The Socialist Republic of Vietnam - a Brief History 1885-1976

Official Name: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Type of Government: Communist Single Party State

A Brief History 1885-1976

Vietnam has a very complex political history. In 1885, Vietnam became a French colony officially known as French Indochina. France remained in control until World War II in 1941 when the Viet Minh, a communist movement headed up by Ho Chi Minh, rose to power as a response to Japanese invasion and occupation and the French colonial government. The French government was marginalized by its problems with Germany in Europe, which led to a Japanese attempt to establish "The Empire of Vietnam" as part of their aggressive expansion throughout South East Asia and the Pacific. The Japanese occupation was a miserable failure, culminating in the Vietnamese Famine of 1945, just prior to the defeat of Japan in World War II. Vietnam lost a full 10% of its population due to famine, creating an environment that was perfect for revolution and the promise of a socialist utopia provided by the Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh. So, after the fall of Japan, Ho Chi Minh and his revolutionary forces moved into the city of Hanoi establishing a provisional government and declaring it an independent state on September 2, 1945.

Once things settled down in Europe, the French government decided to return to Vietnam and attempt to reclaim the colony. This resulted in the First Indochina War which lasted until 1954. The country was bitterly divided between members of the Viet Minh and French loyalists. While technically, the Viet Minh lost the war, their leader (Ho Chi Minh) was a skilled politician and was able to negotiate a resolution that favored his government. The Geneva Accords of 1954 was the result of his political maneuvering, which separated the country into two parts along a demilitarized zone along the 17th parallel. This gave Ho Chi Minh and his Chinese and Soviet backed regime (now called The Democratic Republic of Vietnam) the north half of the country, and the French colonials the southern half; led by the Emperor Bao Dai the south was called The State of Vietnam.

In the years between the Geneva Accords and the Vietnam War, political unrest and violence was the norm. The government in The State of Vietnam was exceedingly paranoid about communist aggression from the north. Their paranoia was justified to an extent due to the fact that the north was waging an escalating number of guerrilla attacks throughout the 1950's in an attempt to undermine and overthrow the government of the south. The tension in the south became so great that their government became equally as authoritarian as that of the north, regularly executing people who were even suspected of being communist sympathizers as well as crushing any form of free expression of political beliefs that differed from the ruling party. This environment did nothing but breed distrust and anger in the south resulting in a military coup in 1963. The provisional government set up by the military was very unstable, which led to a series of coups that weakened the country's hold on its borders and allowed the Communist north to advance further south.

During this time, the United States began sending advisers and troops to Vietnam to assist in stopping the Communist aggression. By 1965, the United States was fully committed to what was essentially a proxy war with China; much like an earlier war in Korea.

In January 1973 and the Paris Peace Accords recognized Vietnam as a sovereign nation and required the withdrawal of American forces by March of the same year. Once the Americans withdrew, fighting continued between the North and South until the Fall of Saigon in 1975, essentially ending the war and sealing victory for the North. Finally, on July 2, 1976, the two nations merged officially forming The Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Recent Politics and Events

The current government of Vietnam is loosely modeled after that of The Peoples Republic of China. The Communist Party of Vietnam is the only political party, and was reaffirmed in 1992 with the ratification of a new constitution that was drafted as an updated replacement of the original state constitution that was drawn up in 1976.

Vietnam has a President and