South Vietnam
South Vietnam is the commonly used name for the former
Vietnamese country that existed from
1954 to
1976 in the portion of
Vietnam that lay south of the
17th parallel.
North Vietnam was situated to the north of the 17th parallel. The division of Vietnam occurred during the
Geneva Conference, after the
Viet Minh fought to end almost 100 years of
French rule in
Indochina.
* (
1954-
1955):
State of Vietnam.
* (
1955-
1975): the
Republic of Vietnam.
* (
1975-
1976): the
Republic of South Vietnam.
South Vietnam, officially the
State of Vietnam, (
Vietnamese:
Quốc gia Việt Nam) from
1954 to
1955, the
Republic of Vietnam (
RVN), (Vietnamese:
Việt Nam Cộng Hòa) from 1955 to
1975, and the
Republic of South Vietnam (
Vietnamese:
Cộng Hòa Miền Nam Việt Nam) from 1975 to 1976, was a country that existed from
1954 to
1975 in the territory of
Vietnam that lay south of the
17th parallel.
Unlike the other French possessions in
Indochina (
Annam,
Tonkin,
Cambodia and
Laos), which were nominally
protectorates, the southern part of Vietnam was the
colony of
Cochin-China, which had its capital at Sàigòn. As a colony it occupied a different legal position from the protectorates of Annam and Tonkin; it had been annexed to France in
1862, and even elected a deputy to the
French National Assembly. French colonial interests were thus stronger in Cochin-China than in other parts of French Indochina. As such, during the
First Indochina War the French government initially attempted to keep the status of Cochin-China separate from that of the rest of Vietnam, even going so far as constituting it an independent republic within the
Indochinese Federation in
1946, but this proved unacceptable to the
Viet Minh and in 1949 Cochin-China was eventually reunited with the other parts of Vietnam (Annam and Tonkin).
The
State of Vietnam was created through co-operation between
anti-communist Vietnamese and the French government on
June 14,
1949 during the
First Indochina War, and the
Emperor Bao Dai took up the position of Chief of State (Quoc Truong). This was known as the 'Bao Dai Solution', and was an attempt by the French to grant partial independence to Vietnam, while still retaining substantial control over the country, and keeping it from communist rule. Such a formulation was rejected by the communist
Viet Minh, led by
Ho Chi Minh, who were fighting the French for full independence for Vietnam.
In
1954 it was determined by the
Geneva Conference that the
State of Vietnam would rule the territory of Vietnam south of the
17th parallel, of which the former colony of
Cochin-China formed the heartland, pending unification on the basis of supervised elections (see
Geneva Conference (1954)) in 1956. The elections and unification did not take place as planned (see below). When the territory was divided in this way, approximately 800,000 to 1 million North Vietnamese, mainly Vietnamese
Roman Catholics, fled south due to what they perceived as "communist persecution" in the North. The Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed in
Sàigòn by
Ngô Ðình Diệm on
October 22, 1955, after the
Emperor Bảo Ðại was deposed.
The history of the relationship with the
United States is controversial. Some
historians say the founding of South Vietnam was based on the United States' need to create an "anti-communist" base in
Southeast Asia. Opponents argue that it was based on popular support of the South Vietnamese people. The U.S. and the Diem government agreed that elections mandated by the
Geneva Conference (1954) should not occur, claiming that the communists could not be trusted to conduct a fair election in the North. The dominant political rationale for supporting the South Vietnamese government was America's
containment policy, which was designed to hold back the spread of
communism during the
Cold War.
The failure to unify the country in
1956, along with Diem's persecution of communists, led in
1959 to the foundation of the (more commonly known as the Viet Cong), which initiated an organised and widespread guerrilla insurgency against the South Vietnamese government. Although initially cautious, Hanoi backed the insurgency, which grew in support and intensity. The United States, under
President John F. Kennedy, initially sent military advisers to South Vietnam. In
1965 President Lyndon Johnson decided to send in combat troops, and conflict steadily escalated to become what is commonly known as the
Vietnam War, although it is called the Second Indochina War by others, or to Vietnamese communists and NLF supporters 'The Anti-American Resistance War for National Salvation'. In
1968, the NLF ceased to be an effective organization after the
Tet Offensive and the war was taken over by regular army units of North Vietnam. Following American withdrawal from the war in
1973, the South Vietnamese government continued fighting the North Vietnamese, until, overwhelmed by a conventional invasion by the North, it finally
unconditionally surrendered on
April 30,
1975, the day of the
Fall/Liberation of Sàigòn. North Vietnam controlled South Vietnam under military occupation. The
Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam, which had been proclaimed in June 1969 by the
NLF, established the
Republic of South Vietnam but the republic never really existed or had any of the authority of a government. The North Vietnamese quickly moved to marginalise non-communist members of the PRG and integrate South Vietnam into the communist north. The unified
Socialist Republic of Vietnam was inaugurated on
July 2,
1976.
There is much controversy about how closely the South Vietnamese government was linked to the
United States. While it is clear that
Ngo Dinh Diem was initially the favored candidate of the United States to rule South Vietnam, he later displayed a sufficiently independent and nationalistic streak that the American government assented to his removal by a
coup. It has been claimed that, in particular, the South Vietnamese government of
Nguyen Van Thieu was nothing more than an
American puppet, and point to American connivance in Thieu's manipulation of the 1971 South Vietnamese Presidential election as evidence. On the other hand, some point to sharp differences between Thieu and Nixon at the time of the
Paris Peace Accord to demonstrate that he was not a puppet. The historical consensus is that there existed a
symbiotic relationship between the Thieu government and US military involvement in
Indochina: without American support the Thieu government could not survive; while the US needed to maintain the Thieu government to be able to continue its involvement in Indochina. The removal of one of these factors would invevitably bring about the end of the other.
In accordance with the
Paris Peace Accords signed with
North Vietnam in 1973 all
U.S. military forces withdrew from South Vietnam. Under the terms of the Accords North Vietnamese troops were not required to withdraw from South Vietnam. Taking advantage of the Southern government's lack of American aid, North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam in
1975, quickly capturing the cities of
Hue,
Da Nang and
Da Lat in central Vietnam, and advancing southwards.
The
Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) mounted a defense and a counterattack, but kept losing ground. South Vietnamese President
Nguyen Van Thieu requested aid from
U.S. President Gerald Ford, but the
U.S. Senate would not release money to provide aid to South Vietnam, and had already passed laws to prevent further involvement in Vietnam.
Nguyen Van Thieu resigned on
April 21,
1975, and fled to
Taiwan. He nominated his Vice President
Tran Van Huong as his successor. In one week, Tran Van Huong handed over the presidency to General
Duong Van Minh, who tried, unsuccessfully, to open negotiations with the North. The North refused to negotiate an end to the war.
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam was unable to sustain the defense of South Vietnam and eventually collapsed, due to limited supplies of everything from food, ammunition and gasoline. Acting President
Duong Van Minh unconditionally surrendered the capital city of Sàigòn and the rest of South Vietnam to
North Vietnam on
April 30,
1975, the
Fall/Liberation of Sàigòn.
South Vietnam went through many political changes during its short life.
Initially, the nation was a
constitutional monarchy, with
Emperor Bao Dai as
Head of State. The Vietnamese monarchy was unpopular however, largely because monarchical leaders were considered collaborators during
French rule.
In
1955 a republican referendum, which is largely considered to have been rigged due to the active presence of pro-republican military forces at voting booths and the 98% vote in favour of the movement, abolished the monarchy and made Prime Minister
Ngo Dinh Diem the country's first
president. Despite successes in politics, economics, and social change in the first 5 years, Diem quickly became a dictatorial leader. With the acquiescence of the United States government, ARVN officers staged a coup and killed him in
1963. The military held a brief
interim government until a civilian administration was installed in
1964.
In
1965 the feuding civilian government voluntarily resigned and handed power back to the nation's military, in the hope this would bring stability and unity to the nation. A joint assembly with representatives of all the branches of the military decided to switch the nation's system of government to a
parliamentary system with a strong
Prime Minister and a
figurehead President. There was a
bicameral National Assembly consisting of a
Senate and a
House of Representatives. Military rule initially failed to provide much stability however, as internal conflicts and political inexperience caused various factions of the army to launch coups and counter-coups against one another, making leadership very tumultuous. The situation stabilized when the reformist
Nguyen Cao Ky became Prime Minister and helped fight corruption and political division through often heavy-handed means.
In
1967 South Vietnam held its first elections under the new system. Following the elections, however, it switched back to a presidential system. The military nominated
Nguyen Van Thieu as their candidate, and he was elected with a
plurality of the popular vote. Thieu quickly consolidated power much to the dismay of those who hoped for an era of more political openess. He was re-elected unopposed in
1971, receiving a suspiciously high 94% of the vote on an 87% turn-out. Thieu ruled until the final days of the war, resigning in
1975.
Duong Van Minh was the nation's last president and unconditionally surrendered to the Communist forces a few days after assuming office.
South Vietnam was formerly members of
ACCT,
Asian Development Bank (ADB),
World Bank (IBRD),
International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC),
IMF,
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat),
Interpol,
IOC,
ITU,
League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (LORCS),
UNESCO and
Universal Postal Union (UPU).
Leaders of the Republic of Vietnam
*
See the Leaders of South Vietnam.**
Ngo Dinh Diem (1955"1963)
**
Duong Van Minh (1963"1964)
**
Nguyen Khanh (1964)
**
Phan Khac Suu (1964"1965)
**
Nguyen Van Thieu (1965"1975)
**
Tran Van Huong (1975)
**
Duong Van Minh (2nd time) (1975)
Main article:
Army of the Republic of VietnamTotal Armed Forces were over 1,000,000 in 1971, and U.S. Forces were 525,000 in
1968.
ARVN
On October 26, 1956, the military was reorganized by the administration of President
Ngo Dinh Diem who then established the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Early on, the focus of the army was the
guerrilla fighters of the
Vietnam National Liberation Front (NLF, also known as the Viet Cong), a shadow government formed to oppose the Diem administration. The
United States, under President
John F. Kennedy sent advisors and a great deal of financial support to aid ARVN (pronounced "arvin") in combating the Viet Cong insurgents. A major campaign, developed by
Ngo Dinh Nhu and later resurrected under another name was the "
Strategic Hamlet Program" which was unsuccessful. ARVN and President Diem began to be criticized by the foreign press when the troops were used to crush southern religious groups like the
Cao Dai and
Hoa Hao as well as to raid Buddhist temples, which Diem claimed were harboring
Communist guerrillas.
In 1963
Ngo Dinh Diem was killed in a coup d'etat organized by the
CIA and carried out by ARVN officers. In the confusion that followed
Duong Van Minh took control, but was only the first in a succession of ARVN generals to assume the presidency of South Vietnam. During these years, the United States began taking full control of the war against the NLF and the role of the ARVN became less and less significant. They were also plagued by continuing problems of severe corruption among the officer corps. Although the U.S. was highly critical of them, the ARVN continued to be entirely U.S. armed and funded.
The value of the ARVN was highly questionable in this period. In 1963 at the
Battle of Ap Bac some 1,400 ARVN troops were defeated by only 350 NLF guerrillas. The battle of
Dong Xoai in 1965 was another humiliating ARVN defeat. Although they always outnumbered their nationalist enemies, most were inexperienced, poorly trained, and not motivated to fight hard for the generals and politicians behind them. Generals tended to be political appointees and corruption was rampant. Their relations with the civilian population was never good and relations with the U.S. military were often very cold.
Starting in
1969, President
Richard M. Nixon started the process of "Vietnamization," pulling out American forces and leaving the ARVN to fight the war against the
North Vietnamese People's Army (PAVN). Slowly, ARVN began to expand from its
counter-insurgency role to become the primary ground defense against the
NLF and
North Vietnamese. From 1969-1971 there were about 22,000 ARVN combat deaths per year. Starting in 1968, South Vietnam began calling up every available man for service in the ARVN, reaching a strength of a million soldiers by 1972. In 1970 they performed well in
Cambodia and were executing 3 times as many operations as they had during the American war period. However, the officer corps was still the biggest problem. Leaders were often poorly trained, inept and the equipment continued to sub-standard as the U.S. tried to upgrade ARVN technology.
Relations with the public also remained poor as their only counter to NLF organizing was to resurrect the "Strategic Hamlet Program," which the peasants resented. Disapproving Americans called this "
barbed wire diplomacy." However, forced to carry the burden left by the Americans, the South Vietnamese army actually started to perform rather well and in 1970 was winning the war against the Communists, though with continued American air support. The exhaustion of the North was becoming evident and the Paris talks gave some hope of a negotiated peace if not a victory.
The most crucial moment of truth for the ARVN came with General
Vo Nguyen Giap's 1972 "Easter Offensive," the first all-out invasion of South Vietnam by the communist North. It was code-named "Nguyen Hue" after the historic Vietnamese hero who defeated the Chinese in 1778. The assault combined infantry wave assaults, artillery and the first massive use of tanks by the North Vietnamese. ARVN took heavy losses, but to the surprise of many, managed to hold on and stand their ground. The Communists took
Quang Tri province and areas along the
Lao and
Cambodia borders.
President Richard Nixon dispatched more bombers to provide air support for ARVN when it seemed that South Vietnam was about to be overrun. In desperation, President
Nguyen Van Thieu fired the incompetent General Giai and replaced him with ARVN's best commander, General
Ngo Quang Truong. He gave the order that all deserters would be executed and pulled enough forces together so that the North Vietnamese army (PAVN) failed to take Hue. Finally, largely as a result of U.S. air and naval support (see
Operation Linebacker), as well as some surprising determination by the ARVN soldiers, the Easter Offensive was halted.
After the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973 all U.S. military forces withdrew from South Vietnam and the war officially ended.
However, in 1975 the PAVN again invaded the South. This time, the ARVN could not hold them back. City after city fell to the Communists with ARVN soldiers joining the civilians trying to flee south. The North called this the "H" Chí Minh Campaign." All resistance crumbled. General
Cao Van Vien, ARVN chief of staff, ordered his men to fight to the death, then quickly fled the country. The ARVN tried to defend
Xuan Loc, their last line before Sàigòn. These men fought very well, but it was not enough. The men were greatly outnumbered and overwhelmed by the entire army of North Vietnam.
Xuan Loc was taken and on
April 30, 1975, initiated the
Fall/Liberation of Sàigòn. The army of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam captured the city, placing the
Vietnam National Liberation Front flag over the Independence Palace even though the NLF had accomplished almost nothing during the battles and had almost no authority within the country. General
Duong Van Minh, recently appointed president by
Tran Van Huong,
unconditionally surrendered the city and government bringing the Republic of Vietnam and also the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to a final end.
 |
Map of South Vietnam |
South Vietnam's capital was Sàigòn which was renamed
H" Chí Minh City on
May 1,
1975 after
unconditionally surrendering to the North.
Before surrendering, the South was divided into forty-four provinces (tỉnh, singular and plural).
The South was divided into coastal lowlands, Dai Truong Son (central mountains) with high plateaus, and the Mekong River Delta.
Vietnam’s economy evolved under the burden of military actions and political issues. In 1954, the nations of North Vietnam and South Vietnam had developed their own economic structure, reflecting different economic systems with different resources and trading partners. South Vietnam maintained a
free-market economy with ties to the west. It established the first Airline under Emperor Bao Dai, named
Air Vietnam. The economy of South Vietnam was artificially inflated by American aid and the presence of large numbers of Americans in the country between 1961 and 1973. After 1973 the country suffered economic shocks due to the removal of American spending and an increase in the price of oil. The unification of Vietnam in
1976, led to the imposition of North Vietnam's
centrally planned economy into the South. The country made no significant economic progress for the next twenty years. After the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of Soviet aid, the leadership of Vietnam accepted the need for change. Their occupation armies were withdrawn from Laos and Cambodia. Afterward, the country introduced economic reforms that created a market economy in the mid 1990s. The government remains a collective dictatorship under the close control of the communist party.
About 80% of population was
Kinh, and 20% was ,
Montagnard,
Khmer,
Cham,
Malay and others. (1970)
Principal religions were
Buddhism,
Roman Catholic,
Cao Dai,
Hoa Hao,
animists and others.
Vietnamese culture
Cultural life was strongly influenced by
China until
French domination in the
19th century. At that time, the traditional culture began to acquire an overlay of western characteristics. Many families have three generations living under one roof.
It is traditional for a married couple to care for the man’s parents. Also, it is very important to have a son. If there is only one son, he and his wife must live with his parents. If there are no sons, one of the daughters may remain unmarried and care for her parents. To make decisions, children must ask their parents.
Vietnamese males and females were not allowed to date. They grew up in their families until age 18 to 20 and marry according to their parents' arrangements. Dating is believed to undermine traditions, encouraging sons and daughters to defy their parents' wishes and bringing shame to their families. Youths who have affections for one another may carry their relationship in secrecy, but eventually yield to their parents' wills. This may mean marrying a complete stranger or someone they do not like. Pleasing their parents was a social priority and doing otherwise would have been a major dishonor. However, today Vietnamese males and females are free to date and marry as they choose.
*
Flag of South Vietnam*
Free Vietnam*
Leaders of South Vietnam*
National anthem of South Vietnam*
North Vietnam*
Vietnam*
Vietnam war*
The Constitution of the Republic of Vietnam 1956 (English language)
*
HIẾN PHÁP VIỆT NAM CỘNG HOÀ 1967 (Vietnamese language)
*
1975: Saigon surrenders*
Timeline of NVA invasion of South Vietnam
