Vietnamese history
Brief history of Vietnam summarized
A brief review of the summarized history of Vietnam, an Asian country.
Old Vietnam
About 2,000 years ago, the people of North Vietnam began to cultivate rice in the Red River Valley. To irrigate their crops they built dams and dug canals. They were forced to work together and an organized kingdom called the Van Lang emerged.
However, in the second century BC the Chinese conquered the area. The Chinese ruled North Vietnam for more than 1,000 years and the Chinese civilization had a great impact on the Vietnamese.
However, in South Vietnam there was Indian influence. From the 1st to the 6th century AD, the southernmost part of Vietnam was part of a state called Funan. In the middle of Vietnam, an Indian -influenced state called Champa emerged in the 2nd century AD.
In North Vietnam the people resented Chinese rule and in AD 40 the Trung sisters led a rebellion. They formed an independent state. However, in AD 43 the Chinese crushed the rebellion and the sisters committed suicide. The Chinese continued to rule North Vietnam until the 10th century.
Finally in 938 a leader named Ngo Quyen defeated the Chinese at the Battle of the Bach Dang River and North Vietnam became an independent state.
In the 13th century the Mongols invaded Vietnam three times. In 1257 and 1284 they captured the capital, but withdrew sooner and later. Then, in 1288, the Vietnamese leader Tran Hung Dao defeated the Mongols at the Bach Dang River.
However, in the early 15th century, China attempted to regain control of North Vietnam. In 1407 they occupied the country, but their rule was resisted. In 1418 Le Loi started the Lam Son Uprising. In 1428 the Chinese were expelled and Le Loi became Emperor Le Thai To. Under his successors, the central Vietnamese state of Champa became a vassal state of North Vietnam.
However, in the early 16th century, the power of the Le dynasty declined. During the 17th and 18th centuries, two rival families came to power, the Trinh in the north and the Nguyen in the south. The Nguyen family conquered the Mekong Delta from the Khmer Empire.
In the 1770s a rebellion began in the town of Tay Son. Three brothers named Nguyen ran it. Gradually they took territory from the Nguyen lords in the south and from the Trinh lords in the north. By 1786 they were in control of all of Vietnam and a brother, Nguyen Hue, became Emperor Quang Trung.
In 1788 the Chinese intervened in Vietnam, but the Vietnamese defeated them at Dong Da. However, a Nguyen lord named Nguyen Anh escaped. He raised an army and from 1789 he pushed back the rebels. Nguyen Anh took Hanoi in 1802 and became Emperor Gia Long. Under his leadership, Vietnam became a strong United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese arrived in Vietnam by sea in 1516. In their wake came missionaries, first the Dominicans, then the Jesuits and the Roman Catholic Church, who made some progress in Vietnam.
The French in Vietnam
In the late 19th century, Vietnam became a French colony. However, the French took over Vietnam in stages. In 1859 they captured Saigon. Finally, in 1883, North and Central Vietnam was forced to become a French protectorate. The French built infrastructure in Vietnam, such as the railway from Saigon to Hanoi. They also built roads and bridges.
However, the building was financed by heavy taxes. Naturally, the Vietnamese wanted independence. The communists led the fight for independence. Ho Chi Minh founded the Revolutionary Youth League from the safety of China in 1925. In 1930 it became the Vietnamese Communist Party.
In 1940 the Germans defeated France. Japan decided to take advantage of French weakness and forced the French government to allow Japanese troops to occupy French Indochina, although they left the French administration there.
The Vietnamese communists or Viet Minh fought against the Japanese and by 1945 controlled parts of North Vietnam. Meanwhile, in March 1945, the Japanese took control of the administration of Vietnam and when Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, they left a power vacuum. Ho Chi Minh moved quickly to fill the gap.
He called an uprising called the August Revolution and the Viet Minh took control of most of Vietnam. On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared the independence of Vietnam.
However, the great powers ignored the Vietnamese demand for independence. Under the terms of the Potsdam Conference, Japanese troops south of the 16th parallel surrendered to the British. Those in the north surrendered to the Nationalist Chinese.
However, the French army soon came south to take control from the British. In the north, Chinese troops entered. However, Ho Chi Minh soon decided that the French were the lesser of two evils and signed a treaty, which said that French troops were to replace Chinese troops in North Vietnam for 5 years. In exchange, the French promised to recognize Vietnam as a “free state.”
However, it soon became clear that the French had no intention of relinquishing power in Vietnam and fighting broke out between them and the Viet Minh. For eight years, the Viet Minh waged a guerrilla war against the French.
Finally in 1954 they surrounded a French army at Dien Bien Phu. After a siege that lasted 57 days, the French were forced to surrender. By this time it was clear that the French could not win the war and both sides met at the Geneva Conference to end the war.
They agreed that Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel and that elections would be held on July 20, 1956. However, no elections were held and the division of Vietnam was made permanent.
Vietnam today
In the north, Ho Chi Minh introduced a communist regime, while in the south Ngo Dinh Diem became ruler. However, in the early 1960s South Vietnam was rocked by demonstrations and in 1963 Diem was overthrown in a coup.
Meanwhile, in 1959, the North Vietnamese launched a long guerrilla war to reunite Vietnam under communist rule. The northern guerrillas were known as the Vietcong.
Gradually the US became involved in the Vietnam War. As early as 1950, the United States sent military advisers to South Vietnam. Financially they supported the French government and later that of South Vietnam.
Then, in 1964, two US ships were reportedly subjected to “unprovoked” attacks by the North Vietnamese. First the Maddox was attacked. Two days later, the Maddox and a ship called the C Turner Joy claimed that they had both been attacked. (It is doubtful that this attack took place.)
The Americans bombed the north, and Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution allowing the president to take “all necessary steps” to prevent “further aggression.” As a result, in December 1965 there were 183,000 American soldiers in Vietnam and by the end of 1967 there were nearly half a million. However, the Vietcong continued their guerrilla warfare.
In January 1968, the Vietcong launched the Tet Offensive on towns and cities in South Vietnam. They suffered heavy losses, but afterward the Americans gradually withdrew from Vietnam. In January 1973 they signed a ceasefire and the rest of the US troops withdrew.
The South Vietnamese continued to fight alone against the Vietcong. However, in the first months of 1975 the South Vietnamese resistance collapsed and on April 30, 1975 the North Vietnamese captured Saigon. Vietnam was reunited under communist rule.
Then, in the late 1970s, the Khmer Rouge attacked Vietnam. So in 1978 the Vietnamese occupied Cambodia. They stayed until 1989.
Meanwhile, in 1986, the Vietnamese government introduced market reforms. As a result, the Vietnamese economy began to grow rapidly. In 1994 the United States lifted an economic embargo on Vietnam and in 1995 diplomatic relations were restored.
Today the Vietnamese economy is booming. Vietnam is becoming more and more prosperous. Tourism is an important industry in Vietnam. Also, in the year 2000 a stock exchange was opened in Vietnam.
Currently, the population of Vietnam is 96 million.
Share the history of Vietnam summarized.
