Video clip about Vietnam
Vietnam's history is one of war, colonization, and rebellion.Occupied by China no fewer than four times, the Vietnamese managed to fight off the invaders just as often. At various points during these thousand years of imperial dynasties, Vietnam was ravaged and divided by civil wars and at various times attacked by the Songs, Mongols, Yuans, Chams, Mings, Dutch, Qings, French, Japanese, and the Americans. The victories mostly belonged to the Vietnamese but, even during the periods in history when Vietnam was independent, it was mostly a tributary state to China until the French colonisation. Vietnam's last emperors were the Nguyễn Dynasty, who ruled from their capital at Huế from 1802 to 1945, although France exploited the succession crisis after the fall of TựĐức to de facto colonise Vietnam after 1884. Both the Chinese occupation and French colonisation have left a lasting impact on Vietnamese culture, with Confucianism forming the basis of Vietnamese social etiquette, and the French leaving a lasting imprint on Vietnamese cuisine.After a brief Japanese occupation in World War II, the Communist Việt Minh under the leadership of HồChí Minh continued the insurgency against the French, with the last Emperor BảoĐại abdicating in 1945 and a proclamation of independence following soon after. The majority of French had left by 1945, but in 1946 they returned to continue the fight until their decisive defeat at ĐiệnBiênPhủ in 1954. The Geneva Conference partitioned the country into two at the 17th parallel of latitude, with a Communist-led North and NgôĐìnhDiệm declaring himself President of the Republic of Vietnam in the South.The tank that ended the war, Ho Chi Minh City.Fighting between South Vietnam and the North Vietnamese-backed ViệtCộng escalated into what became known as the Vietnam War - although the Vietnamese officially refer to it as the American War. US economic and military aid to South Vietnam grew through the 1960s in an attempt to bolster the Southern Vietnam government, escalating into the dispatch of half a million American troops in 1966. What was supposed to be a quick and decisive action soon degenerated into a quagmire and US armed forces were only withdrawn following a cease-fire agreement in 1973. Two years later, on 30 April 1975, a North Vietnamese tank drove into the South's Presidential Palace in Ho Chi Minh City and the war ended with the conquest of South Vietnam. An estimated 800,000 to 3 million Vietnamese and over 55,000 Americans had been killed.The Vietnam war was only one of many that the Vietnamese have fought, but it was the most brutal in its history.Over two thirds of the current population was born after 1975. American tourists will receive a particularly friendly welcome in Vietnam, as many young Vietnamese imitate American customs and venerate US pop culture.