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History of Vietnam History of Vietnamese indicated in archaeological findings show that
the oldest known human settlements of northern Vietnam date back as far as
approximately half a million years ago and may have been among the first
East Asians to practice agriculture around this area. The Bronze Age, the
time of the Dong So culture in Vietnam, dates at around 3rd century BC and
is another advance level of civilization. Chinese Rule (circa 200 BC - AD 938) The Chinese conquest of the Red River Delta in the 2nd century BC truly
had fateful consequences in the Vietnam history. There was not only an
increase in Chinese settlements which was taking over the large tracts of
land but the Chinese immigrants also tried to impose their culture and
political system on the Vietnamese. Although these efforts were failed
because of the locals' strong sense of national identity, some of the
Chinese influences still remain in Vietnam. Such influences are
Confucianism and Taoism that became the official ideology, Chinese
language that was introduced as the medium of official and literary
expression, and Chinese ideographs which were adopted as the written form
for the Vietnamese spoken language. Many Chinese scholars had come to
Vietnam as administrators and refugees. However, there were numerous major
and minor rebellions occurred in this era against Chinese rule (which was
characterized by tyranny, forced labor and insatiable demands for tribute) Funan and Champa Meanwhile in the south of what is now known as Vietnam was a part of
the Funan kingdom which was rather influenced from Indian civilization
than Chinese ruling power as in the North. Archaeological excavations have
yielded an evidence of contact between Funan and China, Indonesia, India,
Persia, Mediterranean or even Roman Empire from 1st to 6th century. On the
other hand, at around the same time, the Hindu kingdom of Champa appeared
in the present Danang in the late 2nd century and by the 8th century
Champa had extended farther south to include what it is now Nha Trang and
Phan Rang. Independence from China (10th century) Back to the Red River Delta, in the beginning of 10th century, Tang
dynasty in China was collapsed and the Vietnamese revolutionaries, leaded
by Ngo Quyen, defeated Chinese troops in the final of repeated revolts,
ending a thousand year of Chinese rule in 938. Ngo Quyen then set up an
independent state of Vietnam and died in a few years later. After his
death, Vietnam was left with an anarchy and strife until early 11th
century when the first of the great Vietnam dynasty was found. Ly Dynasty (1010-1225) Ly dynasty, found by Ly Thai To, ruled Vietnam for 200 years from the
11th to 13th centuries. The emperors of this dynasty reorganized the
administration system, found the first nation's university (the Temple of
Literature in Hanoi), promoted agriculture and built the first embankments
for flood control along Red River. During this period, Confucianism was
depreciated and Buddhism was promoted. Tran Dynasty (1225-1400) By the end of Ly dynasty, the beginning of the 13th century, Vietnam
became prosperous and began to expand its territory towards Mekong Delta.
China, in contrast, had not abandoned their historic objective of
occupying the Red River Delta and therefore a Mongol warrior, Kublai Khan,
came to Vietnam for the conquest. However, Vietnamese, under Tran hung
Dao, resisted and after several bitter battles, the armies of China were
defeated and droved back across the border. On several occasions, Cham
armies of the Champa kingdom attacked and occupied the city near Hanoi but
were repelled. More frequently, the Vietnam troops were victorious and
gradually drove the people of Champa to the south. In the 15th century,
Vietnamese forces finally captured the Cham capital which is the present
Danang and virtually destroyed the kingdom. Later Le Dynasty (1428-1524) Vietnam advance to the south coincided with the new challenge in the
north. In 1407 Vietnam was again conquered by Chinese troops for two
decades until in 1428 when Vietnamese revolutionary, Le Loi, defeated and
declared himself as the first emperor of the Le dynasty. To this day, Le
Loi is revered as one of the country's greatest national heroes. The Le
dynasty retained its vigor for more than a hundred years until declining
in the 16th century and nearly collapsed by the late 18th century. Trinh & Nguyen Lords With the decline and collapse of the Le Dynasty, throughout the 17th to
18th centuries, Vietnam was divided into two separated zones between the
power of Trinh Lords who ruled in the north and Nguyen Lords who
controlled the south. The Trinh Lords repeatedly failed in attempting to
take over the area under the Nguyen control, in part because of the
Portuguese weaponry used by Nguyen was far superior to the Dutch armaments
supplied to the Trinh. Tay Son Rebellion (1771-1802) In 1765, a rebellion against misgovernment broke out in Tay Son Town
near Qui Khon, leaded by the three brothers from wealthy merchant family:
Nguyen Nhac, Nguyen Hue and Nguyen Lu. By 1783 they took control of the
whole central Vietnam including Saigon and the rest of the South. Nguyen
Lu became King of the South, while Nguyen Nhac was crowned king of central
Vietnam. While in the North, the Tay Son rebels had overthrown the Trinh
Lords and Nguyen Hue proclaimed himself Emperor Quang Trung in 1788. The
overwhelming defeat against Chinese army in 1789 was one of the most
celebrated military achievements in Vietnamese history. However, his
victory was short-lived as he died soon after in 1792. In 1802, Nguyen Anh,
a rare surviving Nguyen Lord, who had the military assistance from France,
gradually pushed back the Tay Son from the south. Nguyen Anh proclaimed
himself Emperor Gia Long which was the beginning of Nguyen Dynasty. Later
when he captured Hanoi, his victory was completed and for the first time
in two centuries, and Vietnam was reunited with Hue as its new capital
city. Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) The emperors of Nguyen Dynasty, Gia Long, his son and his grandson who were the following emperors, appeared to be conservative of Confucianism. Especially Emperor Minh Mang - Gia Long's son - as a background of Confucian scholar, he was profoundly hostile to Catholicism and suspecting France's influence which was then resulting in execution of seven missionaries and an unknown number of Vietnamese Catholics in 1830s. In addition, all following emperors continued to rule according to the conservative Confucianism precepts and imitation of Qing practices in China which were responded to rural unrest with repression. In the period of Gia Long, large-scale program of public works were set
up. Most dikes, canals, ports, bridges, land reclamation and road such as
the Mandarin Road that links Hue to both Hanoi and Saigon were constructed
in this period. However these vast projects imposed a heavy burden on the
population in the form of taxation and military conscription and forced
labor. Serious uprising broke out in both the North and the South and
growing more aggressive in 1840s and 50s. French Rule (1859-1954) Execution of Catholicism in 1830s resulting in actions taken by
religious groups in France forced French government to launch a naval
expedition to Vietnam in 1858. First attack at Danang Harbor in 1847 was
failed but after repeatedly attacks Vietnamese finally accepted a French
protectorate and become one of its colonies in 1880s. Vietnamese Anti-colonialism Even though French occupation had brought Vietnam improvements in transportation, communications, and contributions to the growth of commerce and manufacturing but as the proposition of colonialism is profitability, French investments for quick returns such as coal, tin, tungsten and zinc mines and tea, coffee and rubber plantations had resulted in deaths of Vietnamese, caused by disease and malnutrition, and brought Vietnamese to retain a strong desire to have their national independence restored. In 1941 the most successful revolutionary in the Vietnam's history, Ho
Chi Minh, formed an Indochina Communist Party called Viet Nam Doc Menh Lap
Dong Minh Hoi (means League for the Independence of Vietnam), which much
better known as Vietminh. Vietminh gained power over the North and the
South and was able to declare Vietnam as the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam in Hanoi on 2 September 1945. The French, however, were unwilling
to concede independence so, in October, drove the Vietminh and other
nationalist groups out of the south. For more than a year, the French and
the Vietminh sought a negotiated solution, but the talks, held in France,
failed to resolve differences, and war broke out in December 1946. After eight years of war, the Geneva Accords were signed to terminate
it. A significant condition was the temporary division of Vietnam into two
zones, with Vietminh in the North and the French and their Vietnamese
supporters in the South. To avoid permanent partition, a political
protocol was drawn up, calling for national elections to reunify the
country two years after the signing of the treaty. Uprising in the South After the signing the South was ruled by a government led by Ngo Dinh
Diem, in 1955, who later refused to implement the Geneva Accords, refused
to call an election, as he was convinced that Ho Chi Minh would win. As
time went on, Diem became increasingly tyrannical and running government
became a family affair. The favoritism he showed to Catholics alienated
many Buddhists. In the early 1960s, the South was rocked by anti-Diem
unrest led by university students and Buddhist clergy including several
high-published self-immolations by monks that shocked the world. Diem's
dictatorial rule also angered communists in the South who was supported
with weapons and training by the North. Soon after, the North announced
the formation of the National Liberation Front (NLF), later known as
Vietcong. In November 1963, Diem was overthrown and killed by Vietcong.
However he was followed by a military successor who still continued his
repressive policies. Vietnam War Until 1964, it was no longer just a battle with Vietcong as Hanoi began
infiltrating regular North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units into the South. By
early 1965, the Saigon government was in desperate straits. Desertions
from the Army of Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) had reached 2,000 per month.
The South was losing 500 men and a district capital each week. The South
Vietnamese army's general staff even prepared a plan to move its
headquarters from Saigon to the Vung Tau Peninsula which was easy to
defend and a minute from ships that could spirit them out of the country.
This was the point that USA committed its first combat troops. Enter of Americans Since 1950, 35 US soldiers arrived in Vietnam as part of the US
Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), ostensibly to instruct the
South Vietnam troops, receiving weapons and teach how to use them. These
would be American soldiers on Vietnamese soil for the next 25 years.
During the war between the North and the South of Vietnam, as the North
began to increase support to the Vietcong, the Americans sent more
military advisors and as the intensity of Vietcong attacks increased, US
fighting forces quickly replaced. By December 1967, there were almost half
a million American men in battlefield with the death number of 16,021. The Battle The American troops were not prepared for the type of warfare they
encountered in the jungle of South East Asia. Heavy weaponry they had
brought was less advantageous when confront the "hit and run"
tactics of the communist guerillas. Their inability to clearly identify
the enemy from the local population produced frustration for the Americans
and became a serious problem. Many peasants were guerrillas who would act
as farmers in the presence of Americans, but pick up weapons once the
Americans left. Vietcong would strike at the Americans only when it was to
their military advantage. As frustrations built up in fighting units,
discipline and moral began to decline, use of drugs and alcohol increased,
and leading to the further erosion of fighting capabilities. The Turning Point of Vietnam War During the war, the losses of American were devastating and the US
forces had long been wanting to engage the Vietcong in an open battle
rather than a guerrilla war. The Tet Offensive, marks for a crucial
turning point of the war, happened on the evening 31st January 1968 while
the country were celebrating Chinese New Year, Vietcong, with 70,000
communists, launched a stunning offensive in over 100 cities and towns
including Saigon. Its commando team took over the courtyard of the central
Saigon US embassy building. Being long waiting for this opportunity, the
US military forces immediately counterattacked with massive firepower,
bombing, and shelling heavily resulting in huge devastation on the
Vietcong with approximately 32,000 deaths, more than 10 times higher than
Americans and South Vietnam's. The End of the War Meanwhile in USA, antiwar demonstrations had started in university
campuses and were widespread throughout America. At this point Johnson
decided not to stand for re-election and Richard Nixon was elected in the
next election. The attempt to end the war was the meeting between Herry
Kissinger, Nixon's chief negotiation, and Le Duc Tho, the North Vietnam
counterpart in Paris. The Paris agreements were signed by USA, South
Vietnam, North Vietnam and Vietcong on the 27th January 1973 followed by
the total withdrawal of US combat forces. Apparently, this was the end of
the war. Fall of the South (1975) Although all of the US military personnel were out of Vietnam, the
guerrilla war still continued. In January 1975, the North Vietnam launched
a massive conventional ground attack using tanks and heavy artillery
supported by Soviet Union and China. Without American military support and
advice, the South Vietnam president, Nguyen Van Thieu, was panicking. He
then resigned and fled from the country turning the presidency to General
Duong Van Minh who soon surrendered only a week after. Peaceful and Opening up After the surrender, there were several struggles followed the war: oppression, demands, political repression, economic disasters, compulsory agricultural collectivization, purges of intellectuals, including a decade-long war with Khmer Rouge in Cambodia territory. Until the United Nations peacekeeping forces were called in to monitor the peace agreement. Even though Khmer Rouge units continue to violate the terms of the peace plan, Vietnam is no longer involved in the conflict. As a result, Vietnam has enjoyed its first decade of peace since WWII. Recently, the liberalization of foreign investment laws and the relaxation of visa regulations for tourists seem to be part of a general opening up of Vietnam to the world. Many countries have established diplomatic relations with Hanoi. Full diplomatic relations with USA have been restored by the visiting of the US president, Bill Clinton, marks for the fist US president to visit northern Vietnam. Throughout 2001 and into 2002, Vietnam pushed ahead with the implementation of its National Tourism Action Program, a government scheme in which key tourist sites were upgraded. This article is authored
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