Page 82 - Ancient Kingdoms: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam

Le Dynasty re-established independence from China in 1427, and the country became known
as simply Dai Viet. Though nominally under Le rule, civil war between the Trinh and Nguyen
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the country and named it Vietnam, giving himself the title Emperor Gia Long.

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Roman Catholic missionaries. The Dai Viet rulers eventually felt threatened, and persecuted
the missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries. Seeking to protect the missionaries and to
become a power in the area, French forces entered Vietnam in 1858, taking control of the
country by 1883. Vietnam became part of French Indochina, and remained under French
domination until 1940, when Germany occupied France during World War II and Germany’s
ally Japan took control of Vietnam.

After Japan’s defeat, in September 1945, the communist Vietminh led by Ho Chi Minh gained
control of many regions of the country. Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent
nation—the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. France re-asserted its claim on the region, and
French forces regained control in the south. However, resistance from the Vietminh continued,
and the Communists still controlled the north. By late 1946, the Indochina War was in full
progress, continuing until 1954, when the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu.

In 1954, delegates to an international conference in Geneva agreed to a temporary division of
Vietnam into two separate countries—North and South Vietnam. In 1955, elections were held
in South Vietnam, and Ngo Dinh Diem was chosen leader. By 1957, the Vietminh in the south,
now called the Viet Cong, had begun an armed revolt against Diem’s government, supported
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supported North Vietnam. In South Vietnam, a series of coups eventually brought army general
Nguyen Van Thieu to power; he was then elected president in 1967. In North Vietnam, the
Communist Party Politburo took over following Ho Chi Minh’s death in 1969.

The war ended in 1975 with the withdrawal of American troops. In 1976, the country was
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Ho Chi Minh City. More than three million Vietnamese had been killed in the decades of war,
and the country’s economy had been devastated. Many Vietnamese emigrated to the U.S. and
other countries. In 1978, Vietnam severed its ties with China and aligned itself more closely
with the Soviet Union. That same year, Vietnam drew China’s wrath by invading Cambodia,
an incursion that lasted into the 1980s. Under the leadership of Nguyen Van Linh, the mid- to
late-1980s was a period of major economic and policy change in Vietnam. In response to the
disintegration of the Soviet Union and the loss of its economic support, Vietnam began to
liberalize its trade policies, allow private enterprise, and encourage foreign trade.

From 1990 to 1997, Vietnam’s economy grew rapidly. In 1994, the U.S. lifted its trade
embargo, and in 1995, full diplomatic relations were restored. A bilateral trade agreement
between the U.S. and Vietnam was signed in July 2000. In a touching gesture of reconciliation,
the U.S. and Vietnam agreed to work together on cleaning up the toxic Agent Orange left
behind from the Vietnam War; the joint operation began in 2011.

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