History of Vietnam

According to Vietnamese legends, the History of Vietnam dates back more than 4,000 years. The only reliable sources, however, indicated the Vietnamese or their country's history roughly dates to 2700 years ago. For most of the period from 111 BC to early 10th century, it was under the direct rule of successive dynasties from China. Vietnam regained independence in 939 AD, and complete autonomy a century later. While for much of its history, Vietnam remained a vassal state to the much larger China, it defeated three Mongolian attempts of invasion during the Yuan Dynasty, when China was under Mongolian rule. But ruler at the time, King Tran Nhân Tông, would eventually submit as a vassal of the Yuan Dynasty, or face an actual full scale invasion. The independent period ended in mid-19th century, when the country was colonized by France. During WWII, Japan occupied Vietnam. After the war, France attempted to re-establish control but ultimately failed. The Geneva Accords partitioned the country in two with a promise of election to reunite the country. The promised election never took place. During the Vietnam War, or the "American War" as now referred by the Vietnamese, the North was supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union, while the South was supported by the United States. After millions of Vietnamese deaths, the war ended with the American withdrawal from Vietnam in March 1973 and the capture of Saigon by the North in April 1975. Due to the ideological and economic conflicts of The Cold War Vietnam remained internationally isolated and politically stagnant. In 1986, the Communist Party of Vietnam changed its economic policy and started to move towards reform of the private sector simliar to that seen in China. Since the mid-eighties Vietnam has enjoyed some economic growth and reduction in political repression though reports of corruption in the country have also risen.

Origins

According to Vietnamese legends, the first Vietnamese descended from the dragon lord Lạc Long Quân and the heavenly spirit Âu Cơ. Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ had 100 sons and the eldest one became the first in the lines of early Vietnamese kings, collectively known as Hùng Vương (or Brave King). Under the Hùng kings, the civilization that would later become Việt Nam was called Văn Lang. The people of Văn Lang were known as the Lạc Việt people. By the 3rd century BC, another Viet group, the Âu Việt, emigrated from present southern China to the Red River delta and mixed with the indigenous Văn Lang population. In 258 BC, a new kingdom called Âu Lạc (from the union of the Âu Việt and the Lạc Việt) was formed by Thục Phán in North Vietnam. Thục Phán proclaimed himself king An Dương Vương. After a long war with the Chinese Qin dynasty, An Dương Vương was finally defeated by a Qin general named Triệu Đà (Zhao Tuo) in 208 BC. Triệu Đà proclaimed himself king when the Qin empire fell to the Han. He combined Âu Lạc with territories in southern China and named his kingdom Nam Việt. Nam means south, and Việt is a derivation of Yue, the Chinese name for the Guangdong, Guangxi and Vietnam regions.

The Triệu dynasty is a controversial era among Vietnamese. Some consider it a Chinese domination, because Triệu Đà was a Qin general who defeated An Dương Vương to established his rule. Yet others consider it an era of independence, because Triệu Đà's family ruled Nam Việt in defiance of the Han dynasty until 111 BC, when the Han troops invaded the country and incorporated it into the Han empire as Giao Chỉ prefecture. Nam Việt's Triệu dynasty had five kings:

• Vũ Đế (Triệu Đà) 196 BC-137 BC
• Văn Vương 137 BC-125 BC
• Minh Vương 125 BC-113 BC
• Ai Vương 113 BC-111 BC
• Thuật Dương Vương 111 BC

Despite a program of Sinicization, the Viets refused assimilation and continuously rebelled. In 40 AD, allegedly after her husband had been executed by the Chinese, a Vietnamese woman named Trưng Trắc and her sister Trưng Nhị led an uprising against the Hans. They were able to drive off the Chinese and set capital at Mê Linh (Phú Thọ province). In 41 AD, Emperor Guangwu of Han sent his general Mã Viện (Ma Yuan) and troops to crush the Trưng rebellion. After two years of fighting, the Trưng sisters were defeated and committed suicide by drowning themselves in the Hát River. Known collectively in Vietnamese folklore as Hai Bà Trưng (Trung Sisters), the Trưng sisters are admired as the first Vietnamese patriots. They are often depicted as riding war elephants to battle.

Later on, another Vietnamese woman, Triệu Trinh, and her brother, Triệu Quốc Đạt, also rebelled against Eastern Wu Chinese rule. Commonly known as Bà Triệu, Triệu Trinh is also depicted as riding an elephant to battle with her brother riding a horse besides. The Trưng sisters' and Triệu Trinh's stories may be hints that early Vietnamese civilizations were largely matriarchal, where it was easy for women to assume the leading position and mobilize people.

Much of northern Vietnam (from the Red River delta down to about the region of modern Hue) was incorporated into the Chinese province of Jiaozhi, or Giao Chỉ, (later called Tonkin), through much of the Han dynasty and the period of the Three Kingdoms. Jiaozhi (with its capital near modern Hanoi) became a flourishing port receiving goods from the southern seas. The Hou Hanshu relates that in 166 CE the first envoy from the Roman Empire to China arrived by this route, and merchants were soon to follow. The 3rd century Weilue speaks of a "water route" (i.e. the Red River) from Jiaozhi into what is now southern Yunnan. From there goods were taken overland to the rest of China via the regions of modern Kunming and Chengdu.

Many other rebellions also took place in this period, such as those of Mai Thúc Loan (Mai Hắc Đế - Mai the Black King), Phùng Hưng (Bố Cái Đại Vương - The Great Guardian Lord), Triệu Quang Phục (Triệu Việt Vương - Triệu the Viet King), and Lý Bí (a.k.a Lý Bôn).

Early Independence

File:Bachdang.jpg

Battle of Bach Dang river. Silk painting by Năng Hiển.

The Vietnamese threw off Chinese domination in 939 AD. At the battle on the Bạch Đằng River in North Vietnam, Ngô Quyền defeated the Southern Han's navy and established the Ngô dynasty.

After Ngô Quyền's death, a power struggle ensued between his family members and generals, and the kingdom fell into disorder. A civil war broke out among the Twelve Warlords (12 Sứ quân) and lasted for two decades. One of the warlords, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, defeated the others and set up the Đinh dynasty. He is referred to as Đinh Tiên Hoàng (Đinh the Previous Emperor), because the Đinh dynasty only survived for two rulers.

When Đinh Bộ Lĩnh and his eldest son, Liễn, were assassinated by an eunuch, the 6-year-old Đinh Toàn assumed the throne. Taking advantage of the situation, Chinese Song troops amassed at the border, preparing to invade. The court's top general Lê Hoàn, who was having an affair with Đinh Bộ Lĩnh's widow Dương Vân Nga, became the de facto head of the force to fight off the Chinese. He, subsequently, took the throne and proceeded to defeat the Sung troops at Chi Lăng (now Lạng Sơn province) and Tây Kết. His dynasty is later regarded as the Tiền Lê (Anterior Lê).

Dynastic Period

South East Asia circa 1100 C.E. Dai-Viet lands in blue.

When the Lê emperor Lê Long Đĩnh died in his twenties, a court general named Lý Công Uẩn took the chance to take over the throne and founded the Lý dynasty. This event is regarded as the beginning of a golden era in Vietnamese history, with great dynasties following one another. Lý Công Uẩn (commonly called Lý Thái Tổ - Lý the Founding Emperor) changed the country's name to Đại Việt, established the capital in present-day Hanoi and called it Thăng Long (Ascending Dragon) under the pretext of seeing a dragon when he was touring the area. As with other dynasties in Vietnamese history, the Lý had many wars with the Chinese, most notably when Lý troops under command of the eunuch-turned-general Lý Thường Kiệt fought against the invasion of the Sung empire. Lý Thường Kiệt later defeated Sung troops at the battle by Như Nguyệt river (commonly Cầu river), now in Băc Ninh province (about 40km from the current capital, Hanoi).

During the late Lý era, a court official named Trần Thủ Độ became powerful. He forced the emperor Lý Huệ Tông to become a Buddhist monk and set Lý Chiêu Hoàng, Huệ Tông's young daughter, to become the empress. Trần Thủ Độ then arranged the marriage of Chiêu Hoàng to his nephew Trần Cảnh and the transfer of the throne between the two. Thus ended the Lý dynasty and started the Trần dynasty.

During the Trần dynasty, Đại Việt was under attacks three times by the Mongols, who had occupied China and were ruling as the Yuan dynasty (see First Yuan Mongol Invasion (1284-85) and Second Yuan Mongol Invasion (1287-88)). It was during this period that Vietnamese nationalism began to form, as the Trần used the so-called "Đông A spirit" to mobilize people to fight against Mongol invaders. According to Vietnamese pronunciation of Chinese characters, the word "Trần" consists of the two words "Đông" and "A". Using this propaganda combined with guerilla warfare tactics, Trần troops stopped all three Yuan invasions. The Yuan-Trần war reached its climax when Yuan navy was decimated at the battle of Bạch Đằng river. Trần troops, with the noble lord Trần Hưng Đạo as commander-in-chief, used the exact same tactics as Ngô Quyền had used centuries before, at the exact same site, to defeat northern invaders. Trần Hưng Đạo, whose real name was Trần Quốc Tuấn, is regarded as the national hero and a major figure in Vietnamese history's lineup of great military strategists.

It was also during this period that the Trần kings waged many wars against the southern kingdom of Chiêm Thành (Champa), continuing the Viets' long history of southern expansion (known as Nam Tiến) that had begun shortly after gaining independence from China. However, they encountered strong resistance from the Chams, and Champa troops led by their king Chế Bồng Nga (Binasuor) even sacked Đại Việt's capital Thăng Long in 1372 and again in 1377.

The Trần dynasty was in turn overthrown by one of its own court officials, Hồ Quý Ly. Hồ Quý Ly also forced the last Trần emperor to resign to a pagoda and assumed the throne in 1400. He changed the country name to Đại Ngu and moved the capital to Tây Đô (Western Capital, now Thanh Hóa). Thăng Long was renamed Đông Đô (Eastern Capital). Although widely blamed as the person who disrupted the Trần dynasty and let the country fall under the rule of the Chinese Ming dynasty, Hồ Quý Ly's reign actually saw a lot of progressive, ambitious reforms, including free education, the adoption of Nôm characters for writing official documents, and land reform. He ceded the throne to his son, Hồ Hán Thương, in 1401 and assumed the title Thái Thượng Hoàng (The Highest Father Emperor).

In 1407, Ming troops sacked Tây Đô and captured Hồ Quý Ly and Hồ Hán Thương. The Hồ dynasty came to an end after mere 7 years.

Map of Vietnam showing the conquest of the south (the Nam Tien).

Lê Lợi waged a guerilla war against the Ming for over a decade from the forest of Lam Sơn (Thanh Hóa province). After many defeats, he finally gathered momentum and was able to launch a siege at Đông Quan (now Hanoi), the site of the Ming administration. The Ming emperor sent a reinforcement force to rescue, but Lê Lợi staged an ambush and killed the general, Liu Shan. Ming's troops at Đông Quan surrendered. In 1428, Lê Lợi ascended to the throne and the Hậu Lê dynasty (Posterior Lê) began.

In 1471, Lê troops led by the great emperor Lê Thánh Tông invaded Champa, captured its capital Vijaya and killed or enslaved the city's residents. This event effectively ended the long conflict between the Vietnamese and Cham kingdoms. It initiated the dispersal of the Cham people across southeast Asia.

With the kingdom of Champa mostly destroyed and the Cham people exiled or suppressed, Vietnamese colonization of what is now central Vietnam proceeded without substantial resistance. However, despite becoming greatly outnumbered by Kinh settlers and the integration of formerly Cham territory into the Vietnamese nation, populations of Cham nevertheless remained in Vietnam and now comprise one of the minority peoples of modern Vietnam. (The modern city of Hue, founded in [1600]] lies close to where the Champa capital of Indrapura once stood).

The Lê dynasty was overthrown by a general named Mac Dang Dung (Viet: Mạc Đăng Dung) in 1527. He killed the Lê emperor and set himself as king, starting the Mac dynasty. After ruling for two years, Mac Dang Dung adopted Hồ Quý Ly's practice and ceded the throne to his son, Mạc Đăng Doanh, and himself become Thái Thượng Hoàng. Nguyen Kim (Viet: Nguyễn Kim), a former official in the Lê court, set up a Lê prince as the emperor Lê Trang Tông and rebelled against the Mạc. A civil war ensued.

Nguyen Kim's side was winning the war, and he controlled the southern part Vietnam, leaving only the area around the capital Đông Kinh (Hanoi) and to the north under Mac control. When Nguyen Kim was assassinated in 1545, military power fell into the hand of his son-in-law, Trinh Khiem (Viet: Trịnh Kiểm). The civil war between Le and Mac dynasties largely ended in 1592, when the army of Trinh Tung conqured Hanoi and executed the Mạc emperor Mạc Mậu Hợp. Survivors of the Mạc royal family fled to the mountains in the province of Cao Bằng and continued to rule there until 1667 when Trinh Tac conquered this last bit of Mac territory.

After Trinh Khiem assumed power from Nguyễn Kim, the oldest son, Nguyễn Uông was poisoned and died. Some 15 years later, Trinh Khiem gave the younger son, Nguyen Hoang rulership of the southern provinces (then called Quang Nam). He governed the south effectively while Trinh Khiem and then Trinh Tung carried on the war against the Mac. Nguyen Hoang sent money and soldiers north to help the war but gradually he became more and more independent. In the year 1600, Nguyen Hoang declared himself Lord (Vuong) and refused to send more money or soldiers to the court in Hanoi. He also moved his capital to a new place, Phu Xuan (Viet: Phú Xuân, modern-day Hue). Trinh Tung effectively ignored the actions of his uncle. Nguyen Hoang died in 1613 having ruled the south for 55 years. He was succeeded by his 6th son Nguyen Phuc Nguyen who likewise refused to acknowlege the rulership of the Court in Hanoi.

When Trinh Tung died in 1623 he was succeeded by his son Trinh Trang who ordered Nguyen Phuc Nguyen to submit to his authority. The order was refused, twice. In 1627, Trinh Trang sent his army south to conquer what had become an independent territory.

Map of Vietnam showing (roughly) the areas controled by the Trinh, Nguyen, Mac, and Champa about the year 1640

The Trinh-Nguyen War lasted from 1627 till 1672. The Trinh army staged at least seven different offensives all of which failed to capture Phu Xuan. For a time, starting in 1651, the Nguyen themselves went on the offensive and conqured parts of Trinh territory. However, the Trinh, under a new leader, Trinh Tac, forced the Nguyen back by 1655. After one last offensive in 1672, Trinh Tac agreed to a truce with the Nguyen Lord Nguyen Phuc Tan. The country was effectively divided in two and the Trinh and the Nguyen did not fight for the next 100 years.

Meanwhile, the Nguyen Lords continued the southward expansion by conquest of the various Khmer territories in the Mekong delta, and by the end of their rule had brought Vietnam's territory to almost present-day shape. Similar to the defeat of Champa, Vietnamese military victories in these territories initiated the large-scale colonization of what is now southern Vietnam by Kinh settlers in an area previously populated mainly by Khmers. Those who remained in the territories settled by the Vietnamese settlers became the Khmer Krom minority of modern Vietnam and have maintained a distinct ethnic identity, despite substantial intermarriage with Vietnamese and widespread adoption of the Vietnamese language and cultural influence.

In 1771, the Tay Son (Viet: Tây Sơn) rebellion broke out in Bình Định province, which was under the control of the Nguyen. Leaders of this rebellion were three brothers named Nguyen but they were not related to the Nguyen lords. The three brothers were remarkably successful. By 1776, the Tay Sơn had occupied all of the Nguyen Lord's land and killed (almost) the entire royal family. The surviving prince Nguyen Anh (Viet: Nguyễn Phúc Ánh) fled to Siam, and managed to obtain the support of the Siamese king. Nguyen Anh came back with Siamese troops in an attempt to regain power, but he was defeated at Rạch Gầm and Xoài Mút by the Tay Son army. Nguyen Anh fled Vietnam, but he did not give up.

The Tay Son army (西山) under Nguyen Hue (Viet: Nguyễn Huệ) marched north in 1786 to fight the Trinh Lord, Trinh Khai. The Trinh army refused to even fight Nguyen Hue (he had great popularity), Trinh Khai committed suicide. The Tay Son army captured the capital in less than two months. The last Le emperor, Lê Chiêu Thống, fled to China and petitioned the Chinese Emperor for help. The Qing emperor Qianlong supplied Lê Chiêu Thống with a massive army to regain his throne from the usurper. Nguyen Hue proclaimed himself Emperor with the name Quang Trung and his army defeated Qing troops in a sudden attack during the New Year (Tet) just outside Hanoi. During his reign, Quang Trung enacted many good reforms but he died in 1792, at the age of 40.

After Quang Trung's death, the Tay Sơn court became unstable as the remaining brothers fought against each other and against the people who were loyal to Nguyen Hue's infant son. Nguyen Anh, the last Nguyen Lord, managed to obtain some help from France and in 1800, his small army captured the Tay Sơn citadel Quy Nhơn. One year later, he occupied Phu Xuan, the Tay Sơn capital. Nguyen Anh finally won the war in 1802, when he besieged Thăng Long (Hanoi) and executed Nguyen Hue's son, Nguyễn Quang Toản, along with many Tay Sơn generals and officials. Nguyen Anh ascended the throne and chose the name Gia Long. Gia is for Gia Định, the old name of Saigon; Long is for Thăng Long, the old name of Hanoi. Hence Gia Long implies the unification of the country. The Nguyễn dynasty lasted until Bảo Đại's abdication in 1945.

The modern name of Vietnam is known officially came under the Emperor Gia Long's reign, but recently historians have found that this name has been existed in older books in which Vietnamese called their country name Vietnam. In 1802, he asked the Manchu Chinese emperor for permission to rename the country, from An Nam to Nam Viet. To prevent any confusion of Gia Long's kingdom with Triệu Đà's ancient kingdom, the Chinese emperor reversed the order of the two words to Viet Nam.

There were over ten recognizable dynasties in Vietnam's history. Some are not considered official, such as the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the Tây Sơn dynasty.

Almost all Vietnamese dynasties are named after the ruler's family name, unlike the Chinese dynasties, whose names are an attribute chosen by the first emperors.

See also: List of Vietnamese dynasties

The Changing Names

During the period of Chinese domination, Vietnam was called An Nam by Chinese rulers (means Pacified South in expectation of China). When Vietnam broke free, it was called Đại Cồ Việt (大瞿越), Đại Ngu or Đại Việt (大越). In 1802, Emperor Gia Long requested the Qing Empire to allow his country to be known as Nam Việt (南越). To prevent confusion with Triệu Đà's ancient kingdom, the Qing Manchu Chinese Emperor reversed the two words to Việt Nam. In 1838, during the Nguyen Dynasty, the nation's name was changed temporarily to Đại Nam (大南). During the French colonization, Vietnam was divided into: Tonkin (Bắc Kỳ or North Vietnam), Annam (Trung Kỳ or Central Vietnam), and Cochin China (Nam Kỳ or South Vietnam).

Colonization

Flag of Colonial Vietnam

France's involvement can be traced to Alexandre de Rhodes, a Jesuit priest who converted many Vietnamese to Catholicism in the early 1600s. Rhodes improved on earlier works by Portuguese missionaries and developed the Vietnamese romanized alphabet Quốc Ngữ. It was another priest, Pierre-Joseph Pigneaux de Béhaine, who intertwined Vietnam's and France's destinies. By the late 1700s, Vietnam was in turmoil. For the last 150 years, two noble families had partitioned and ruled the country. The Nguyễn Lords ruled the South and the Trịnh Lords ruled the North. The two fought a long war against each other starting in 1627. For details see the Trinh-Nguyen War. The war ended with no change to the borders in 1673. For the next 100 years, the Trinh tried to administer a peaceful but rather stagnant state in the north, while the Nguyen embarked on a major expansion of their lands south into Champa and then Cambodia. By 1770, the Nguyen Lords had doubled the size of the territory they controlled but at the cost of three major wars with Cambodia and Siam over the last 50 years.

Starting in 1771, the Tay Son (Viet: Tây Sơn) brothers, Nguyen Van Nhac, Nguyen Van Lu, and Nguyen Van Hue (Viet: Nguyễn Van Huệ) fought a savage war against the Nguyen Lords in southern Vietnam. Many peasants had become tired of the corruption and tyranny of both the Trinh and Nguyen officials and eagerly joined the uprising of the Tay Son, who enacted social reforms in the lands they captured. In 1776, the Tay Son army captured Saigon and killed nearly the entire Nguyen family, all except for Nguyen Phuc Anh (Viet: Nguyễn Phúc Ánh). As a result of the victory, Nguyen Van Nhac declared himself king of the south.

But Nguyen Phuc Anh was not beaten. He made a deal with the former enemies of the Nguyen, the King of Siam, and a largely Siamese army and navy attacked the south in 1782. The war lasted for some years before the Tay Son defeated Nguyen Anh and his Siamese allies.

In 1786, with Nguyen Anh defeated, Nguyen Van Hue marched north with an army. The Royal army refused to even fight Hue and the Trinh Lord ended up killing himself. The last Emperor of the Lê dynasty, Lê Chiêu Thống, then went to the Qing Manchu Chinese emperor and asked for troops to put down this pesant rebellion. The Chinese agreed and sent an army south. In 1787, the Manchu army captured Hanoi and reinstalled the Le King and a Trinh Lord. A few months later Nguyen Van Hue fought the Chinese near present day Hanoi and won a major victory in a surprise attack during the Tet holiday (The same tactic would be used centuries later by Võ Nguyên Giáp in 1968). After declaring himself King (Quang Trung), Nguyen Hue died mysteriously at the age of 40, leaving a young son as his successor. The surviving Tay Son brothers began to fight with each other and Hue's son, as each claimed rule over all of Vietnam.

Taking sides with Nguyen Anh, Pigneaux sailed to France with Nguyen Anh's youngest son. At Louis XVI's court, Pigneaux brokered the Little Treaty of Versailles, which promised French military aid in return for Vietnamese concessions. The French Revolution intervened and Pigneaux's ambition seemed for naught. Undaunted, Pigneaux went to the French territory of Pondicherry, India. He secured two ships, a regiment of Indian troops, and a handful of volunteers and returned to Vietnam in 1788. One of Pigneaux's volunteers, Jean-Marie Dayot, reorganized Nguyen Anh's navy along European lines and defeated the Tay Son navy at Quy Nhơn in 1792. A few years later, Nguyen Anh's forces captured Saigon. Pigneaux died in Saigon in 1799. Another volunteer, Victor Olivier de Puymanel would later build the Gia Định fort in central Saigon.

As a result of the Tay Son internal conflicts, and due to his own skills as a leader, Nguyen Anh was able to defeate the Tay Son brothers in turn. In his final campaign he captured and killed Nguyen Van Hue's son and conquered Hanoi in 1802. With all of Vietnam under his control, Nguyen Phuc Anh proclaimed himself Emperor Gia Long.

Gia Long also tolerated Catholicism. However he and his successors were staunch Confucians and admirers of China, not of France. His successors, Ming Mạng and Tự Đức, brutally (and foolishly) suppressed Catholicism and attempted to undo French influence. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese and foreign-born Christians were massacred during this period, an act which provoked the Catholic nations of Europe to retaliate. The reactionary adherence to Confucianism during this time also meant that the Emperors refused to allow any modernization or technological advancement. When conflict came, as a result of this isolationist policy, the Vietnamese were completely out-matched.

Under the orders of Napoleon III of France, the landing of French forces in the port of Đà Nẵng in August 1858, heralded the beginning of the colonial occupation which was to last almost a century. France assumed sovereignty over Annam and Tonkin after the Franco-Chinese War (1884-1885). French Indochina was formed in October 1887 from Annam, Tonkin, Cochin China, and the Khmer Republic; Laos was added in 1893.

With the death of Tự Đức in 1883, a succession of Emperors were quickly elevated and just as quickly deposed. The teenage Emperor Hàm Nghi left the Imperial Palace of Hue in 1885 and started the Cần Vương, or "Aid the King", movement. Hàm Nghi asked the people to rally with him to resist the French. He was captured in 1888 and exiled to French Algeria. A former mandarin Phan Đình Phùng continued the Cần Vương movement until his death in 1895.

In 1905 Vietnamese resistance centered on the intellectual, Phan Bội Châu. Phan Bội Châu looked to Japan, which had modernized itself and was alone among Asian nations to resist colonization. With Prince Cường Để, Phan Bội Châu started two organizations in Japan: Duy Tân Hội and Việt Nam Công Hiến Hội. Due to French pressure, Japan deported Phan Bội Châu to China. Witnessing Sun Yat-Sen's 1911 nationalist revolution, Phan Bội Châu was inspired to create the Vietnam Quang Phục Hội movement in Guangzhou. From 1914 to 1917, he was imprisoned by Yuan Shikai's counter-revolutionary government. In 1925, he was captured by French agents in Shanghai and spirited to Vietnam. Due to his popularity, Phan Bội Châu was spared from execution and placed under house arrest, until his death in 1940.

In 1940, Japan, coinciding with their ally Germany's invasion of France -- invaded Indochina. Keeping the German-controlled Vichy French colonial administration in place, the Japanese ruled from behind the scenes in parallel. As far as the Vietnamese were concerned, this was a double-puppet government. The symbolic Emperor Bảo Đại collaborated with the Japanese, just as he had with the French, causing no trouble and ensuring his lifestyle could continue.

Meanwhile, in 1941 Ho Chi Minh, a trained Communist revolutionary, returned to Vietnam and joined the Viet Minh, which means "Vietnamese Allied." Ho was a founding member of the French Communist Party in the 1920s in Paris. He spent many years in Moscow and participated in the International Comintern. At the direction of Moscow, he first convinced everybody of his patriotic intention and absorbed the various Vietnamese revolutionist groups into the Viet Minh. In order to win trust he de-emphasised his Communist ties by dissolving the Indochinese Communist Party, which he had created in Hong Kong in 1930.

Post World War II Period

Main article: Vietnam War
In 1945, due to a combination of Japanese exploitation and poor weather, a famine broke out in Tonkin killing approximately 2 million. The Viet Minh arranged a massive relief effort and won over many people. In northern Vietnam, the Japanese surrendered to the Chinese Nationalists. The Viet Minh organized the "August Revolution" uprisings across the country. At the beginning of a new future, Emperor Bao Dai was happy to abdicate on August 25, 1945 and surrender his power to the Viet Minh, of which Ho Chi Minh was the leader. In order to gain popularity, Ho made Bao Dai "supreme advisor" to the Viet Minh-led government in Hanoi, which asserted independence on September 2. In 1946 Vietnam gained its first constitution and a new name, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV).

In southern Vietnam, the Japanese surrendered to British forces. The British supported the Free French forces in fighting the Viet Minh, the armed religious Cao Dai and Hoa Hao sects, and the Binh Xuyen organized crime group for power. In 1948, France tried to regain control over Vietnam. The French re-installed Bao Dai as head of state of "the State of Vietnam," which comprised central and southern Vietnam. The First Indochina War lasted until 1954, with the French being defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

After World War II, the United States and the USSR entered into the Cold War, with both sides determined to expand their influence over the globe. The Korean War broke out between the North Koreans, supported by China and the USSR, and the Republic of Korea, supported by the US and allied nations. Initially the conflict was limited to North Korea, the Republic of Korea, and US military forces. However, when General Douglas MacArthur penetrated deep into North Korea, the Chinese flooded the country with an enormous army. The Korean War would have deep implications for the American involvement in Vietnam.

The United States became strongly opposed to Ho Chi Minh, who had now re-asserted the dominance of the Vietnamese Communist Party within the Viet Minh in 1950. In the South of the same year, the government of Bao Dai gained recognition by the United States and the United Kingdom.

The Geneva Conference of 1954 ended France's colonial presence in Vietnam and temporarily partitioned the country into 2 states at the 17th parallel (pending unification on the basis of internationally supervised free elections). The US installed Ngo Dinh Diem as Prime Minister of South Vietnam with Bao Dai as the king of a constitutional monarchy. While Diem was trying to settle the differences between the armed groups in the South, Bao Dai was persuaded to reduce his power. Diem used a referendum in 1955 to depose the former Emperor and declare himself as President of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed in Saigon on October 22, 1955.

Also in 1954, former Vietminh forces above the 17th parallel created the Democratic Republic of Vietnam which was a Communist State under Ho Chi Minh. The government was much more stable than its Southern counterpart due to political experience and a dependable army which had weathered the First Indochina War.

South Vietnamese who opposed Diem's rule and desired the reunification of Vietnam under the Hanoi government of Ho Chi Minh organized the National Liberation Front, better known as the Viet Cong. Supported and later directed by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in the North, they would launch guerrilla attacks in the South against Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) military targets and, later, American troops.

The Geneva Accords had promised elections to determine a national government for a unified Vietnam. However, only France and the North Vietnamese government (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) had signed the document. The United States and the Saigon government refused to abide by the agreement, fearing that Ho Chi Minh would readily win the election due to his popularity. The result was the "Second Indochina War," known as the "Vietnam War" in the West and the "American War" in Vietnam. The war reached its height in 1966, when President Lyndon Johnson ordered 500,000 American troops into South Vietnam. Fearing the Chinese would directly enter the war with a massive army, as had occurred when U.S.-led United Nations forces approached the Chinese border during the Korean War, American ground troops were forbidden to enter North Vietnam.

The massive 1968 Tet Offensive by Communist forces was a military defeat for the Viet Cong but a stunning political victory, as it led many American people to view the war as unwinnable. President Richard Nixon entered office with a pledge to end the war "with honor." He normalized US relations with China in 1972 (Sino-American relations) and entered into Détente with the USSR. With the Paris Peace Agreement of 1973, American military forces withdrew from Vietnam. Despite the peace treaty, the North continued the war, and defeated the South in April 1975. In 1976, Vietnam was officially reunited under the current Vietnamese government as The Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Aftermath of the Vietnam War and Reunification

After April 30th, 1975, an exodus of several hundred thousand Vietnamese fled the country either by sea or overland through Cambodia. They settled in refugee camps in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Indonesia. The lucky were picked up by US Navy ships, sent to Guam, and eventually settled in the United States, Canada, France, Australia or in various European nations. Some were robbed, raped or killed by pirates in the South China Seas. Many lived in these makeshift refugee encampments for years. While most were resettled to other countries within 5 years, others languished in these camps for over a decade. Some refugees were deported back to Vietnam. The last of the refugee camps were closed in 2005.

Nguyen Ngoc Ngan, a novelist and a popular host of the video music program Paris by Night, exemplifies these Boat People's experience. A former sailor in the South Vietnamese Navy, he was sent to a "re-education" camp for 3 years and nearly died from disease. He was released from the camp and ordered to report to a new economic zone labor camp in the jungle. Instead, he with his wife and 4 year old son, boarded a fishing vessel crammed with over a hundred other refugees. After a week at sea, the boat capsized off the coast of Malaysia, killing his wife and son. Nguyen Ngoc Ngan wrote about this ordeal in his first novel in a Malaysian refugee camp, titled "Những Người Đàn Bà Còn Ở Lại," or The Women Left Behind.

Debate about the significance of the Vietnam War continues to this day: whether the war was an internal civil war or a proxy war; whether the Vietnam War disproved the Domino Theory or that the war mitigated the consequences of the fallen domino, Vietnam; whether the rise of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the resulting genocide, is a direct result of the Vietnam War or not; whether if Nixon had avoided the Watergate scandal, he would have prevented the fall of Saigon or he had intended to abandon Vietnam all along.

Cambodia and the Sino-Vietnamese War

In late 1978, following repeated raids by the Chinese-supported Pol Pot regime into Vietnamese territory and the massacre of ethnic Vietnamese and Khmer people in Cambodia, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and installed a pro-Vietnamese government. In early 1979 China invaded Vietnam in retaliation. The Sino-Vietnamese War was brief, but casualties were high on both sides. In late 1989 Vietnam withdrew its troops from Cambodia.

1980s

Vietnam's third constitution, based on that of the USSR, was written in 1980.

Through the 1980s, Vietnam received nearly $3 billion a year in economic and military aid from the Soviet Union and conducted most of its trade with the USSR and other Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) countries.

Human Rights

Vietnam is a nation in transition from its Communist past. It is still a one-party state (with minimal separation of powers), but can no longer be regarded as following Communist political philosophy. Journalism and political dissent are still strictly controlled, with all media owned by the government. The arrest of democracy, human rights, and religious freedom advocates has also given Vietnam a negative image. The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and ethnic minority Protestant groups in the northern and central highlands are also suppressed, although the Vietnamese government claims this is a result of their political involvement rather than their religious beliefs. In June 2004, Japan announced that it would link its aid to Vietnam with Vietnam's respect for human rights. Japan's aid to Vietnam has risen steadily over the last decade. In September 2004, the US State Department designated Vietnam a “Country of Particular Concern” because of Vietnam’s “particularly severe violations of religious freedom”. In May 2005, Vietnam cracked down on internet use. The government blocked the Vietnamese-language website of the British Broadcasting Corporation. One dissident was arrested for sending emails abroad, criticizing the government.

Reforms

In 1986 Vietnam, under a new leader Nguyen Van Linh, abandoned its attempt to maintain a purely planned economy. Many restrictions on private enterprise were lifted, and the education system was liberalised. In 1995 Vietnam joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). A stock exchange opened in 2000. The Soviet collapse also deprived Vietnam of economic assistance from its former ally, and its government soon began mending relations with the US, its former enemy. In 1994, the US effectively ended the embargo and the two countries finally established normal diplomatic & trade relations in 1995. The embargo of Vietnam began in 1964 for North Vietnam and extended to all of Vietnam in 1975. Thirty years later, its ending marked the beginning of Vietnam joining the economic and political sphere of South East Asian nations.

Vietnam is growing fast economically (GDP doubled every ten years in the last two decades) and adopting a transparent, decentralized governing style to further reduce poverty. It is still however relatively poor country. Vietnam hopes to become a member of the WTO (World Trade Organization) in 2006.

References

• Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." 2nd Draft Edition.[1]
• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [2]
• Mesny, William. 1884. Tungking. Noronha & Co., Hong Kong.
• Nguyễn Khắc Viện 1999. Vietnam - A Long History. Hanoi, Thế Giới Publishers.
• Stevens, Keith. 1996. "A Jersey Adventurer in China: Gun Runner, Customs Officer, and Business Entrepreneur and General in the Chinese Imperial Army. 1842-1919." Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Vol. 32 (1992). Published in 1996.
• Francis Fitzgerald. 1972. Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and Americans in Vietnam. Little, Brown and Company.
• Hung, Hoang Duy. 2005. A Common Quest for Vietnam's Future. Viet Long Publishing.
• The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 2000. The State of The World's Refugees 2000: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action - Chapter 4: Flight from Indochina (PDF). [3]

External links

• Viet Nam's Early History & Legends by C.N. Le (Asian Nation - The Landscape of Asian America)
• Tungking by William Mesny
• Pre-Colonial Vietnam by Ernest Bolt (University of Richmond)
• Human Rights in Vietnam 2006 (Human Rights Watch)
• French IndoChina Entry in a 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia about Indochina (New Advent).
• Virtual Vietnam Archive Exhaustive collection of Vietnam related documents (Texas Tech University)
• Geneva Accords of 1954 Text of the 1954 Accords by Vincent Ferraro (Mount Holyoke College)
• Vietnam Dragons and Legends Vietnamese history and culture by Dang Tuan.
• Indochina - History links for French involvement in Indochina, casahistoria.net
• Vietnam - History links for US involvement in Indochina, casahistoria.net