The history of Vietnam is the history of the people which occupied the country that one calls the Vietnam.

For the Vietnamese historians, Vietnam was founded in 2877 av. J. - C. in their capital of the time which was at the site of current the Canton (in China).

Legendary times

Myths of origin

The Vietnamese soldier or Kinh, the majority Ethnos group of Vietnam, are regarded as people made up since creation of the world, for which they have their clean Cosmogonie.

They say children of the Fée and the dragon: a dragon and a fairy would have married in spite of their different natures and would have given rise to a giant black egg, from where hundred children would have left.

The dragon being a creature related to the sea and the fairy being related to the mountain and the air, they would have then separated, the dragon taking along fifty children towards the sea - the Kinh futures - and the fairy taking along 50 children towards the mountains - the future minority people (cf Démographie of Vietnam).

The descendants of the children of the dragon and the fairy lived in good intelligence, each child being the ancestor of a separate kingdom (on a social model close to the Latin people ), each one on their premises, when they were the subject of a first attack of people come from north.

A core of about fifteen kings and queens meets then and elects one among them to be the first emperor of Nam Việt (“country of the Vietnamese soldier of the South”), in 2877 av. J. - C.

Confrontation with archeology & problems of geography

The confrontation of the legends Vietnameses with historical reality, even if it is not incoherent with the found material elements, encounters several technical difficulties:

• the displacement of the country towards the south, sitted around the area of Canton, and corresponding finally with the commandery of the Giao Chi, then reduced to the only basin of the Tonkin and finally taking again a territorial expansion towards the south;
• the probable absence of sources written before 211 before Jesus-Christ;
• systematic destruction of all the writings in Chữ name and written of national type (Chinese collections on national topics) at the time of the second Chinese colonization; as well as the confiscation of the sufficiently Chinese writings judged not to be destroyed (but that one can consult in the public records of Taiwan).

North

The site of Dong Its in the province of Thanh Hoa gave its name to a culture of second half of the last millenium before J. - C. the burials of the culture of Dong Its contain a movable rich person: drums in bronzes, situles, daggers with handle of human form or animal, axes, halberds, spittoons with Bétel, seals, jewels. Drums of Dong Its, remarkable so much from the technical point of view (use of lost wax) that decorative (combinations of geometrical, human and animal reasons), know a great diffusion in continental Southeast Asia and insular. The culture of Dong Its dies out with the Chinese invasion, which one goes back to 111 before J. - C.

From there and until worms 1200, the north of current Vietnam saw a Chinese domination intersected with short periods of independence marked by chaos. During this period, Nam Viêt will be famous many times by his Chinese occupant. It is at this time that Nam Viêt adopts the Chinese Culture without never losing its national identity.

• “most of the history of Vietnam former to the year 200 av. J. - C. is buried in the legend. It is also thus past of Europe beyond the Mediterranean basin. It seems that there existed, between -500 and -207, a kingdom known under the name of Van Lang or In the Lake , apparently covering most of what is today the Chinese province of the Guangdong and north of Vietnam. This last, as it will be seen, was more once frontier walk in long and stormy history of Vietnam. Conquered by Chinese generals who had broken with the emperors of the Dynastie Qin, With the Lake became known under the name of Nam Viêt , i.e. the country of the South (Nam) of the “Vietnamese soldier” (“Yüt” in Cantonnais). As it often arrived during the history of Vietnam, this small State could maintain its integrity only when its powerful neighbor was in difficulty. What arrived more often than it is generally believed. The Dynasty Han being consolidated in China, the Nam Viêt was slowly pushed back Guangdong towards the North-Vietnamese bastion which will become later, in 1945 - 1946, the base of Vietnam in armed struggle to release itself from French colonialism. In 111 av. J. - C., victorious the Han Empire in China crushed the young Vietnamese State and, except for victorious and short rebellions, it became for more than 1.000 years Chinese Ground.”

Under Chinese peace, like the pax romana in Europe, the Nam Viêt became known under the name of Annam or the peace (Year) of the South (Nam), i.e. the Southern pacified , in Cantonese syntax where the qualifying adjective is placed before the name, as in the languages germano-Scandinavians. The traditional language Vietnamese is a Cantonese language, as the traditional French language is a Latin language where " pax, pacis" Latin became " paix" French. The antique Contentieux sino-Vietnamese of the Third War of Indo-China goes back to this period.

The Center

On the coast of Vietnam exchange, in the province of Quang Ngoi, towards 800 before J. - C develops. the culture of Its Huynh. Its surface extends from Binh Tri Thiên to the valley of Dông Nai. This culture incinerates its late and buries them in earthenware jars with a movable rich person. Contrary to their neighbors of North and contemporary Dong Its, who worked bronze, them Its Huynh worked the iron.

Its Huynh had a wide sales network. The glass shots of Its Huynh are made out of materials: glass, agate, garnet, which one does not find in the area and were probably imported. One also found in His Huynh of the bronze mirrors of the Chinese dynasty of the Han (202 before J. - C. - 220 after J. - C.). Conversely, Its Huynh produced earrings which one found on sites in the center of the Thailand, in the island of the Orchises with Taiwan and Palawan with the Filipino .

Towards IIe or Ier century before J. - C., of the populations of language austronésien, the Cham, undoubtedly come from the island of Borneo, are installed on the central littoral of Vietnam.

Several sites, corresponding to the first centuries of our era, were recognized and excavated along the Eastern coasts of the Ass. As for all this Asian part of the world, the oldest historical information is given to us by Chinese texts. They mention the commandery of Rinan, walk-border in the extreme south of the Empire of the Medium, created under Han. Southernmost of these “sub-prefectures”, Xianglin, would have been populated undisciplined aboriginals, and frequently invaded by the close “barbarians”. At the time of an attack, in 137 of our era, the Chinese are constrained to evacuate the area, while local Mandarin is killed. A “barbarian”, Quilan, proclaim king: it is the origin of the kingdom of Linyi, in the south of Rinan.

The descendants of Quilan probably installed their capital in the area of Hooted, and were gradually sinicized. In 446, the Chinese seize the capital of Linyi and carry with them “cruel gods”, statues which seem to attest a beginning of indianisation. As of 520, the names of the sovereigns of Linyi seem to be an Chinese transcription of names Sanscrit S: Pi Cuibamo would be thus Vijayavarman.

At the end of IVe century, four inscriptions in Sanskrit, found in Quang Nam and Phu Yen, mention a divinity Bhadreshvara, the “favorable lord”, i.e. Shiva. It is about the oldest example, in Southeast Asia, of a name of divinity bearing the name of " roi". The first mention of a capital is gone back to 605 after J. - C. other inscriptions reveal the name of Champa by which the kingdom was indicated. From IVe at the XVIIe centuries, this kingdom extended on the Eastern coast from Vietnam from today, of the Door of Ass in north with the area of Phan Thiêt (area of Binh Thuân) in the south. The use is from now on to call the inhabitants of Champa and their descendants, the Cham.

At the beginning of the 5th century, the buddhist monk Chinese Faxian, on the way of the return of India in China, made there stopover and described " strong right nose and the black hair and bouclés" of its inhabitants, like their funerary practices of the cremation to the sound of the drums.

See also: Kingdom of Champâ

In north starts about 1200 one brilliant period. Nam Viêt becomes Dai Viêt. It holds in failure the Chinese invasions and begins its expansion towards the south, on the kingdom of the Champa, of Indian culture.

The Nagarakertagama , a poem epic writes in 1365 in the kingdom java are born from Majapahit, quotes among the regions with which the kingdom maintains the commercial relations Yawana , i.e. Vietnam (that the Khmer, on their side, call Yuon ).

About 1420, one notes a very short Chinese occupation. About 1600, the Vietnameses finish the conquest of Champa but the country is cut into two. The Trinh lords control North, Nguyen the South. About 1800, the country is reunified under the authority of Nguyen. It bears the name of Vietnam and it annexes the southernmost grounds.

• “During this successful colonial company, because it was not anything else, the Vietnamese government decided to give to the process employed the statute of State and, in 1481, the " Don Diên' were created. Like the `Coloniae' Romans 1.500 years earlier, like the `Nakhal' israëliens 500 years later or the' Weherbauern' austro-German of the XVIIIe century, the `Don Dien', literally firm (Dien) strengthened (Gift), Vietnamese were agricultural colonies that the State granted the farmers who, n the other hand, ensured the development of the `new border'. The colonists of the `Don Dien' were hard and intrepid people, decided not only to defend what they had, but also to extend and further push back the border a little more in the South to the opening of the large plain from the Mekong delta where the road towards the West their became from now on open without the crossing of the mountains of the annamitic cordillera.”

South

In the south of Vietnam, excavations undertaken on the site of Oc-Eo to beginning of the year 2000 make it possible to better know a culture which, at least to IIIe sièlce after J. - C., extended on current Vietnam, Kampuchea and Thailand. This culture maintained the relations with the China. The Indian influence on this culture is manifest, with statues of Bouddha and Vishnu. Foreign boats came in Oc-Eo to exchange goods.

The first Chinese texts concerning the Southeast Asia date from IIIe century. They speak about a kingdom which they call Insane-nan and describe its inhabitants as being " ugly and black, with hair frisés". This description tends to make think that the inhabitants of Insane-nan were ethniquement Khmer. The name of Insane-nan itself would be a transcription in Chinese characters of the word bnam , in modern Khmer phnom , which means " montagne" (and that one finds in the name of Phnom Penh). With the Life century the kingdom of the Tchen it, established in north, upstream in the basin of the Mekong, conquers the Insaneone, thus forming Kampuchea pre Angkor IEN.

This time the advance Vietnamese is done with the detriment of the Kampuchea in decomposition. Such a situation was rich in frontier incidents, used to increase the Vietnamese field. In 1623, king Chey Chettha II of Kampuchea (1618-1628) authorizes refugees Vietnamese soldier who flee the civil war between Trinh and Nguyen to be settled in the area of Prey Nokor, future the Saigon. Kampuchea, weakened by a war against the Siam, is unable to prevent the installation of the following waves colonists Vietnamese soldier. In 1698, the court of Nguyen instructs Mandarin, Nguyen Huu Canh to set up an administration Vietnamese in the area, thus detaching it from Kampuchea, which cannot intervene.

Thus Vietnam constituted itself, starting from Huê, in the center of Vietnam on Champa and Kampuchea by the projection of a face of villages. All the south of Vietnam was Kampuchean territory.

In 1863, the signature of an agreement between king Norodom of Kampuchea and France establish a protectorate on the kingdom which puts a crushing argument at the expansion Vietnamese.

See also: History of Kampuchea

Nguyễn

Born during one time from political and social disturbances, the dynasty of Nguyễn sees merging all the stages key of its history with the most decisive moments of the history of Vietnam. Inversion of the the at the 16th century with the expansion of the Vietnamese soldier towards the South, of the strengthening of a State centralized on arrival of the first colonists, intrigues of palate to the philosopher's stones of economic development, veneration of the subjects for their king with the abdication of the last emperor in 1945, all Nguyễn reigning lived and for certain worked the sinuous history of Vietnam.

More than all, it is faculty to feel the power struggle which made of Nguyễn of the powerful and effective sovereigns. Until the crowning of Long Gia which marks the apogee of Vietnam traditional and centralized anything does not seem to divert Nguyễn of their faith in the construction of a powerful nation. They feel, they know, they proclaim to have the right on their side and this one seems to give them reason.

But, after Long Gia, it is with resignation and sometimes mollesse that Nguyễn see their sovereign country falling, province after province in the hands of the French power. Admittedly, some will try to raise their people, to break the seizure of the mandarins and the catholics French pro, but with the same certainty that they had to fight for their throne, Nguyễn of the XIX° will be shown resigned in front of the French, sure occupant that nothing would prevent their country from being subjected and their power to surbed itself.

On the political plan, the history of Nguyễn, it is the history of the strengthening of a State, creation of a nation. On the individual level, it is the history of persevering, sure men of their right. The history of Nguyễn, could be summarized by these two verbs: “to maintain” and continue. The new lords and the thirteen kings who followed one another during nearly four centuries seem to have had for currency to only continue, inlassablement, obstinately, started work one day of 1527 by the first lord, Nguyễn Kim, which the history retains under the name of King founder (Trieu To Tinh Hoang Of).

• Nguyễn Kim

• Nguyễn Hoàng
• Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên
• Nguyễn Phúc Lan

Sovereigns of the Nguyên dynasty

1. * 1802 - 1819: Long Gia or Nguyên Anh

2. * 1819 - 1841: Minh Mang
3. * 1841 - 1847: Thieu Tri
4. * 1847 - 1883: You Duke
5. * 1883 - 1883: Duke Duke
6. * 1883 - 1883: Hiep Hoa or Prince Hong Dat
7. * 1883 - 1884: Kien Phuc or Prince Ung Dang
8. * 1884 - 1885: Ham Nghi or Prince Ung Lich
9. * 1885 - 1889: Dong Khanh or Prince Ung Xuy
10. * 1889 - 1907: Thai Thanh
11. * 1907 - 1916: Duy Tân or Vinh San
12. * 1916 - 1925: Khải Định or Prince Buu CAD
13. * 1926 - 1955: Bao Dai or Prince Vinh Thuy

The French period

Colonization

In 1858, the French take bay of Da Nang (francized in Tourane) in a Vietnam who knows her current form. In 1883 the France appendix Vietnam with her colonial empire. The Cochinchine in the south becomes French colony, as well as the towns of Hanoï, Haiphong and Tourane. The remainder of the territory, Tonkin in north, Ass in the center, remains in theory under the direct authority of the Nguyễn emperors within a protectorate. Vietnam is part from now on of the Indochinese Union which also include/understand the Kingdoms of the Laos and the current Kampuchea.

• “the most durable contact between Vietnam and Europe, the archeology of " Oc Eo" in the area of An Giang showed older commercial contacts with the Roman world, started in 1535 with the unloading with Faïfo of the Portuguese Captain, Duc of albuquerque, Antonia da Faria, and the establishment which resulted from it from rival counters portuguais and Dutch. In addition, from the missionaries roman catholics had undoubtedly come before da Faria; but it is not that in 1651 qu' a mission permanent roman catholic was installed in Vietnam. However, it is with a priest French Jesuit that one owes Roman Catholicism to Vietnam and his cultural anchoring, beyond the religious aspect of ritual magic. In other words, it is not only as a religion, but also as a factor of civilization (Paul Mus, p. 85,1952). Arrived to Vietnam in 1626, at the 36 years age, Alexandre of Rhodos undertook to unify various transcriptions of the language Vietnamese made by her predecessors, in a coherent Latin alphabet accompanied by tonic accents and diacritics.”

• “the second priest roman catholic to have taken seat on the furnace bridges of the ancestors in Vietnam was Mgr Pierre Joseph Georges Pigneau de Behaine, Évêque of Adran, which married the cause of young prince Nguyên Anh, then 16 years old, who wandered into fugitive in his ancestral country. Nguyên Anh was obliged to exile itself in Siam (become Thailand in 1939) and Mgr Pigneau did not despair therefore: it returned to France in 1787 (France whose bankruptcy financial and moral was going to start later two years the `Révolution'), with the ultimate hope to gather an army to save its `second beloved fatherland'. It was a failure. Nevertheless, it succeeds in recruiting 300 French adventurers in the French counters of India. With some two boat and pieces of artillery, forwarding spent on June 19th, 1789 on the way, in less than one month of the day of the storming of the Bastille, for Vietnam.”

This young prince Nguyên Anh will become the emperor Long Gia, the founder of the dynasty of the Nguyễn, thanks to the military support of the French who saw there a possible colonial conquest later under the Second Empire.

Since the arrival of the soldiers of the emperor Napoleon III, the Vietnameses did not cease revolting against the colonial influence, of Phan Boi Chau with Ho Chi Minh while passing by Ngô Đình Diệm and the emperor Bảo Đại, each one according to its possibilities, with its manner and on its way. Resistances Vietnameses to French colonization are succédé, of the country revolts and jacqueries to those of the well-read men of Phan Châu Trinh and until that of the emperor Tan Duy détrôné in 1916 for patriotism and exiled in the island of the Meeting by the colonial Administration.

Carried out by the " nationalistes" VNQDD (Vietnam Quoc daN Dang) near to the Guomindang of the nationalist Chinese of Sun Yatsen, the rising of Vinh and the mutiny of Bay Yen of 1927 failed and filled the French bagnes which transformed into Communists the Vietnamese nationalists. In the years 1920, it is necessary to also note the importance taken by the Caodaïsme (sect politico-nun projaponaise) which had an armed militia, like the sect Hoa Hao in the Mekong delta of the years 1940. The French film Indo-China (film) refers to this period years 1920-50 as well as American film a quite quiet American according to a novel of Graham Greene ( has calm American ) which refers to the mode Ngô Đình Diệm of 1955-1963.

In 1930, the Indochinese Communist party is founded by Nguyên Sinh Cung, this last being made call Nguyên Tat Thanh and Nguyên Have Quôc (Nguyên the Patriot), then Hồ chí Minh (lake of wisdom or lake of light), in the metamorphoses of the character describes by Jean Lacouture, of the Nguyên outlaw Have Quoc, considered as one of the founding fathers of the French Communist party, with the President of the Democratic republic of Vietnam.

In 1932, the emperor Bảo Đại, of return of exile in France where it made its studies, founds a constitutional monarchy under French protectorate.

The second world war

In 1940, a treaty free-Japanese of Cessez-le-feu is signed, Singapore having refused any military aid at the time of the attempt at Japanese invasion. In 1941, the Japan nevertheless invades Indo-China following various conflicts gained over the French by the allies of the Japanese, in particular the Siam (the Thailand) to which it France yielded the Western half of the Kampuchea. The Kampuchean city of " Siem Reap " mean simply " law ( Rap ) siamoise" ( Siem ). The French forces are tolerated by the Japanese occupant because they diposent neither of a modern armament nor of a support of the metropolis, when the French State of Vichy placed until December 1941 (Pearl Habor) in a position of neutrality with Germany Nazi, fascistic Italy and militarist Japan (like the Spain of Franco). French Indo-China, then was " pétainiste" until the official patriotic song of Marshal, here us are! in the place of the Marseillaise . The March 9th 1945, the Japanese occupant makes a takeover by force against the French, cleaning all French Indo-China of any administrative and military presence French. The French armed forces are attacked by surprise. The civilians and military French are imprisoned (women and children) or are massacred (Eurasian men and mongrels).

During the year 1942, the state allied major (US) divides Vietnam into two zones of combat with distinct operational fastenings. It is this vision which precedes in the various meetings between Stalin and Roosevelt without any consultation of the government of the free France of De Gaulle. One says, fact not proven, that the French colonial empire was shared between the two leaders in two zones of influence, distribution only written with the hand on a draft of work. This semi-official division was act with the Release. In particular for Vietnam with a division with the 17th parallel in zone of Chinese and English influence. Another proof of a tacit agreement between the United States and the USSR is the support concerted for Ho Chi Minh between the OS and the Komintern, at the time of its operations of guerilla between 1941 and 1945 between China and the top Tonkin. Indeed the USSR was not in war against Japan.

A famine whose origin is badly identified makes rage in north, by a massive help, the Minh Vietnamese soldier gains in popularity. France loses its image of power to the eyes of the Vietnameses. It follows a political chaos, as with the release of France by the Allies at the same period: March 11th, the emperor proclaims independence and the reunification of the country, the August 15th the Japan board are demolished. The August 17th, the League for the independence of Vietnam " Vietnam Doc. Lap Dong Minh Hôi" or Viêt Minh in his abbreviation Vietnamese seizes the power with Hanoi by what is known under the name of " Revolution of August ". The September 2nd 1945, Hồ Chí Minh bases the Democratic republic of Vietnam, by the declaration of independence read on the Place Ba Dinh in Hanoï, in a ceremonial confucéen of dynastic change, and strongly supported by OS (the ex-CIA). The emperor Bảo Đại became " to advise spécial" first government of this young Republic, for continuity and legitimacy, as the sacring with the cathedral of Paris in August 1944 for Charles de Gaulle.

After 1945

In October 1945, the France occupies the south of Vietnam again '. In December 1946, the France occupies Hanoï after the negotiations of a " Working arrangement " , it is the beginning of the Guerre of Indo-China with the bombardment of Haiphong by the French navy. In June 1948, it is the treaty of bay of Halong: the emperor Bảo Đại is recognized chief of the Vietnam unified and independent within the French Union (the Commonwealth with the Frenchwoman). The French Army is lent to the emperor to fight against the communist expansion.

In 1950, the Viêt Minh has the support of the Soviet Union and the China. October 1950, 1st French defeat with CAD Bang. The the United States support the France. The May 7th 1954, the France loses the Bataille of Diên Biên Phu. The September 21st, Pierre Mendès France sign the Agreements of Geneva with Pham Van Dong: the country is cut into 2 with the 17° parallel in a temporary way for the military regrouping of the French forces in the south before its complete evacuation of Vietnam, Kampuchea and Laos. During two years following, a referendum will have to be organized to choose a single mode in Vietnam. The population has hundred days to choose between the Communist regime of the North and nationalist of the South: a million " Nordistes" , for the majority catholics, emigrate in the South with their priests by whole parishes on the topic of " to follow the Virgin left for Sud" to avoid being liquidated by the new capacity, which eliminates any opposition, according to an intense Franco-American propaganda. , whereas 100000 " sudistes" Armée popular Vietnamese join North, according to the terms of the " Agreements of Genève" on the military regrouping. The France is withdrawn definitively from Indo-China, according to these same terms of the Accords of Geneva.

From 1953 with 1954, North eliminates the unfavourable social classes with the construction from Communism. Following a land reform " musclée" , the country revolt of Ngê-Tinh in autumn of 1956 last unperceived in the media with the Franco-British countryside of Suez and revolts it of Budapest.

Republics

The war of Vietnam

See also: War of Vietnam

• a situation complexes In October 1955, the emperor Bảo Đại was deposited following the coup d'etat carried out by its Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm who founded the Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam Công Hoà) in the place of the State of Vietnam (Quôc Gia Vietnam) under the direction of the ex-emperor Bảo Đại, created by France to counter the founded Democratic republic of Vietnam the September 2nd 1945 with Hanoi. In 1956 the South refuses to organize the referendum envisaged by the Accords of Geneva for the reunification of the Vietnam, whom it had not signed and whom it denounced during the signature. The too authoritative mode of Diêm involves the foundation of the National front for the release of the Vietnam who launches an armed uprising.

• the time of the advisers Alors began the " Second War of Indochine" of reunification or War of Vietnam in a succession of climbings and errors of appreciation. Bernard B. Fall devoted its work to it. To continue the military aid with the mode of Saigon after the departure of the French in 1956 from the Agreements of Geneva, the MACV (Military Aid Vietnam Command) replaces the MAAG created earlier. In front of the massive infiltration of the communist troops Vietnameses of North in the South, the full deployment of the terrestrial forces of the USA is authorized by President Lyndon Johnson following the Résolution of the gulf of Tonkin.
• the escalation of violence After the North-South partition, North crushes in blood a country revolt déclanchée by a collectivization with excess. In November 1956, North eliminates the intellectual class by Trăm hoa đua nở (the flowering of the hundred flowers). In 1960, the first American military advisers arrive at the South Vietnam. In December, the creation of Front National de Libération of Vietnam saps the legitimacy of the Republic of the South Vietnam. From 1960 with 1963, Ngô Đình Diệm founds a dictatorial mode in the South, and it results from it from the disorders with the Buddhist demonstrations and coeds. With the assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm in 1963, political chaos settles until 1965. In August 1964, the the United States bombard North.
• Vietnam War In 1965, American (a division of Marine) unload on the Vietnamese southern ground on the beach of Da Nang. It is the beginning of the American military intervention with the South Vietnam. Gradually the number of GI combatant in the South-East Asia will increase. Running 1966, American, under the aegis of the general Westmorland launch a series of offensives intended to find the fortified towns where the Communist militants could hide. It is then the logic of " seek and Destruction" (Search and Destroy) which precedes. The majority of these operations show failures: " Cedar Fall" , " Atelboro" operation; . because the troops Vietcong do not seek the confrontation. It is indeed a guerilla warfare, true a Guerilla which agitates all the South Vietnam. American intensifies the use of the helicopters then (the famous Beautifulone) to be able to be driven as well as possible and launch missions in the jungle Vietnamese. In front of a situation to which the American army is not prepared (the American veterans often speak about an invisible enemy) and the moral one of the troops crumbles. One launches the project then to gain " the heart and âmes" to attract the sympathy of the rural populations of the South, but it is a new failure, whereas the bombardments on North intensify, and that the intrusions North Vietnameses in the South (by the " Track Ho Chi Minh ") become massive. The war is then total in 1967. the battle for the hill 887, which will be baptized " Hamburger Hill " will become the symbol in the United States of a conflict which becomes useless and expensive as men. To counter that, and whereas it is difficult to evaluate the losses of the vietcong, American launches the " Body count" : calculation macabre and falsified enemy losses. The media which covers an armed conflict freely, for the first time of the history, flood the American newspapers of strong images which make rock the public opinion.
• the Turning on February 1st 1968 is marked by the Offensive Small fireclay cup: attacks surprised and generalized perpetrated by the FNL and the North-Vietnamese troops. They occupy the cities of the South, especially Huê. At the time of their retirement, troops known as " Vietnamese soldier công" the inhabitants of Huê massacre. Ingeniousness Vietnamese (war of the tunnels, traps (booby-trap)…) is then carried to naked vis-a-vis the heaviness and to the lack of initiative of the American forces however committed in mass. The symbol of this offensive of the Small fireclay cup remaining the catch by the vietcong of the American embassy with Saigon.
• US GO Home! (pacifist slogan of the Anti-Americanism) the March 31st 1968, the American bombardments cease in North. In June 1969, the the United States are withdrawn partially of the conflict. The September 3rd 1969, Hồ chí Minh dies and the Party tears between pro-Chinese and pro-Soviet. As the Bataille of Diên Biên Phu led to the Accords of Geneva of 1954 for the withdrawal of the French troops, the Offensive of the Small fireclay cup of 1968 led to the Peace agreements of Paris of 1973 for the total evacuation of the terrestrial troops étatsuniennes shortly after.

Victory of Việt Nam of North

The April 30th 1975, Saigon falls. There is then an exodus of South-Vietnameses abroad. The new communist authorities open camps of rehabilitation massively, and one begins a meticulous destruction of all the “culture Southerner” regarded as antirévolutionnaire and degrading of a “saving of dustbin and brothel” of the French Armies and American since 1945 (the French literature was prolix with the houses of play of the “large world” of Chợ Lớn and of the “park to the buffaloes”, an immense BMC or Military Bordel of Countryside and the “Market with the robbers” was well-known). Striking fact: “northerner emigrants” catholic of 1954, pushed by an intense Franco-American propaganda, being specialists in Catholicism, “to follow the virgin to the south”, by whole parishes with their priests.

The April 25th, the country is reunified in socialist République of Vietnam with the joint and simultaneous disappearance of the Democratic republic of Việt Nam and the République of Việt Nam to make place with only one Việt Nam independent and linked, named “both Việt Nam” in work of Bernard B. Fall.

The first “Boat people” were the catholics who followed the “Virgin left for the South”, but more with the south that the South Vietnam, those of 1975 were the dignitaries of the mode of Saigon and those of 1980 were initially the Sino-Vietnameses (Hoa) and the “small people of the North” little accustomed to the socialist austerity of the “monk-soldiers” and to the deprivations which they knew during 30 years of war of independence and reunification. The shock was for the culture " festive" sudvietnamiens. The general president Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was the first to be left for Taiwan before the fall of Saigon and the general Nguyễn Ngọc Loan (that which carried out with end carrying a bound prisoner) found himself in Virginia.

In January 1979, Việt Nam invades the Kampuchea with the Third War of Indo-China on two faces, in the South against the Kampuchea to release this country of the Khmer Rouge pro-Chinese and which perpetrates the massacres in the border regions with Việt Nam and in North against the China through the Contentieux thousand-year-old sino-Vietnamese. The occupation Vietnamese in Kampuchea will last ten years to stabilize the country until the changing by UNO.

In 1986, the market and the production are liberalized with the political economy Vietnamese.

In 1992, the diplomatic relations are restored with the the United States and are standardized with the China.

In 1994, the American embargo is raised, the relations américano-Vietnameses are standardized, and the market economy starts to apply.

Việt Nam is officially a socialist republic. Capitalism reigns there as a Master and the nomenclature of the only authorized party, the Vietnamese Communist party, control all the political institutions and the economy of the country. The supreme body of the State is the Popular Assembly, renewed every five years. This one is elected by all the old Vietnameses of more than 18 years. In addition, the Popular Assembly elects the president of the State to the symbolic system role and the Prime Minister and her government. They are the second and third characters of the State. Indeed, in Việt Nam, the first character of the State is the general secretary of the Communist party. The Vietnamese executive, renewed in June 2006, is entrusted to:

• Nguyễn Minh Triết, replaces Trần Đức Lương which had been president since 1997.
• Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, replaces Phan Văn Khải which was Prime Minister since 1997.
• Nông Đức Mạnh is as for him always general secretary of the party since 1997.

Nowadays, some criticisms concerning the administration are tolerated.

Problems of the name of the country and the relations with China

The Contentious sino-Vietnamese

See also: the Yunnan

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