used to maintain order and help France reestablish control through the 1945–1946 War in Vietnam . Hồ initially chose to take a moderate stance to avoid military conflict with France, asking the French to withdraw their colonial administrators and for French professors and engineers to help build
8990-429: The Geneva Accords was not intended to be permanent, and stipulated that Vietnam would be reunited after the elections. But in 1955, the southern State of Vietnam's prime minister, Ngô Đình Diệm , toppled Bảo Đại in a fraudulent referendum organised by his brother Ngô Đình Nhu , and proclaimed himself president of the Republic of Vietnam . This effectively replaced the internationally recognised State of Vietnam by
9145-441: The Kennedy administration was the continued prominent role of Ngo Dinh Nhu, the younger brother of Diem, within the South Vietnamese regime. Nhu held a prominent role in the Diem government, to the chagrin of US officials. Following a meeting with Nhu, Hillsman surmised US frustrations with the Diem government, stating The American military are still chasing Viet Cong and advising the Vietnamese to chase Viet Cong. They're not adopting
9300-466: The Khmer Rouge. China later launched a brief incursion into northern Vietnam in 1979, causing Vietnam to rely even more heavily on Soviet economic and military aid, while mistrust of the Chinese government escalated. At the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in December 1986, reformist politicians replaced the "old guard" government with new leadership. The reformers were led by 71-year-old Nguyễn Văn Linh , who became
9455-450: The Lê dynasty of the 15th century, especially during the reign of emperor Lê Thánh Tông (1460–1497). Between the 11th and 18th centuries, the Vietnamese polity expanded southward in a gradual process known as Nam tiến ("Southward expansion"), eventually conquering the kingdom of Champa and part of the Khmer Kingdom . From the 16th century onward, civil strife and frequent political infighting engulfed much of Đại Việt. First,
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#17327866882569610-459: The Nguyễn expanded southern Vietnam into the Mekong Delta , annexing the Central Highlands and the Khmer lands in the Mekong Delta. The division of the country ended a century later when the Tây Sơn brothers helped Trịnh to end Nguyễn, they also established new dynasty and ended Trịnh. However, their rule did not last long, and they were defeated by the remnants of the Nguyễn lords, led by Nguyễn Ánh . Nguyễn Ánh unified Vietnam, and established
9765-419: The North and ordering 3,500 Marines to the region. It became clear that aerial strikes alone would not win the war, so ground troops were regularly augmented. General William Westmoreland , who commanded the U.S. forces, opted for a war of attrition . Opposition to the war in the U.S. was massive, and was strengthened as news reported on the use of napalm , a mounting death toll among soldiers and civilians,
9920-420: The Red River Delta, Mekong Delta, Western Nghệ An , Cà Mau , and Cu Lao Cham Marine Park . Vietnam is also home to 1,438 species of freshwater microalgae , constituting 9.6% of all microalgae species, as well as 794 aquatic invertebrates and 2,458 species of sea fish. In recent years, 13 genera , 222 species, and 30 taxa of flora have been newly described in Vietnam. Six new mammal species, including
10075-489: The South was quashed with U.S. help, but from 1957 insurgents known as the Viet Cong launched a campaign against the state. North Vietnam supported the Viet Cong, which began fighting the South Vietnamese army . President John F. Kennedy , who subscribed to the " domino theory " that communism would spread to other countries if Vietnam fell, expanded U.S. aid to South Vietnam, increasing the number of advisors from 900 to 16,300, but this failed to produce results. In 1963, Diem
10230-434: The South, Diệm countered North Vietnamese subversion (including the assassination of over 450 South Vietnamese officials in 1956) by detaining tens of thousands of suspected communists in "political reeducation centres". This program incarcerated many non-communists, but was successful at curtailing communist activity in the country, if only for a time. The North Vietnamese government claimed that 2,148 people were killed in
10385-541: The Southeast Asia Resolution (also known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution ) on August 7. The law gave the President broad powers to conduct military operations without an actual declaration of war. The resolution passed unanimously in the House of Representatives and was opposed in the Senate by only two members. National Security Council members, including United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara , Secretary of State Dean Rusk , and General Maxwell Taylor , agreed on November 28 to recommend that Johnson adopt
10540-411: The Soviet Union provided North Vietnam with significant material aid and 15,000 combat advisers. Communist forces supplying the Việt Cộng carried supplies along the Hồ Chí Minh trail , which passed through Laos . The communists attacked South Vietnamese targets during the 1968 Tết Offensive . The campaign failed militarily, but shocked the American establishment and turned US public opinion against
10695-419: The Tonkin mission in 1676, and Franciscans were in Cochinchina from 1719 to 1834. The Vietnamese authorities began to feel threatened by continuous Christianisation activities. After several Catholic missionaries were detained, the French Navy intervened in 1843 to free them, as the kingdom was perceived as xenophobic . In a series of conquests from 1859 to 1885, France eroded Vietnam's sovereignty. At
10850-415: The Trần dynasty, Đại Việt repelled three Mongol invasions . Meanwhile, the Mahāyāna branch of Buddhism flourished and became the state religion. Following the 1406–7 Ming–Hồ War , which overthrew the Hồ dynasty , Vietnamese independence was interrupted briefly by the Chinese Ming dynasty , but was restored by Lê Lợi , the founder of the Lê dynasty . The Vietnamese polity reached their zenith in
11005-537: The U.S. to stop communist expansion would fatally damage U.S. credibility with its allies, Kennedy realized, "Now we have a problem in making our power credible... and Vietnam looks like the place." The commitment to defend South Vietnam was reaffirmed by Kennedy on May 11 in National Security Action Memorandum 52, which became known as "The Presidential Program for Vietnam". Its opening statement reads: U.S. objectives and concept of operations [are] to prevent communist domination of South Vietnam; to create in that country
11160-434: The US began a US$ 43 million joint clean-up project in the former chemical storage areas in Vietnam to take place in stages. Following the completion of the first phase in Đà Nẵng in late 2017, the US announced its commitment to clean other sites, especially in the heavily impacted site of Biên Hòa . The Vietnamese government spends over VNĐ 10 trillion each year ($ 431.1 million) for monthly allowances and
11315-417: The US or the defunct South Vietnamese government, confounding Western fears, but up to 300,000 South Vietnamese were sent to reeducation camps , where many endured torture, starvation, and disease while being forced to perform hard labour. The government embarked on a mass campaign of collectivisation of farms and factories. Many fled the country following the conclusion of the war. In 1978, in response to
11470-521: The Vietnam conflict, the Kennedy Administration would escalate the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam who acted as advisors to the South Vietnamese military. At the time of Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the number of U.S. military advisors in Vietnam had grown to at least 16,000. Nevertheless, the Kennedy administration had expressed desires to wind down US military intervention, without fully withdrawing from Vietnam. On October 2, 1963,
11625-521: The Vietnamese revolutionary leader Hồ Chí Minh . The Việt Minh sought independence for Vietnam from France and the end of the Japanese occupation . After the military defeat of Japan in World War II and the fall of its puppet government Empire of Vietnam in August 1945, Saigon's administrative services collapsed and chaos, riots, and murder were widespread. The Việt Minh occupied Hanoi and proclaimed
11780-528: The White House outlined its intentions to withdraw 1,000 men from Vietnam by then end of the year. A major factor that led President Lyndon B. Johnson to intervene into Vietnam militarily was the fear of communism due to Cold War tensions with communist countries such as China and the Soviet Union. South Vietnam was very important to the U.S. in Asia with it being perceived as a western democratic state. After
11935-615: The area "Việt Nam" instead, meaning "South of the Viet" per Classical Chinese word order but the Vietnamese understood it as "Viet of the South" per Vietnamese word order. Between 1804 and 1813, the name Vietnam was used officially by Emperor Gia Long. It was revived in the early 20th century in Phan Bội Châu 's History of the Loss of Vietnam , and later by the Vietnamese Nationalist Party (VNQDĐ). The country
12090-494: The attack on the Maddox as cause to get what he wanted. Confusion was abound around the circumstance of the attacks. The USS Turner Joy's reports of the second attack were met with Scepticism from many U.S. officials. While it is 'indisputable' that the first attack occurred, the evidence of the second attack, McNamara contends, "appears probable but not certain". This incited rampant confusion in Washington. Nevertheless,
12245-414: The average age of MOS 11B personnel was 22. This compares with 26 years of age for those who participated in World War II. Soldiers served a one-year tour of duty. The average age of the U.S. military men who died in Vietnam was 22.8 years old. The one-year tour of duty deprived units of experienced leadership. As one observer put it, "we were not in Vietnam for 10 years, but for one year 10 times." As
12400-414: The biggest reasons that a lot of GIs do get high over here is there is nothing to do. This place is really a drag; it's a bore over here. Like right now sitting around here, we are getting loaded. Whereas, it doesn't really get you messed up; that's I guess the main reason why we smoke it." American forces would conduct operations against PAVN forces, pushing them further back into the countryside away from
12555-591: The book Lüshi Chunqiu compiled around 239 BC. By the 17th and 18th centuries AD, educated Vietnamese apparently referred to themselves as người Việt (Viet people) or người Nam (southern people). The form Việt Nam ( 越南 ) is first recorded in the 16th-century oracular poem Sấm Trạng Trình . The name has also been found on 12 steles carved in the 16th and 17th centuries, including one at Bao Lam Pagoda in Hải Phòng that dates to 1558. In 1802, Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (who later became Emperor Gia Long) established
12710-545: The colony's capital. During the colonial period, guerrillas of the royalist Cần Vương movement rebelled against French rule and massacred around a third of Vietnam's Christian population. After a decade of resistance, they were defeated in the 1890s by the Catholics in reprisal for their earlier massacres. Another large-scale rebellion, the Thái Nguyên uprising , was also suppressed heavily. The French developed
12865-436: The communists began to gain ground. To support South Vietnam's struggle against the communist insurgency, the United States used the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident as a pretext for increasing its contribution of military advisers. US forces became involved in ground combat operations by 1965, and at their peak several years later, numbered more than 500,000. The US also engaged in sustained aerial bombing . Meanwhile, China and
13020-600: The communists was immediately followed by the abandonment of the terrain just seized. Combined with this was the anger and frustration engendered among American troops by the effective tactics of the NLF, who conducted a war of sniping , booby traps, mines, and terror against the Americans. As a result of the conference held in Honolulu, President Johnson authorized an increase in troop strength to 429,000 by August 1966. The large increase in troops enabled MACV to carry out numerous operations that grew in size and complexity during
13175-553: The conflict in South Vietnam. On August 18, Operation Starlite began as the first major U.S. ground operation, destroying an NLF stronghold in Quảng Ngãi Province . The North Vietnamese had already sent units of their regular army into southern Vietnam beginning in late 1964. Some officials in Hanoi had favored an immediate invasion of the South, and a plan was developed to use PAVN units to split southern Vietnam in half through
13330-433: The conflict. In 1961, the new administration of President John F. Kennedy took a new approach to aiding anti-communist forces in Vietnam which differed from the administrations of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, who felt the neighboring country Laos was the "cork in the bottle" in combating the threat of Communism in southeast Asia. Kennedy was fearful of the domino effect, that by allowing Vietnam to fall to Communism,
13485-519: The country consists mostly of highlands and the Red River Delta. Fansipan (also known as Phan Xi Păng), which is located in Lào Cai province , is the highest mountain in Vietnam, standing 3,143 m (10,312 ft) high. From north to south Vietnam, the country also has numerous islands ; Phú Quốc is the largest. The Hang Sơn Đoòng Cave is considered the largest known cave passage in
13640-546: The country's land area, and tropical forests cover around 42%. The Red River Delta in the north, a flat, roughly triangular region covering 15,000 km (5,792 sq mi), is smaller but more intensely developed and more densely populated than the Mekong River Delta in the south. Once an inlet of the Gulf of Tonkin , it has been filled in over the millennia by riverine alluvial deposits . The delta, covering about 40,000 km (15,444 sq mi),
13795-441: The country's land boundaries is 4,639 km (2,883 mi), and its coastline is 3,444 km (2,140 mi) long. At its narrowest point in the central Quảng Bình province , the country is as little as 50 kilometres (31 mi) across, though it widens to around 600 kilometres (370 mi) in the north. Vietnam's land is mostly hilly and densely forested, with level land covering no more than 20%. Mountains account for 40% of
13950-496: The dovish attitude towards Laos was antithetical to the hawkish outlook towards Vietnam. Jacobs argues that Kennedy viewed the Vietnamese people more able to fight communism than the "unfit Lao". Jacobs argues the "American statesmen and the American media constructed a putative Lao national character that differed from South Vietnam's and that made Lao chances of withstanding communist pressure appeal negligible". On July 27, 1964, 5,000 additional U.S. military advisers were ordered to
14105-484: The early Vietnamese kingdoms of Văn Lang and Âu Lạc appeared, and the culture's influence spread to other parts of Southeast Asia , including Maritime Southeast Asia , throughout the first millennium BC. According to Vietnamese legends, Hồng Bàng dynasty of the Hùng kings first established in 2879 BC is considered the first state in the history of Vietnam (then known as Xích Quỷ and later Văn Lang ). In 257 BC,
14260-600: The effects of the above . On November 27, 1965, the Pentagon declared that if the major operations needed to neutralize North Vietnamese and NLF forces were to succeed, U.S. troop levels in South Vietnam would have to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000. In a series of meetings between Westmoreland and the President held in Honolulu in February 1966, Westmoreland claimed that the U.S. presence had succeeded in preventing
14415-607: The effects of the chemical defoliant Agent Orange , and U.S. war crimes such as the My Lai massacre . In 1968, North Vietnam and the Viet Cong launched the Tet Offensive , after which Westmoreland estimated that 200,000 more U.S. troops were needed for victory. Johnson rejected his request, announced he would not seek another term in office , and ordered an end to Rolling Thunder. Johnson's successor, Richard Nixon , adopted
14570-522: The end of the war. It started by replanting mangrove forests in the Mekong Delta regions and in Cần Giờ outside Hồ Chí Minh City, where mangroves are important to ease (though not eliminate) flood conditions during monsoon seasons. The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 5.35/10, ranking it 104th globally out of 172 countries. Apart from herbicide problems, arsenic in
14725-674: The enlargement of the South Vietnamese army and $ 12.7M to enhance the civil guard. He also found himself faced with a three-part crisis: The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba ; the construction of the Berlin Wall by the Soviets ; and a negotiated settlement between the pro-Western government of Laos and the Pathet Lao communist movement. Fearing that another failure on the part of
14880-489: The expansion of American troop strength in South Vietnam took place. American forces rose from 16,000 during 1964 to more than 553,000 by 1969. With the U.S. decision to escalate its involvement it had created the Many Flags program to legitimize intervention and ANZUS Pact allies Australia and New Zealand agreed to contribute troops and material to the conflict. They were joined by the Republic of Korea , Thailand , and
15035-511: The failures resulting from U.S. intervention. Johnson himself did not want to appear weak against communism as he feared the backlash from the U.S. public and his Republican rivals. However, he also did not want to engage America in a costly and humiliating war. Discussing Vietnam with Senator Russell in May 1964, he expressed serious concerns about countering guerrilla tactics, the likely ineffectiveness and probable domestic political impact of conducting
15190-402: The far northern mountains near the Chinese border. Vietnam receives high rates of precipitation in the form of rainfall with an average amount from 1,500 to 2,000 mm (60 to 80 in) during the monsoon seasons; this often causes flooding, especially in the cities with poor drainage systems. The country is also affected by tropical depressions , tropical storms and typhoons . Vietnam
15345-593: The façade of success. In January, a possible victory that was turned into a stunning defeat for government forces at the Battle of Ap Bac caused consternation among both the military advisers in the field and among politicians in Washington, D.C. JFK also indicated to Walter Cronkite that the war may be unwinnable, and that it was ultimately a Vietnamese war, not an American war. Diệm was already growing unpopular with many of his countrymen because of his administration's nepotism, corruption, and its apparent bias in favor of
15500-480: The fear of the consequences if communist expansion continued. A great deal of the blame for U.S. failures in Vietnam has been cast on Lyndon B. Johnson by historians. His decision making was motivated by a variety of reasons, including his personal fear of appearing soft on communism, but also his fear of engaging America in another stalemate like the Korean War. It is largely agreed upon that Johnson inherited
15655-433: The first wave of U.S. combat troops into South Vietnam, adding to the 25,000 U.S. military advisers already in place. The US Government deployment of ground forces to Da Nang had not been consulted with the South Vietnamese government. Instead the initial deployment and gradual build-up was a unilateral decision by the US government. On May 5 the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade became the first U.S. Army ground unit committed to
15810-735: The flow of men and material down the PAVN logistical system that flowed from North Vietnam through southeastern Laos, and into South Vietnam known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail . These operations as a whole were an expensive failure - the bombings, desipte the devastation did not stop the flow of supplies coming down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. President Johnson had already appointed General William C. Westmoreland to succeed General Harkins as Commander of MACV in June 1964. Under Westmoreland,
15965-712: The free world. No Asian was rated lower in American eyes than the Lao Jacobs writes that Eisenhower and later Kennedy both "reduced the Lao to a set of stereotypes: childlike, lazy, submissive, unfit to fight the free world's battles". Therefore, Kennedy was dissuaded from sponsoring a military intervention in Laos and instead compromised with the Pathet Lao communist forces, which Jacobs argues meant that Kennedy felt he had to intervene elsewhere in Southeast Asia in Vietnam and that
16120-466: The heavily populated coastal lowlands. In the backcountry the U.S. could fully utilize its superiority in firepower and mobility to bleed the enemy in set-piece battles. The cleaning-out of the NLF and the pacification of the villages would be the responsibility of the South Vietnamese military. The adoption of this strategy, however, brought Westmoreland into direct conflict with his Marine Corps commander, General Lewis W. Walt , who had already recognized
16275-484: The helicopter, the war would have been fought very differently. Although the use of nuclear weapons was proposed as a contingency plan by the military, President Johnson shut this idea down, approving instead the use of cluster bombs (termed Controlled Fragmentation Munition or COFRAM by the military) In the 1964 presidential campaign, Johnson presented himself as the candidate who would be less willing to use nuclear weapons (see "Daisy" ad). As President, LBJ urged
16430-470: The immediate defeat of the South Vietnamese government but that more troops would be necessary if systematic offensive operations were to be conducted . The issue then became in what manner American forces would be used . The nature of the American military's strategic and tactical decisions made during this period colored the conflict for the duration of the American commitment. The logistical system in Laos and Cambodia should be cut by ground forces, isolating
16585-610: The incident by convincing congress to accept intensified military action in Vietnam. Neither Congress nor the American people learned the whole story about the events in the Gulf of Tonkin until the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1969. It was on the basis of the administration's assertions that the attacks were "unprovoked aggression" on the part of North Vietnam, that the United States Congress approved
16740-583: The incident was seen by the administration as the perfect opportunity to present Congress with "a pre-dated declaration of war" in order to strengthen weakening morale in South Vietnam through reprisal attacks by the U.S. on the North. The attack was pivotal in justifying the Johnson administration's intensification of the war. Even before confirmation of the phantom attack had been received in Washington, President Johnson had decided that an attack could not go unanswered. Johnson ordered attacks on North Vietnamese naval instalments almost immediately, and capitalised on
16895-642: The insurgency of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF, or derogatively, Viet Cong) in South Vietnam with the aid of U.S. matériel and advisers, and, by 1962, seemed to be gaining the upper hand. Senior U.S. military leaders received positive reports from the U.S. commander, General Paul D. Harkins of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam , or MACV. By the following year, however, cracks began to appear in
17050-623: The intervention of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong in the Indochina War , the U.S. was fearful of a repeat of the Korean War . Also, if the U.S. intervened, this would have increased the likelihood of China giving military support to the USSR and North Vietnam. But, more importantly, the prevalent threat of communism drove President Truman and his advisers to intervene in Vietnam due to the domestic pressures to oppose and defeat communism and
17205-578: The last Hùng king was defeated by Thục Phán. He consolidated the Lạc Việt and Âu Việt tribes to form the Âu Lạc , proclaiming himself An Dương Vương . In 179 BC, a Chinese general named Zhao Tuo ("Triệu Đà") defeated An Dương Vương and consolidated Âu Lạc into Nanyue . However, Nanyue was itself incorporated into the empire of the Chinese Han dynasty in 111 BC after the Han–Nanyue War . For
17360-430: The least from Charles De Gaulle on, but Kennedy held steadfast, stating on September 2: We hope that he comes to see that, but in the final analysis it is the people and the government itself have to win or lose this struggle. All we can do is help, and we are making it very clear, but I don't agree with those who say we should withdraw. That would be a great mistake. The Diệm regime had been initially able to cope with
17515-489: The mission could be accomplished within them. Westmoreland believed that he had found a strategy that would either defeat North Vietnam or force it into serious negotiations. Attrition was to be the key. The general held that larger offensive operations would grind down the communists and eventually lead to a "crossover point" in PAVN/NLF casualties after which a decisive (or at least political) victory would be possible. It
17670-499: The most recent military junta , the National Leadership Committee, installed Air Vice-Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ as prime minister. In 1966, the junta selected General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu to run for president with Ky on the ballot as the vice-presidential candidate in the 1967 election. Thieu and Ky were elected and remained in office for the duration of the war. In the presidential election of 1971, Thieu ran for
17825-469: The mountains of the Annamite Range , and extensive forests. Comprising five relatively flat plateaus of basalt soil, the highlands account for 16% of the country's arable land and 22% of its total forested land. The soil in much of the southern part of Vietnam is relatively low in nutrients as a result of intense cultivation. Several minor earthquakes have been recorded. The northern part of
17980-411: The nation's industrial base, transportation network, and its (continually increasing) air defenses. After more than 300,000 sorties were flown and three-quarters of a million tons of bombs were dropped, Rolling Thunder was ended on November 11, 1968. Other aerial campaigns ( Operation Barrel Roll , Operation Steel Tiger , Operation Tiger Hound , and Operation Commando Hunt ) were directed to counter
18135-441: The new "wars of national liberation". Originally intended for use behind front lines after a conventional invasion of Europe, Kennedy believed that the guerrilla tactics employed by Special Forces would be effective in the "brush fire" war in South Vietnam. Thus, in May 1961, Kennedy sent detachments of Green Berets to South Vietnam. Kennedy had faced much international pressure against his increasing involvement in Vietnam, non
18290-542: The next thousand years, what is now northern Vietnam remained mostly under Chinese rule . Early independence movements, such as those of the Trưng Sisters and Lady Triệu , were temporarily successful, though the region gained a longer period of independence as Vạn Xuân under the Anterior Lý dynasty between AD 544 and 602. By the early 10th century, Northern Vietnam had gained autonomy, but not sovereignty, under
18445-419: The next two years. For U.S. troops participating in these operations ( Operation Masher/White Wing , Operation Attleboro , Operation Cedar Falls , Operation Junction City and dozens of others) the war boiled down to hard marching through some of the most difficult terrain on the planet and weather conditions that were alternately hot and dry, or cold and wet. It was the PAVN/NLF that actually controlled
18600-677: The obvious implications that we can no longer support Diem. You may tell appropriate military commanders that we will give them direct support in any interim period of breakdown central government mechanism It was never, however, the prerogative of the Kennedy administration to remove the Diem government from power. As the McNamara-Taylor report cautioned," Our policy should be to seek urgently to identify and build contacts with an alternative leadership if and when it appears." Though reluctant to immediately launch full scale U.S. involvement in
18755-470: The pace of the war, fighting only when their commanders believed that they had the upper hand and then disappearing when the Americans and/or ARVN brought their superiority in numbers and firepower to bear. North Vietnam, utilizing the Ho Chi Minh and Sihanouk Trails , matched the U.S. at every point of the escalation, funneling manpower and supplies to the southern battlefields. During the Vietnam War,
18910-682: The party's new general secretary. He and the reformers implemented a series of free-market reforms known as Đổi Mới ("Renovation") that carefully managed the transition from a planned economy to a " socialist-oriented market economy ". Although the authority of the state remained unchallenged under Đổi Mới , the government encouraged private ownership of farms and factories, economic deregulation, and foreign investment, while maintaining control over strategic industries. Subsequently, Vietnam's economy achieved strong growth in agricultural and industrial production, construction, exports, and foreign investment, although these reforms also resulted in
19065-453: The physical rehabilitation of victims of the chemicals. In 2018, the Japanese engineering group Shimizu Corporation , working with Vietnamese military, built a plant for the treatment of soil polluted by Agent Orange. Plant construction costs were funded by the company itself. One of the long-term plans to restore southern Vietnam's damaged ecosystems is through the use of reforestation efforts. The Vietnamese government began doing this at
19220-428: The preservation of biodiversity in 2004 alone and has established 126 conservation areas, including 30 national parks . In Vietnam, wildlife poaching has become a major concern. In 2000, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) called Education for Nature – Vietnam was founded to instill in the population the importance of wildlife conservation in the country. In the years that followed, another NGO called GreenViet
19375-522: The presidency unopposed. With the installation of the Thieu and Ky government (the Second Republic), the U.S. had a pliable, stable, and semi-legitimate government in Saigon with which to deal . With the advent of Rolling Thunder , American airbases and facilities needed to be constructed and manned for the aerial effort . On March 8, 1965, 3,500 United States Marines came ashore at Da Nang as
19530-571: The pro- Vichy French colonial administration continued. Japan exploited Vietnam's natural resources to support its military campaigns, culminating in a full-scale takeover of the country in March 1945. This led to the Vietnamese Famine of 1945 which killed up to two million people. In 1941, the Việt Minh , a nationalist liberation movement based on a communist ideology , emerged under
19685-478: The process by November 1957. The pro-Hanoi Việt Cộng began a guerrilla campaign in South Vietnam in the late 1950s to overthrow Diệm's government. From 1960, the Soviet Union and North Vietnam signed treaties providing for further Soviet military support. In 1963, Buddhist discontent with Diệm's Catholic regime erupted into mass demonstrations , leading to a violent government crackdown. This led to
19840-515: The profitable Macau–Japan trade route, the Portuguese began to involve themselves in trade with Hội An . Portuguese traders and Jesuit missionaries under the Padroado system were active in both Vietnamese realms of Đàng Trong ( Cochinchina or Quinan) and Đàng Ngoài ( Tonkin ) in the 17th century. The Dutch also tried to establish contact with Quinan in 1601 but failed to sustain
19995-554: The program the President has recommended, our own military are not. Diem has turned the strategic-hamlet program over to Nhu, who's taken the title, the name of it, and nothing else. And in fact, what Diem signed, what we persuaded him to, had not been adopted Frustrations boiled over following Nhu's American-trained special forces crackdown on Buddhist pagodas in Hue in 1963. More than fourteen hundred Buddhists were arrested. Buddhist monks were protesting discriminatory practices and demanding
20150-785: The province of Phước Long and started a full-scale offensive , culminating in the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. South Vietnam was ruled by a provisional government for almost eight years while under North Vietnamese military occupation. On 2 July 1976, North and South Vietnam were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The war had devastated Vietnam and killed 966,000 to 3.8 million people. A 1974 US Senate subcommittee estimated nearly 1.4 million Vietnamese civilians were killed or wounded between 1965 and 1974—including 415,000 killed. In its aftermath, under Lê Duẩn 's administration, there were no mass executions of South Vietnamese who had collaborated with
20305-551: The rest of South East Asia would follow suit. In 1961 he asserted: I think that the struggle is close enough. China is so large, looms so high just beyond the frontiers, that if South Vietnam went, it would not only give them an improved geographic position for a guerrilla assault on Malaysia, but would also give the impression that the wave of the future in southeast Asia was China and the Communists. So I believe it. During 1961, his first year in office, Kennedy assigned $ 28.4M to
20460-537: The same level as provinces. Provinces of Vietnam Island areas: *- Bạch Long Vĩ Island ( Haiphong Municipality [3]) **- Phú Quý Islands ( Phú Quý district , Bình Thuận province [46]) ***- Côn Đảo Islands ( Côn Đảo district , Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province [51]) United States in the Vietnam War The involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War began in
20615-646: The same year due to corruption charges against him. On 3 August 2024, Tô Lâm, who is also serving as the president, was elected by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam as the general secretary following the death of Nguyễn Phú Trọng on 19 July 2024. On 21 October 2024, the National Assembly appointed army general Lương Cường as president, succeeding Tô Lâm. Vietnam is divided into 58 provinces (Vietnamese: Tỉnh , chữ Hán : 省 ). There are also five municipalities ( thành phố trực thuộc trung ương ), which are administratively on
20770-504: The security of the villages as the key to success. Walt had immediately commenced pacification efforts in his area of responsibility, but Westmoreland was unhappy, believing that the Marines were being underutilized and fighting the wrong enemy. In the end, MACV won out and Westmoreland's search and destroy concept, predicated on the attrition of enemy forces, won the day. Both sides chose similar strategies. PAVN, which had been operating
20925-439: The southern battlefield . However, political considerations limited U.S. military actions, mainly because of the memory of Chinese reactions during the Korean War . Ever present in the minds of diplomats, military officers, and politicians was the possibility of a spiraling escalation of the conflict into a superpower confrontation and the possibility of a nuclear exchange . Therefore, there would be no invasion of North Vietnam,
21080-890: The southern third of the country became the French colony of Cochinchina . By 1884, the entire country was under French rule, with the central and northern parts of Vietnam separated into the two protectorates of Annam and Tonkin . The three entities were formally integrated into the union of French Indochina in 1887. The French administration imposed significant political and cultural changes on Vietnamese society. A Western-style system of modern education introduced new humanist values. Most French settlers in Indochina were concentrated in Cochinchina, particularly in Saigon , and in Hanoi ,
21235-470: The start of the Cold War . U.S. involvement in Vietnam began in 1950, with Truman sending military advisors to assist France against Viet Minh guerrillas in the First Indochina War . The French withdrew in 1954, leaving North Vietnam in control of the country's northern half. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered covert CIA activities in South Vietnam . Opposition to the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem in
21390-522: The surrounding areas of the Red River Delta, the temperatures are much lower between 15 and 33 °C (59 and 91 °F). Seasonal variations in the mountains, plateaus, and the northernmost areas are much more dramatic, with temperatures varying from 3 °C (37 °F) in December and January to 37 °C (99 °F) in July and August. During winter, snow occasionally falls over the highest peaks of
21545-406: The task. For the American soldier, whose doctrine was one of absolute commitment to total victory, this strategy led to a frustrating small-unit war. Most of the combat was conducted by units smaller than battalion -size (the majority at the platoon level). Since the goal of the operations was to kill the enemy, terrain was not taken and held as in previous wars. Savage fighting and the retreat of
21700-490: The terrain or roads. Troops could also be easily resupplied in remote areas. The helicopter also provided another new and vital capability: medical evacuation. It could fly wounded soldiers to aid stations very quickly, usually within the critical first hour. This gave wounded soldiers a higher chance of survival in Vietnam than in any previous war. The helicopter was also adapted for many other roles in Vietnam, including ground attack, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare. Without
21855-457: The use of the helicopter, known as "Air Mobile", was an essential tool for conducting the war. In fact, the whole conduct and strategy of the war depended on it. Vietnam was the first time the helicopter was used on a major scale, and in such important roles. Search and destroy missions, for example, would have been nearly impossible without it. Helicopters allowed American commanders to move large numbers of troops to virtually anywhere, regardless of
22010-488: The victims of UXOs. Vietnam is a unitary Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist republic , one of the two communist states (the other being Laos ) in Southeast Asia . Although Vietnam remains officially committed to socialism as its defining creed, its economic policies have grown increasingly capitalist , with The Economist characterising its leadership as "ardently capitalist communists". Under
22165-428: The view that Johnson was pushed into war by external factors like public pressure and political necessity can be hard to justify and was instead part of the masculine urge to solve international conflicts with war and "that if enough planes could drop enough bombs on a backward Asian country, victory must follow". According to Seth Jacobs, during the 1950s and 1960s, there was a conceptualisation of Asian nations across
22320-402: The war dispelled myths of U.S. military invincibility and divided the nation between those who supported and opposed the war. As of 2019, it was estimated that approximately 610,000 Vietnam veterans are still alive, making them the second largest group of military veterans behind those of the war on terror . The war has been portrayed in the thousands of movies, books, and video games centered on
22475-405: The war for the U.S. were considerable. In addition to the 58,279 soldiers killed, the expenditure of about US$ 168 billion limited Johnson's Great Society program of domestic reforms and created a large federal budget deficit . Some historians blame the lack of military success on poor tactics, while others argue that the U.S. was not equipped to fight a determined guerilla enemy. The failure to win
22630-530: The war. During the offensive, communist troops massacred over 3,000 civilians at Huế . Facing an increasing casualty count, rising domestic opposition to the war, and growing international condemnation, the US began withdrawing from ground combat roles in the early 1970s. This also entailed an unsuccessful effort to strengthen and stabilise South Vietnam . Following the Paris Peace Accords of 27 January 1973, all American combat troops were withdrawn by 29 March 1973. In December 1974, North Vietnam captured
22785-664: The west. It shares maritime borders with Thailand through the Gulf of Thailand , and the Philippines , Indonesia , and Malaysia through the South China Sea . Its capital is Hanoi and its largest city is Ho Chi Minh City (commonly known as Saigon). Vietnam was inhabited by the Paleolithic age, with states established in the first millennium BC on the Red River Delta in modern-day northern Vietnam . The Han dynasty annexed Northern and Central Vietnam, which were subsequently under Chinese rule from 111 BC until
22940-411: The world since its discovery in 2009. The Ba Bể Lake and Mekong River are the largest lake and longest river in the country. Due to differences in latitude and the marked variety in topographical relief , Vietnam's climate tends to vary considerably for each region. During the winter or dry season, extending roughly from November to April, the monsoon winds usually blow from the northeast along
23095-640: The world's species. 15,986 species of flora have been identified in the country, of which 10% are endemic . Vietnam's fauna includes 307 nematode species, 200 oligochaeta , 145 acarina , 113 springtails , 7,750 insects, 260 reptiles, and 120 amphibians. There are 840 birds and 310 mammals are found in Vietnam, of which 100 birds and 78 mammals are endemic. Vietnam has two World Natural Heritage Sites —the Hạ Long Bay and Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park —together with nine biosphere reserves , including Cần Giờ Mangrove Forest , Cát Tiên , Cát Bà , Kiên Giang ,
23250-615: Was deposed and killed in a military coup tacitly approved by the U.S. North Vietnam began sending detachments of its own army , armed with Soviet and Chinese weapons, to assist the Viet Cong. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered air strikes against North Vietnam, and Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution , which authorized military intervention in defense of South Vietnam. From early 1965, U.S. involvement in Vietnam escalated rapidly, launching Operation Rolling Thunder against targets in
23405-514: Was first written using the logograph "戉" for an axe (a homophone), in oracle bone and bronze inscriptions of the late Shang dynasty ( c. 1200 BC), and later as "越". At that time, it referred to a people or chieftain to the northwest of the Shang. In the early 8th century BC, a tribe on the middle Yangtze were called the Yangyue , a term later used for peoples further south. Between
23560-517: Was formed by Vietnamese youngsters for the enforcement of wildlife protection. Through collaboration between the NGOs and local authorities, many local poaching syndicates were crippled by their leaders' arrests. A study released in 2018 revealed Vietnam is a destination for the illegal export of rhinoceros horns from South Africa due to the demand for them as a medicine and a status symbol. The main environmental concern that persists in Vietnam today
23715-555: Was integrated into French Indochina as three separate regions. In the immediate aftermath of World War II , the nationalist coalition Viet Minh , led by the communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh , launched the August Revolution and declared Vietnam's independence from the Empire of Japan in 1945. Vietnam went through prolonged warfare in the 20th century. After World War II , France returned to reclaim colonial power in
23870-466: Was responsible for governing Vietnam. President Võ Văn Thưởng , Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (since 2021) and the most powerful leader Nguyễn Phú Trọng (since 2011) as the Communist Party of Vietnam's General Secretary. On 22 May 2024, Tô Lâm , who previously served as the Minister of Public Security , was voted as the president of Vietnam by the National Assembly after Võ Văn Thưởng resigned on
24025-939: Was usually called Annam until 1945, when the imperial government in Huế adopted Việt Nam . Archaeological excavations have revealed the existence of humans in what is now Vietnam as early as the Paleolithic age. Stone artefacts excavated in Gia Lai province have been claimed to date to 780,000 years ago, based on associated find of tektites , however this claim has been challenged because tektites are often found in archaeological sites of various ages in Vietnam. Homo erectus fossils dating to around 500,000 BC have been found in caves in Lạng Sơn and Nghệ An provinces in northern Vietnam. The oldest Homo sapiens fossils from mainland Southeast Asia are of Middle Pleistocene provenance, and include isolated tooth fragments from Tham Om and Hang Hum. Teeth attributed to Homo sapiens from
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