South Vietnam

This article is about the former country. For a geographical region of Vietnam, see Southern Vietnam.

"Republic of Vietnam" redirects here. For the successor communist state, see Republic of South Vietnam. For unified communist state in Vietnam after 1976, see Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Republic of Vietnam Việt Nam Cộng hòa (Vietnamese) République du Viêt Nam (French)
1955–1975 (1949–1955: State of Vietnam)
Flag Coat of arms (1963–1975)
Motto: Tổ Quốc – Danh Dự – Trách Nhiệm "Fatherland – Honor – Duty"
Anthem: Tiếng Gọi Công Dân "Call to the Citizens"
Presidential seal: (1955–1963) (1963–1975)
The administrative territory of South Vietnam according to the 1954 Geneva Accord (dark green); territory claimed but not controlled (light green).
Status	Associated state of the French Union (1949-1954) Sovereign state of the French Union (1954-1955) Sovereign state (1955-1975)
Capital and largest city	Saigon 10°46′37″N 106°41′43″E 10.78°N 106.70°E / 10.78; 106.70
Official languages	Vietnamese
Recognised national languages	French
Religion	Buddhism Christianity Confucianism Taoism Folk religions Caodaism Hoahaoism
Demonym(s)	South Vietnamese Vietnamese
Government	Unitary presidential republic under a dictatorship (1955–1956) Unitary presidential constitutional republic under a dictatorship (1956–1963) The republic under transitional military governments (1963–1967) Unitary presidential constitutional republic (1967–1975)
President
• 1955–1963	Ngô Đình Diệm
• 1963–1967	Vacant (Military junta)
• 1967–1975	Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
• 1975	Trần Văn Hương
• 1975	Dương Văn Minh
Prime Minister
• 1963–1964 (first)	Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ
• 1975 (last)	Vũ Văn Mẫu
Vice President
• 1956–1963	Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ
• 1963–1967	Vacant
• 1967–1971	Nguyễn Cao Kỳ
• 1971–1975	Trần Văn Hương
• 1975	Nguyễn Văn Huyền
Legislature	National Assembly
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Historical era	Cold War
• Establishment of the State of Vietnam	8 March 1949
• Complete independence Accords	4 June 1954
• Division	21 July 1954
• First Republic established	26 October 1955
• Start of the Vietnam War	1 November 1955
• Withdrawal from the French Union	9 December 1955
• Promulgation of the constitution	26 October 1956
• 1963 coup	2 November 1963
• Second Republic established	1 April 1967
• Paris Peace Accords	27 January 1973
• Reunification	2 July 1976
Area
• Total	173,809 km2 (67,108 sq mi)
Population
• 1955	c. 12 million
• 1968	16,258,334
• 1974	19,582,000
• Density	93.55/km2 (242.3/sq mi)
Currency	đồng
Time zone	UTC+8 (Saigon Standard Time (SST))
Drives on	right
ISO 3166 code	VN
Preceded by Succeeded by French Indochina State of Vietnam Republic of South Vietnam
Today part of	Vietnam

Republic of Vietnam
Vietnamese alphabet	Việt Nam Cộng hòa
Chữ Hán	越南共和國

South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; Vietnamese: Việt Nam Cộng hòa; VNCH, French: République du Viêt Nam), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1955 to 1975, with first international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam. Its capital was located in Saigon, a city in Southern Vietnam. It was a member of the anti-communist and capitalist Western Bloc during the Cold War. With the division of Vietnam on 21 July 1954, South Vietnam was bordered by North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and Thailand across the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. In 1975, it was succeeded by the Republic of South Vietnam, which was de facto controlled by the communist North. On 2 July 1976, South Vietnam and North Vietnam merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

At the end of the Second World War, the communist Việt Minh of Hồ Chí Minh, started the August Revolution against the Nguyễn dynasty and its Japanese puppet state on 16 August 1945. On August 25, the Nguyễn dynasty collapsed. The Việt Minh formed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), known as "North Vietnam", in Hanoi (Northern Vietnam) on 2 September 1945. The French returned to French Indochina (including Vietnam) to re-establish their colonial rule here on 23 September 1945. French army later clashed with the Việt Minh in Hanoi on 19 December 1946, leading to the First Indochina War. The Viet Minh government then had to withdraw to the North. On 8 March 1949, the French formed the State of Vietnam with the Élysée Accords, it was a rival state of anti-communist Vietnamese politicians in Saigon, led by former Nguyễn emperor Bảo Đại. With this event as part of decolonization, the French abolished the old-style colonial regime in Vietnam, France recognized the independence and unification of Vietnam within the French Union; but Vietnam still depended on France as an associated state like other two countries within Indochina. The formation of the State of Vietnam on 8 March 1949 made this French colonial war part of the Cold War between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union, culminating in the American recognition of Saigon regime in February 1950 and subsequent aid to the French in the war against the communist Việt Minh. The French government agreed to give the State of Vietnam complete independence with the Matignon Accords on 4 June 1954, however they were never nominally completed. After the Việt Minh with the aid of China defeated the French Union in the First Indochina War, the Geneva Accords were made on 21 July 1954. The State of Vietnam was forced to abandon its claims to the North while the Việt Minh's state was recognized by the French and took power in the North. With the American support, a 1955 referendum on the state's future form of government was widely marred by electoral fraud and resulted in the deposal of Bảo Đại by Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm, who proclaimed himself president of the new republic on 26 October 1955. South Vietnam also withdrew from the French Union on 9 December 1955. South Vietnam then held parliamentary elections and subsequently promulgated a constitution on 26 October 1956. After a 1963 coup, Diệm was killed and his dictatorship was overthrown in a CIA-backed military rebellion on November 2, and a series of short-lived military governments followed. General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu then led the country after a civilian presidential election from 1967 until 1975.

During 1949-1975, both Saigon and communist governments coexisted, both claimed to be the representative of Vietnam; the communists accused Saigon of being puppet government (ngụy quyền) of France then the US to disguise foreign rule, while Saigon accused its enemy of being anti-free and spreading communism under nationalist guise. The Vietnam War, a Cold War military conflict between North and South Vietnam, started on 1 November 1955 and escalated in March 1959 when North Vietnam accepted the use of force in the South. North Vietnam de facto established the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam (Việt Cộng) the next year. North Vietnam was aided mainly from China and the Soviet Union while South Vietnam was aided mainly from the US. Larger escalation of the insurgency occurred in 1965 with foreign intervention to help South Vietnam (mostly the U.S.) and the introduction of regular forces of Marines, followed by Army units to supplement the cadre of military advisors guiding the Southern armed forces. North Vietnam was also helped by foreign armies, mostly Chinese. A regular bombing campaign over North Vietnam was conducted by offshore US Navy airplanes, warships, and aircraft carriers joined by the South Vietnamese and American Air Force squadrons from 1965 to 1968. Fighting peaked up to that point during the Tet Offensive of February 1968, when there were over a million South Vietnamese soldiers and 500,000 US soldiers in South Vietnam. In 1969, the North Vietnam-controlled Việt Cộng established the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (PRG) to challenge the legitimacy of the South Vietnamese government but this was not successful internationally. What started as a guerrilla war eventually turned into a more conventional fight as the balance of power became equalized. An even larger, armored attack from the North commenced during the 1972 Easter Offensive following US ground-forces withdrawal. Under the support of the US air force, the South Vietnamese army successfully stopped the communist attack. In the Second Battle of Quảng Trị, the South Vietnamese army (ARVN) successfully recaptured part of Quang Tri territory from the enemy. However, the Saigon government still lost about 10% of its territory to the communists.

Despite a truce agreement under the Paris Peace Accords signed on 27 January 1973 after five years of on-and-off negotiations, fighting continued almost immediately afterwards. The regular North Vietnamese army (PAVN) and their Viet Cong auxiliaries launched a major second combined-arms conventional offensive in 1975. Communist forces overran Saigon and South Vietnamese president unconditionally surrendered on the radio on 30 April 1975, marking the end of capitalist South Vietnam and the Vietnam War. In 1976, the North Vietnam-controlled Republic of South Vietnam (PRG) and North Vietnam merged to form the communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Etymology

Main article: Names of Vietnam

The official name of the South Vietnamese state was the "Republic of Vietnam" (Vietnamese: Việt Nam Cộng hòa; French: République du Viêt Nam). The "State of Vietnam" (Vietnamese: Quốc gia Việt Nam; French: État du Viêt Nam) was the official name of its predecessor state from 1949 to 1955. The communist North was known as the "Democratic Republic of Vietnam".

Việt Nam (Vietnamese pronunciation: [vjə̀tnam]) was the name adopted by Emperor Gia Long in 1804. It is a variation of "Nam Việt" (南 越, Southern Việt), a name used in ancient times. In 1839, Emperor Minh Mạng renamed the country Đại Nam ("Great South"). In 1945, the nation's official name was changed back to "Vietnam" by the government of Bảo Đại. The name is also sometimes rendered as "Viet Nam" in English. The term "South Vietnam" became common usage in 1954, when the Geneva Conference provisionally partitioned Vietnam into communist and capitalist parts, one year before the republic was proclaimed in the southern part.

Other names of this state were commonly used during its existence such as "Free Vietnam", "Free South", "Republican South", "National Government", "National side", the "Government of Vietnam", or simply "Vietnam".

History

Conflict and division, 1941-1955

See also: Élysée Accords, Geneva Conference (1954), and Operation Passage to Freedom

South Vietnamese head of state Bao Dai and the French High Commissioner in Indochina Léon Pignon exchanged letters at City Hall in Saigon on 14 June 1949, leading to the Élysée Accords taking effect.

Anti-communist propaganda poster of the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam) "This is our true national flag", 27 March 1951.

A parade of the State of Vietnam army in Hoàn Kiếm Lake, Hanoi, 14 July 1951.

Before World War II, the southern part of present-day Vietnam (Nam Kỳ) had been taken over and administered as a complete colony of France since the Treaty of Saigon (1862) between France and the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty, it was Cochinchina. It had been directly ruled by France and a French governor (thống đốc) and even elected a deputy to the French National Assembly; but unlike Algeria, it was not part of France. The northern part of Vietnam or Tonkin (Bắc Kỳ) was under a French resident general (thống sứ). Between Tonkin in the north and Cochinchina in the south was Annam (Trung Kỳ), under a French resident superior (khâm sứ). The Nguyễn dynasty emperors of Vietnam, residing in Huế, since the Treaty of Huế (1883) had been the nominal rulers of Annam and Tonkin protectorates, which were French colonies like Cochinchina but had parallel French and Vietnamese systems of administration. French political power in Tonkin was stronger than in Annam. Hanoi, Hai Phong, and Da Nang became three French concession cities in 1888 but these cities still legally belonged to Vietnam of the Nguyễn dynasty because they belonged to the French protectorate of Tonkin or Annam. A French governor-general (toàn quyền) administered all the five parts of French Indochina (Tonkin, Annam, Cochinchina, Laos, and Cambodia). Under French rule, nationalist movements and armed uprisings of Vietnamese people (both communists and non-communists) emerged. After the 1930 Yên Bái mutiny of the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng led by Nguyễn Thái Học failed; in the long run, it allowed the communists of Hồ Chí Minh to inherit the status of this organization as the leading anti-colonial revolutionary movement. Communist rebellions against the French colonialists also failed in the 1930-1931 uprising of the Nghệ-Tĩnh soviets and the 1940 Cochinchina uprising. During World War II, French Indochina was administered by Vichy France and occupied by Japan in September 1940. The communist Việt Minh was formed as one of nationalist groups of Vietnam in 1941. After Japanese troops overthrew the Vichy administration on 9 March 1945, Nguyễn Emperor Bảo Đại proclaimed his Vietnam independent and to regain Cochinchina to establish the Empire of Vietnam on 11 March 1945. However, it was a puppet state of Japan within the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. After the Japanese emperor claimed to surrender to the Allies on the radio on August 15, with the August Revolution of different political organizations led by communists, Emperor Bảo Đại abdicated on 25 August 1945 and Việt Minh leader Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in Hanoi (Northern Vietnam) on September 2. While the people celebrated their victory in the north, the communist Việt Minh faced various problems in the south, which was politically more diverse than the north. The communist Việt Minh had been unable to establish the same degree of control in the south as in the north. There were serious divisions in the independence movement in the south, where the Việt Minh, Cao Đài, Hòa Hảo, other nationalist groups and the Trotskyists competed for control. Since its establishment, the Viet Minh had never publicized it as a communist organization but as a neutral and nationalist one to attract or cooperate with non-communists and receive support from the people, however the communists sought to suppress politicians and political organizations who did not submit to them with the goal of establishing a future communist state for Vietnam. The communist Việt Minh even oppressed the Trotskyists, who shared their Marxist ideological background. The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng was considered biggest enemy by the communists. On 11 November 1945, the communists issued a communique to dissolve their party, but only in name. Nguyen Van Thieu, the future president of anti-communist South Vietnam, joined the Việt Minh in 1945 but quickly left the organization a year later after realizing it was communist. In Paris 1946, asked by Daniel Guerin about the fate of Trotskyist leader Tạ Thu Thâu (executed in September), Hồ Chí Minh, while allowing that "Thâu was a great patriot", replied: "All those who do not follow the line which I have laid down will be broken." At his direction, the Việt Minh broke or substantially weakened all rival anti-colonial forces. A Chinese Kuomintang army arrived to occupy Vietnam's north of the 16th parallel north, while a British-led force occupied the south in September. The British-led force facilitated the return of French forces who started to fight the Viet Minh for control of the south on 23 September 1945, because French sovereignty over French Indochina (including Vietnam) got a legal recognition of the victorious Allies that France was their member. The young Vietnamese state itself was still weak and not recognized by any country. While the Chinese soldiers occupied northern part of Vietnam, the Việt Minh tried to appease the Chinese soldiers. They even had welcome parades in Hanoi and Haiphong, while reassuring the Vietnamese people that China supported Vietnam's independence. The Chinese occupation forces allowed the Viet Minh's state more influence than the British Army occupation authorities in the south, but the Chinese also put pressure to prevent the Viet Minh from monopolizing the new Vietnamese state. National Assembly elections were held in areas controlled by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) but not controlled by France on 6 January 1946. Held under its 1946 constitution that was "liberal democratic", they resulted in a victory for the communist Việt Minh (who de facto ruled the state and did not say they were communist), which won 182 of the 302 seats, although the distribution of seats between parties had been decided publicly before the elections by the Việt Minh themselves due to Chinese pressure and former emperor Bao Dai himself was also given a seat in the National Assembly by the communist Viet Minh. Most Vietnamese people at that time were illiterate and even the Viet Minh forcing people to vote for them was discovered. The ballot was not secret and ballot papers were filled out in the presence of aides who were "to help comrades who had difficulty in making out their ballots". There was minimal campaigning and most voters had no idea who the candidates were. In many districts, a single candidate ran unopposed. The French army then moved north to replace the Chinese army. The Việt Minh also tried to make peace with France and France recognized the Việt Minh's state as a "Free State" within the French Union with an agreement on 6 March 1946. In June 1946, France declared Cochinchina an autonomous republic, separate from the northern and central parts. The French Indochina War began on 19 December 1946, the French defeated the Việt Minh in Hanoi on 18 February 1947. The Viet Minh government had to withdraw to the North. As part of decolonization, after World War II ended on 2 September 1945, France returned to Vietnam (Tonkin and Annam) and Cochinchina but gradually had to grant much more autonomy and democracy. France and the United Kingdom two colonial superpowers won World War II but were seriously weakened while the United States and the Soviet Union opposing colonialism and being two main victors became new superpowers and self-determination was clearly written in the United Nations Charter as an international legal right, leading to original foundation for the possibility of gaining complete independence from colonial empires in peace after the War. While the British empire preferred an indirect rule system, which did not mix the colonized people with the colonists, the French state theoretically chose an integration system and considered parts of its colonial empire as France itself and its population as French people to spread the spirit of "freedom, equality and brotherhood". In 1947, Nguyễn Văn Xuân who was a Vietnamese anti-communist became Prime Minister of the autonomous republic of French Cochinchina, he renamed the "Provisional Government of the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina" as the "Provisional Government of Southern Vietnam", suggesting that his aim was to reunite all of Vietnam under a non-communist regime. Also in 1947, under a pressure of the domestic left, the French government of Prime Minister Paul Ramadier agreed that it would give a non-communist Vietnam independence and unification. With co-operation between indigenous anti-communists and France, two preliminary treaties at Ha Long Bay recognizing Vietnam's independence and unity were signed between ex-emperor Bao Dai (representative of the anti-communist faction) and France on 7 December 1947 and 5 June 1948, and the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam was established on 27 May 1948 as a transitional government partly replacing the French protectorates of Tonkin (Northern Vietnam) and Annam (Central Vietnam), until French Cochinchina (southern part) could be reunited with the rest of the country under a unified French-associated administration. On 2 June 1948, this government chose the yellow flag with three red stripes as its representative flag, which would become the national flag of South Vietnam the following year. Bao Dai and his anti-communist faction were not satisfied with the two treaties signed with France because they believed that these documents did not guarantee Vietnam's independence and were not serious about Vietnam's unification.

Anti-China propaganda poster of the State of Vietnam, 20 March 1952. In the poster, the State of Vietnam denounced the communist Viet Minh as lackeys of the Chinese communists

The State of Vietnam was created as an independent and unified country within the French Union by the Élysée Accords signed at the Élysée Palace by Bảo Đại (under the name of Vietnamese emperor) and French President Vincent Auriol on 8 March 1949. Its capital was in Saigon, Southern Vietnam. With this historical agreement, France agreed to abolish the protectorates in Tonkin (Northern Vietnam) and Annam (Central Vietnam) that had existed in Vietnam since 1883 so that they could be unified. The agreement also clearly stated that Vietnam included Cochinchina (Southern Vietnam), a colony being under direct French rule since 1862; but the merger of Cochinchina into Vietnam still needed to go through legal procedures. On 23 April 1949, the Cochinchinese assembly approved the merger with Vietnam (State of Vietnam), and its decision was in turn approved by the French National Assembly on 20 May 1949. On 4 June 1949, Cochinchina and Vietnam were formally merged. The Élysée Accords took effect when Bao Dai and the French High Commissioner in Indochina Léon Pignon exchanged letters at City Hall in Saigon on 14 June 1949. The Accords were completed when they received final ratification by the French National Assembly on 29 January 1950 and were signed by French President Vincent Auriol on 2 February 1950. The State of Vietnam was not completely a sovereign state but an associated state of France. However, in theory, the autonomy of the State of Vietnam within the French Union was still higher than that of Malaya within the British Commonwealth from 1948 to 1957. Former emperor Bảo Đại temporarily accepted the position of chief of state (quốc trưởng) before it could become a complete republic. In its Domain of the Crown, he was still officially titled as the "Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty". This was known as the "Bảo Đại Solution" of France when creating peace with the communist Viet Minh was no longer possible, supported by native anti-communists who wanted to seek an independent and unified Vietnam without communism. The colonial war of France in Vietnam became part of the global Cold War (1947-1991) between the United States and Soviet Union with the communist Việt Minh (DRV) being part of the communist Eastern Bloc and the State of Vietnam being part of the anti-communist and capitalist Western Bloc. This state was proclaimed on 2 July 1949. France itself was also part of the Western Bloc. The birth of associated states of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam in 1949 was due to several factors: the French failure to create a viable Indochinese Federation after World War II; pressure from non-communist Vietnamese nationalists to unify Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina into one national entity; strong resistance from Lao and Cambodian nationalists to the idea of sharing a colonial state of an Indochinese kind with the Vietnamese; international pressure from the United States on the French to accommodate nationalist independence aspirations in order to combat more effectively the communist threat; and the Chinese Red Army’s march towards southern China from mid-1948 and the possible Sino-Soviet support for communist Vietnam. On 1 October 1949, China became a communist state after the Chinese Civil War, the Kuomintang's government (Republic of China) that was pro-Western later had to withdraw to Taiwan. The victory of Chinese communists was a turning point in the First Indochina War. In 1950; communist countries such as China, the Soviet Union, East Germany, North Korea, Hungary, Mongolia, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Bulgaria recognised the Việt Minh's state (DRV). As of early 1950, there were 35 non-communist countries recognizing the State of Vietnam; among them were the United States, South Korea, Thailand, Iran, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Spain, and countries in South America. The First Indochina War of France itself was also similar to the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) of the British. The French arrangement on 8 March 1949 afforded Vietnam a limited degree of internal and external sovereignty (for example, it was allowed to enter into diplomatic relations with a small number of countries), but for the most part reserved for France effective control over foreign relations, as well as military, judicial, administrative, and economic activities. The French army remained to fight in the ongoing war but no longer in the name of a colonial army but a part of the French Union to help another independent member of this organization. From June to November 1950, the State of Vietnam and France met in Pau (France) to discuss the transfer of management functions on immigration, diplomatic relations, foreign trade, customs and finance for the State of Vietnam. Finance was the most controversial issue including controlling profits from foreign exchange operations. As a result, all of the above functions were transferred to the State of Vietnam by France. According to the Élysée Accords, France gradually transferred management functions to Bao Dai's government. On 8 December 1950, the State of Vietnam and France signed a military agreement to establish the Vietnamese National Army by placing a number of Vietnamese military units established by France under the command of the State of Vietnam. It was expected that this army would include 120,000 soldiers and 4,000 officers. All officers had to be Vietnamese. However, the army of this state was established before. According to the national defense decree of the State of Vietnam dated April 13, 1949; a national military force named the "National Guard" established on the basis of the pro-French autonomous military forces of the Vietnamese in the North and Central and South, including the paramilitary organization of the right-wing Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam in the North. This army would become the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces on 26 October 1955 after Vietnam was divided, when the State of Vietnam in the South became a republic. In 1953, Bảo Đại responded to the communist Việt Minh program of land redistribution and rent reduction with a decree declaring that rents for land should not exceed 15 percent of the crop. The decree was unenforceable and rendered null by a failing colonial government and, in any case, contained loopholes that could have been exploited by landlords. Under increasing financial pressure and European defense commitments, on 3 July 1953, the French government issued a declaration of its intention to complete the independence of three Indochinese associated countries (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia). After the decisive defeat of the French Union in Điện Biên Phủ, France decided to give in to Saigon's desire for complete independence. On 4 June 1954, the French government of Prime Minister Joseph Laniel signed the Matignon Accords with the State of Vietnam government of Prime Minister Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lộc in the Hôtel Matignon to recognize Vietnam as a sovereign state within the French Union, however the Accords had never been completed because they had never been ratified by the heads of both countries.

About 1.2 million North Vietnamese refugees left the newly created communist North Vietnam during Operation Passage to Freedom (1954-1955). Hải Phòng, October 1954.

While the US provided aid to the State of Vietnam and France, China provided massive and abundant aid to the Viet Minh and this was the main factor leading to France's defeat in Indochina. On 21 July 1954, the war ended, France and the Việt Minh (DRV) agreed at the Geneva Conference that the Viet Minh army withdrew all to the North and the French Union army withdrew all to the South, and Vietnam would be temporarily divided at 17th parallel north and State of Vietnam would rule the territory south of the 17th parallel, pending unification on the basis of supervised elections in 1956. France also re-recognised complete independence of Vietnam with these agreements. Hanoi, the de jure capital of the Viet Minh communist government (DRV) in the war, was taken over by the Viet Minh on 10 October 1954 after the withdrawal of French Union troops. At the time of the conference, it was expected that the South would continue to be a French dependency. However, South Vietnamese Premier Ngô Đình Diệm, who was an anti-communist conservative and preferred American sponsorship to French, rejected the agreement. As a rigid nationalist, he strongly opposed French colonialism and the division of Vietnam. South Vietnam rejected the Geneva Accords. North Vietnam of the Việt Minh itself was also forced to sign the agreement under Chinese pressure. When Vietnam was divided, about 1.2 million North Vietnamese went to the South with Operation Passage to Freedom. About 90,000 Việt Minh were evacuated to the North while 5,000 to 10,000 cadre remained in the South, most of them with orders to refocus on political activity and agitation. The Saigon-Cholon Peace Committee, the first communist front, was founded in 1954 to provide leadership for this group. Operation Passage to Freedom was marked by an American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-backed propaganda campaign on behalf of South Vietnam's Roman Catholic Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. The campaign was usually viewed to exhort Catholics to flee "impending religious persecution" under communism, and around 60% of the north's 1.14 million Catholics immigrated. However, the communist Viet Minh also tried to forcefully prevent would-be refugees from leaving, especially in rural areas where there were no French or American military forces.

About the communist Việt Minh, on 7 March 1951, it and the communist National United League of Vietnam (Hội Liên Việt) merged to form the communist Vietnamese United Front (Mặt trận Liên Việt). Nonetheless, people continued to call the new front as the Việt Minh. Later, after communists took power in North Vietnam, the United Front (Việt Minh) changed into the current communist Vietnam Fatherland Front (Mặt trận Tổ quốc Việt Nam) on 10 September 1955. Before that, in 1951, Vietnamese communists de jure restored their party; with the 1959 Constitution of North Vietnam (DRV), Vietnamese communists formalized their rule and implementation of communism in the territories they controlled.

Republic of Ngô Đình Diệm: 1955–1963

Main article: Ngô Đình Diệm

See also: 1955 State of Vietnam referendum, Battle of Saigon (1955), and 1956 South Vietnamese Constitutional Assembly election

President Ngô Đình Diệm taking the oath as First President of the Republic of Vietnam on Constitution Promulgation Day (26 October 1956).

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles greeting President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam in Washington, D.C., 8 May 1957

South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm meeting with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during a state visit to India on 8 November 1957. India was a neutral country during the Cold War and adopted a socialist economic system.

In July 1955, Diệm announced in a broadcast that South Vietnam would not participate in the elections specified in the Geneva Accords. As Saigon's delegation did not sign the Geneva Accords, it was not bound by it, despite having been an associated state but not sovereign state of the French Union, which was itself bound by the Accords because the Matignon Accords that made Saigon gain complete independence from France never took effect legally. He also claimed the communist government in the North created conditions that made a fair election impossible in that region. Dennis J. Duncanson described the circumstances prevailing in 1955 and 1956 as "anarchy among sects and of the retiring Việt Minh in the South, the 1956 campaign of terror from Hanoi's land reform and resultant peasant uprising around Vinh in the North". A victory for communist Ho Chi Minh in the free general election was certain because Ho hid in the name of nationalism and neutrality to fight against the French by force although in the Saigon regime Ngo Dinh Diem had more prestigious than Bao Dai, however the International Control Commission (ICC) held that both North and South Vietnam did not comply with the Geneva armistice agreement (although South Vietnam did not sign it) and neither was eligible to hold a free general election for Vietnam. The communist Viet Minh still kept a large number of its cadres in the South while the population of the North itself was larger than the population of the South.

Diệm held a referendum on 23 October 1955 to determine the future of the country. He asked voters to approve a republic, thus removing Bảo Đại as head of state. The poll was supervised by his younger brother, Ngô Đình Nhu. Diệm was credited with 98 percent of the votes. In many districts, there were more votes to remove Bảo Đại than there were registered voters (e.g., in Saigon, 133% of the registered population reportedly voted to remove Bảo Đại). His American advisors had recommended a more modest winning margin of "60 to 70 percent". Diệm, however, viewed the election as a test of authority. On 26 October 1955, Diệm declared himself the president of the newly proclaimed Republic of Vietnam. South Vietnam withdrew from the French Union on 9 December 1955. The French, who needed troops to fight in Algeria (then French internal part) and were increasingly sidelined by the United States, completely withdrew from Vietnam by April 1956.

Under Bảo Đại, the State of Vietnam planned to organize parliamentary elections and promulgate a constitution to establish a republic, but not in time due to the progress of the war. However, South Vietnam under Diệm held parliamentary elections and subsequently promulgated a constitution on 26 October 1956.

The Geneva Accords promised elections in 1956 to determine a national government for a united Vietnam. In 1957, independent observers from India, Poland, and Canada representing the International Control Commission (ICC) stated that fair, unbiased elections were not possible, reporting that neither South nor North Vietnam had honored the armistice agreement: "The elections were not held. South Vietnam, which had not signed the Geneva Accords, did not believe the Communists in North Vietnam would allow a fair election. In January 1957, the ICC agreed with this perception, reporting that neither South nor North Vietnam had honored the armistice agreement. With the French gone, a return to the traditional power struggle between north and south had begun again."

In October 1956, Diệm, with US prodding, launched a land reform program restricting rice farm sizes to a maximum of 247 acres per landowner with the excess land to be sold to landless peasants. More than 1.8m acres of farm land would become available for purchase, the US would pay the landowners and receive payment from the purchasers over a six-year period. Land reform was regarded by the US as a crucial step to build support for the nascent South Vietnamese government and undermine communist propaganda.

The North Vietnamese Communist Party approved a "people's war" on the South at a session in January 1959 and this decision was confirmed by the Politburo in March. In May 1959, Group 559 was established to maintain and upgrade the Ho Chi Minh Trail, at this time a six-month mountain trek through Laos. About 500 of the "regroupees" of 1954 were sent south on the trail during its first year of operation. Regarding the relations with communist North Vietnam, Diệm maintained total hostility and never made a serious effort to establish any relations with it.

Diệm attempted to stabilise South Vietnam with defending against communist activities by both propaganda and force (Tố Cộng diệt Cộng). He also launched military campaigns against three powerful group – the Cao Đài, Hòa Hảo and the Bình Xuyên organised crime syndicate whose military strength combined amounted to approximately 350,000 fighters (see also: Battle of Saigon (1955)).

By 1960 the land reform process had stalled. Diệm had never truly supported reform because many of his biggest supporters were the country's largest landowners. While the US threatened to cut aid unless land reform and other changes were made, Diệm correctly assessed that the US was bluffing.

Like Bảo Đại, the Saigon regime under Ngô Đình Diệm was a dictatorship but not a liberal democracy; although Diệm overthrew Bảo Đại to establish a nominal republic and he was an ally of the US. Based on mass-organizations and secret networks as effective instruments, the Cần Lao Party with the Person Dignity Theory played a considerable role in creating a political groundwork for the power of Diệm's family and helped them to control all political activities in South Vietnam.

Opening of the Bien-hoa Highway in South Vietnam by President Ngo Dinh Diem, 28 April 1961

Throughout this period, the level of US aid and political support increased. In spite of this, a 1961 US intelligence estimate reported that "one-half of the entire rural region south and southwest of Saigon, as well as some areas to the north, are under considerable Communist control. Some of these areas are in effect denied to all government authority not immediately backed by substantial armed force. The Việt Cộng's strength encircles Saigon and has recently begun to move closer in the city." The report, later excerpted in The Pentagon Papers, continued:

Many feel that [Diem] is unable to rally the people in the fight against the Communists because of his reliance on virtual one-man rule, his tolerance of corruption extending even to his immediate entourage, and his refusal to relax a rigid system of public controls.

1963–1973

Main articles: Buddhist crisis and Vietnam War

The areas of responsibility of the South Korean army in Vietnam, December 1966

Propaganda poster for South Vietnamese elections featuring Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, 1967

Support for the North Vietnam-controlled Viet Cong (NLF/VC) was driven by resentment of Diem's reversal of Viet Minh land reforms in the countryside. The Viet Minh had confiscated large private landholdings, reduced rents and debts, and leased communal lands, mostly to poorer peasants. Diem brought the landlords back, people who had been farming land for years had to return it to landlords and pay years of back rent. Marilyn B. Young wrote that "The divisions within villages reproduced those that had existed against the French: 75% support for the NLF, 20% trying to remain neutral and only 5% firmly pro-Saigon government". However, the land reform in communist North Vietnam was also a serious disaster.

The Diệm government lost support among the populace, and from the Kennedy administration, due to its repression of Buddhists and military defeats by the Việt Cộng. Notably, the Huế Phật Đản shootings of 8 May 1963 led to the Buddhist crisis, provoking widespread protests and civil resistance. The situation came to a head when the Special Forces were sent to raid Buddhist temples across the country, leaving a death toll estimated to be in the hundreds. However, the people who support Diem's regime claim he sponsored and supported many Buddhist organizations, and Buddhism flourished under his regime. Before Diệm was overthrown, on 3 September 1963, South Vietnamese army (ARVN) also defeated communists in a small battle at Go Cong. Diệm feared the escalation of American military personnel in South Vietnam, which threatened his nationalist credentials and the independence of his government. In 1963, Diệm's government secretly discussed with North Vietnam on the issue of peace and reunification between the two sides and reached an important consensus with the communists.

Although the coup was successful in overthrowing the dictatorship; Diệm's removal set off a period of political instability and declining legitimacy of the Saigon government, Saigon's ability to fight totalitarian communism as well as build and govern the country was seriously weakened after the fall of his dictatorship to the point that the communists themselves felt happy. General Dương Văn Minh became president, but he was ousted in January 1964 by General Nguyễn Khánh. Phan Khắc Sửu was named head of state, but power remained with a junta of generals led by Khánh, which soon fell to infighting. Meanwhile, the Gulf of Tonkin incident of 2 August 1964 led to a dramatic increase in direct US-allied participation in the war in South Vietnam, with nearly 200,000 American troops deployed by the end of the year. North Vietnam was also helped by foreign armies, mostly Chinese. Khánh sought to capitalize on the crisis with the Vũng Tàu Charter, a new constitution that would have curtailed civil liberties and concentrated his power, but was forced to back down in the face of widespread protests and strikes. Coup attempts followed in September and February 1965, the latter resulting in Air Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ becoming prime minister and General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu becoming nominal head of state. A regular bombing campaign over North Vietnam was conducted by offshore US Navy airplanes, warships, and aircraft carriers joined by the South Vietnamese and American Air Force squadrons from 1965 to 1968. After Diem's death, South Vietnam became dependent on the United States; unlike being dependent on China during the First Indochina War, during most of the Vietnam War communist North Vietnam was neutral regarding the Sino-Soviet split not to be dependent on any country and to receive aid from both.

Kỳ and Thiệu functioned in those roles until 1967, bringing much-desired stability to the government. They imposed censorship and suspended civil liberties, and intensified anticommunist efforts. Under pressure from the US, they held elections for president and the legislature in 1967. The Senate election took place on 2 September 1967. The Presidential election took place on 3 September 1967, Thiệu was elected president with 34% of the vote in a widely criticised poll. Like Diệm, Thiệu was among the hardline anti-communists and did not accept a political alliance with the South Vietnamese communists (de facto controlled by the North); however, despite the South Vietnamese constitution considering Vietnam a unified country, he advocated a two-state solution with North Vietnam to join the United Nations together and co-exist peacefully to wait for the day of liberal democratic unification. The Parliamentary election took place on 22 October 1967.

US Marines from A Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, engaged in house-to-house combat in Huế in February 1968

On 31 January 1968, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) of North Vietnam and its Việt Cộng broke the traditional truce accompanying the Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday. The Tet Offensive failed to spark a national uprising and was militarily disastrous. By bringing the war to South Vietnam's cities, however, and by demonstrating the continued strength of communist forces, it marked a turning point in US support for the government in South Vietnam. The new administration of Richard Nixon introduced a policy of Vietnamization to reduce US combat involvement and began negotiations with the North Vietnamese to end the war. Thiệu used the aftermath of the Tet Offensive to sideline Kỳ, his chief rival.

The Land to the Tiller project carried out in South Vietnam from 1970 to 1973 was based on a proposal by Roy Prosterman, a prominent American "land-rights activist", who the US government of the time recruited within its efforts against communists. Drawing on experiences in other countries (particularly in Latin America), Prosterman proposed a "land-to-the-tiller" program to compete with the communists for the allegiance of the peasants. The plan mimicked the communists' land expropriation strategy, coupled with monetary compensation to the former landowners. On 26 March 1970, with the war still underway, the government of South Vietnam began implementation of the Land-to-the-Tiller program following Prosterman's model. In total, the United States financed 339 million US dollars of the reform's 441 million dollars of expenses. Individual holdings were limited to 15 hectares. Legal titles were extended to peasants in areas under control of the Republic of Vietnam government to whom land had previously been distributed by the communists.

South Vietnamese M113 APC on a road in Cambodia, 1970

US and South Vietnamese forces launched a series of attacks on PAVN/VC bases in Cambodia in April–July 1970. South Vietnam launched an invasion of North Vietnamese bases in Laos in February/March 1971 and were defeated by the PAVN in what was widely regarded as a setback for Vietnamization.

Inauguration of South Vietnamese President Thieu, 1971.

Thiệu was reelected unopposed in the Presidential election on 2 October 1971.

North Vietnamese army (PAVN) launched a Easter Offensive in South Vietnam in late March 1972 which was only finally repulsed by October with massive U.S air support. In Quảng Trị, South Vietnamese army (ARVN) successfully took part of it back.

1973–1975

The approximate areas of control in South Vietnam at the time of the signing of the Paris Accords, 27 January 1973.

210 North Vietnamese prisoners from the Bien Hoa POW Camp refuse repatriation and want to remain in South Vietnam sit with signs at Bien Hoa Air Base, 25 March 1973

In accordance with the Paris Peace Accords signed on 27 January 1973, US military forces withdrew from South Vietnam at the end of March 1973 while PAVN forces in the South were permitted to remain in place. According to Finnish historian Jussi Hanhimäki, due to triangular diplomacy which isolated it, South Vietnam was "pressurized into accepting an agreement that virtually ensured its collapse". North Vietnam violated the Paris Peace Accords first on the evening of January 29 when they counterattacked at Cửa Việt Base with the goal of retaking this place from South Vietnam.

North Vietnamese leaders had expected that the ceasefire terms would favour their side. As Saigon began to roll back the Việt Cộng, they found it necessary to adopt a new strategy, hammered out at a series of meetings in Hanoi in March 1973, according to the memoirs of Trần Văn Trà. As the Việt Cộng's top commander, Trà participated in several of these meetings. A plan to improve logistics was prepared so that the PAVN would be able to launch a massive invasion of the South, projected for 1976. A gas pipeline would be built from North Vietnam to the Việt Cộng provisional capital in Lộc Ninh, about 60 mi (97 km) north of Saigon.

On 15 March 1973, US President Richard Nixon implied that the US would intervene militarily if the communist side violated the ceasefire. Public reaction was unfavorable, and on 4 June 1973 the US Senate passed the Case–Church Amendment to prohibit such intervention. The oil price shock of October 1973 caused significant damage to the South Vietnamese economy. A spokesman for Thiệu admitted in a TV interview that the government was being "overwhelmed" by the inflation caused by the oil shock, while an American businessman living in Saigon stated after the oil shock that attempting to make money in South Vietnam was "like making love to a corpse". One consequence of the inflation was the South Vietnamese government had increasing difficulty in paying its soldiers and imposed restrictions on fuel and munition usage.

After two clashes that left 55 South Vietnamese soldiers dead, President Thiệu announced on 4 January 1974 that the war had restarted and that the Paris Peace Accord was no longer in effect. There were over 25,000 South Vietnamese casualties during the ceasefire period. In reality, fighting began almost immediately after the agreement took effect, due to a series of mutual retaliations, and by March 1973, full-fledged war had resumed. The same month, China attacked South Vietnamese forces in the Paracel Islands on the South China Sea, taking control of the islands. Saigon later objected diplomatically. North Vietnam recognized Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea because China was one of two main allies in the Vietnam War. The "Operation Tran Hung Dao 48" was a campaign conducted by the South Vietnamese Navy in February 1974 to station troops on unoccupied islands to assert Vietnam's sovereignty over the Spratly archipelago after the Battle of the Paracel Islands. After communist reunification in 1976, Hanoi started to carefully praised the South Vietnamese forces that took part in the battle, while trying to avoid praising the Saigon regime as always to keep the image of their regime. After the battle, the US refused Saigon's requests for assistance because the US signed the Paris Peace Accords and the US and South Vietnam had no mutual defense treaty.

In August 1974, Nixon was forced to resign as a result of the Watergate scandal, and the US Congress voted to reduce assistance to South Vietnam from $1 billion a year to $700 million. By this time, the Ho Chi Minh trail, once an arduous mountain trek, had been upgraded into a drivable highway with gasoline stations. On 10 December 1974, South Vietnam did recapture a series of hills from communist North Vietnam in the Battle of Phú Lộc, but this was the army's last victory before suffering repeated defeats and collapse.

President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu used samples of South Vietnamese off-shore oil to light a flame commemorating his country's war dead at the military cemetry in Thu Duc, 1 February 1975.

On 12 December 1974, the PAVN attacked at Phuoc Long as the beginning of the 1975 spring offensive to test the South Vietnamese combat strength and political will and whether the US would respond militarily. With no US military assistance forthcoming, the ARVN were unable to hold and the PAVN successfully captured many of the districts around the provincial capital of Phuoc Long, weakening ARVN resistance in stronghold areas. President Thiệu later abandoned Phuoc Long in early January 1975. As a result, Phuoc Long was the first provincial capital to fall to the PAVN.

In 1975, the PAVN launched an offensive at Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands. The South Vietnamese unsuccessfully attempted a defence and counterattack but had few reserve forces, as well as a shortage of spare parts and ammunition. As a consequence, Thiệu ordered a withdrawal of key army units from the Central Highlands, which exacerbated an already perilous military situation and undermined the confidence of the ARVN soldiers in their leadership. The retreat became a rout exacerbated by poor planning and conflicting orders from Thiệu. PAVN forces also attacked south and from sanctuaries in Laos and Cambodia capturing Huế and Da Nang and advanced southwards. As the military situation deteriorated, ARVN troops began deserting. By early April, the PAVN had overrun almost 3/5th of the South.

Thiệu requested aid from US President Gerald Ford, but the US Senate would not release extra money to provide aid to South Vietnam, and had already passed laws to prevent further involvement in Vietnam. In desperation, Thiệu recalled Kỳ from retirement as a military commander, but resisted calls to name his old rival prime minister.

On 17 April 1975, Cambodia fell to the communist Khmer Rouge, an ally of North Vietnam. South Vietnam's ally here collapsed.

Fall of Saigon: 30 April 1975

Main articles: Operation Babylift, Operation Frequent Wind, and Fall of Saigon

Two South Vietnamese soldiers in the Battle of Xuân Lộc, April 1975.

The president of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) Trần Văn Hương nominated Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and Trần Thiện Khiêm as his envoys to visit the Republic of China (Taiwan) and other countries, 25 April 1975

With Operation Babylift from 3 April to 26 April 1945; over 3,300 South Vietnamese infants and children had been airlifted by the United States and other Western countries (including Australia, France, West Germany, and Canada), although the actual number has been variously reported. Morale was low in South Vietnam as the PAVN advanced. A last-ditch defense was made mostly by the ARVN 18th Division led by Brigadier General Lê Minh Đảo at the Battle of Xuân Lộc from 9–21 April. The North Vietnamese communists demanded that Thieu resign so peace negotiations could take place; under pressure from within the country, Thiệu was forced to resign on 21 April 1975, and fled to Taiwan under the name of an envoy of the South Vietnamese president. He nominated his Vice President Trần Văn Hương as his successor. When Thiệu resigned, he accused the U.S. of betrayal in a TV and radio address:

At the time of the peace agreement the United States agreed to only replace equipment on a one-by-one basis. But the United States did not keep its word. Is an American's word reliable these days? The United States did not keep its promise to help us fight for freedom and it was in the same fight that the United States lost 50,000 of its young men.

After only one week in office, the South Vietnamese national assembly voted to hand over the presidency to General Dương Văn Minh. Minh was seen as a more conciliatory figure toward the North, and it was hoped he might be able to negotiate a more favourable settlement to end the war. After that, on 28 April 1975, South Vietnamese president Minh immediately asked the US defense attaché to leave South Vietnam to create conditions for negotiations with Hanoi. The communist North, however, was not interested in negotiations to create a coalition government in the South with anti-communists and neutrals, and its forces attacked Saigon. Minh did not want to evacuate the Saigon government to the Mekong Delta to continue military resistance against the communist faction. Minh unconditionally surrendered to North Vietnam on the radio at 9:30 on 30 April 1975, leading to the end of the Vietnam War and more than 26 years of existence of the Saigon regime.

During the hours leading up to the surrender, the United States undertook a massive evacuation of US government personnel as well as high-ranking members of the ARVN and other South Vietnamese who were seen as potential targets for persecution by the Communists. Many of the evacuees were taken directly by helicopter to multiple aircraft carriers waiting off the coast.

Communist rule and reunification, 1975-1976

Main articles: Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, Flag of South Vietnam, and Vietnamese democracy movement

Bronze plaque in the Port of Hamburg (Germany) dedicated by Vietnamese refugees giving thanks to Rupert Neudeck and the rescue ship Cap Anamur

Following the surrender of Saigon to North Vietnamese armed forces on 30 April 1975; South Vietnam was de facto overthrown, while the communists took power throughout Vietnam and there was no place for neutrals and anti-communists. A big campaign of historical and cultural revision began by the communists in South Vietnam, such as abandoning the teaching of Chinese characters in schools despite Vietnam being part of the Sinosphere. The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (PRG) of the Việt Cộng (de facto controlled by the North) officially became the government of South Vietnam, which merged with North Vietnam to create the communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam on 2 July 1976. The North's flag, national anthem, capital, and constitution were still chosen. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City to honor Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese communist leader who died 7 years earlier in Hanoi. The Cambodian communists who were once allies of the Vietnamese communists began to change their attitude and became hostile towards Hanoi when they invaded Phu Quoc on May 1, 1975. After reunification, Hanoi abandoned the policy of neutrality in its relations with the Soviet Union and China to choose to be pro-Soviet, leading to escalating tensions in Indochina. The North Vietnam-controlled Việt Cộng was merged with the Vietnamese Fatherland Front of the North on 4 February 1977. Non-communist party members of the Việt Cộng became dissatisfied with Hanoi after the fall of Saigon due to its conservative and harsh policies in managing the country and treating those who had worked for the old regime. Although the communistization of South Vietnam had taken place before; Vietnamese communists only publicly announced the implementation of communism nationwide on 20 December 1976, after Vietnam was reunited. Many South Vietnamese had to leave the country by boat because they could not stand the harsh conditions of Vietnam under the new regimes, especially since September 1978. With the 1988-1991 revolutions leading to the fall of most communist states and a good relationship with the US, Vietnamese communist government became opener when talking about the old regime. The communist government in Vietnam began implementing Doi Moi on December 18, 1986 to gradually abandon the Soviet economic model for capitalization but still decided to keep the existing socio-political model; and large amounts of remittances began to contribute to Vietnam's economic development, most of which ironically came from people associated with the former Saigon regime. Although Vietnam was unified in 1976; the more Westernization, openness, and dynamism of the Southerners did not begin to disappear. With the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, the yellow flag of the old regime was started to be banned by the communist regimes in Vietnam but was started to be used in anti-communist Vietnamese overseas communities (but not all Vietnamese dissidents) and started to be recognized by many places in Australia, the US, and Canada.

Geography

Main articles: Geography of Vietnam and Climate of Vietnam

North and South Vietnam (1954–1976). A 1964 map

The South was divided into coastal lowlands, the mountainous Central Highlands (Cao-nguyen Trung-phan) and the Mekong Delta. South Vietnam's time zone was one hour ahead of North Vietnam, belonging to the UTC+8 time zone with the same time as the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Taiwan and Western Australia.

Government and politics

Seal of the President of South Vietnam (1963–1975).

South Vietnam's House of Representatives, Saigon, May 1967.

The nine justices of South Vietnam's Supreme Court, 1971.

South Vietnam went through many political changes during its short life. Initially, former Emperor Bảo Đại served as Head of State of the State of Vietnam and Emperor of its Domain of the Crown. He was unpopular dictator however, largely because monarchical leaders were considered collaborators during French rule and because he had spent his reign absent in France.

In 1955, Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm held a referendum to decide whether the State of Vietnam would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Under the Elysee Accords and the subsequent legislation that created the State of Vietnam in 1949, Bảo Đại's position as head of state was neither permanent nor indefinite. Sovereignty was presumed to rest solely upon the people, with Bảo Đại being a mere conduit. As a result, the referendum itself was within the law. This referendum was blatantly rigged in favor of a republic. Not only did an implausible 98% vote in favor of deposing Bảo Đại, but over 380,000 more votes were cast than the total number of registered voters; in Saigon, for instance, Diệm was credited with 133% of the vote. Diệm proclaimed himself the president of the newly formed Republic of Vietnam. Despite successes in politics, economics and social change in the first 5 years, Diệm quickly became a dictatorial leader even more than Bảo Đại. With the support of the United States government and its CIA, ARVN officers led by General Dương Văn Minh staged a coup and killed him in 1963. However the coup seriously weakened the regime. The military held a brief interim military government until General Nguyễn Khánh deposed Minh in a January 1964 coup. Until late 1965, multiple coups and changes of government occurred, with some civilians being allowed to give a semblance of civil rule overseen by a military junta.

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. An elected constituent assembly including representatives of all the branches of the military decided to switch the nation's system of government to a semi-presidential system. 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 within the ranks of the military stabilised in mid-1965 when the Republic of Vietnam Air Force chief Nguyễn Cao Kỳ became Prime Minister, with General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu as the figurehead chief of state. As Prime Minister, Kỳ consolidated control of the South Vietnamese government and ruled the country with an iron fist.

In June 1965, Kỳ's influence over the ruling military government was solidified when he forced civilian prime minister Phan Huy Quát from power. Often praising aspects of Western culture in public, Ky was supported by the United States and its allied nations, though doubts began to circulate among Western officials by 1966 on whether or not Ky could maintain stability in South Vietnam. A repressive leader, Ky was greatly despised by his fellow countrymen. In early 1966, protesters influenced by popular Buddhist monk Thích Trí Quang attempted an uprising in Quang's hometown of Da Nang. The uprising was unsuccessful and Ky's repressive stance towards the nation's Buddhist population continued.

In 1967, the unicameral National Assembly was replaced by a bicameral system consisting of a House of Representatives or lower house (Hạ Nghị Viện) and a Senate or upper House (Thượng Nghị Viện) and South Vietnam held its first elections under the new system. The military nominated Nguyễn Văn Thiệu as their candidate, and he was elected with a plurality of the popular vote. Although Diệm's de facto dictatorship was overthrown in 1963 and the 1967 constitution completed the liberal democracy of Saigon regime, due to wartime Thieu quickly consolidated power much to the dismay of those who hoped for an era of more political openness. 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 on 21 April 1975. Vice-president Trần Văn Hương assumed power for a week, but on 27 April the Parliament and Senate voted to transfer power to Dương Văn Minh who was the nation's last president and who unconditionally surrendered to the Communist forces on 30 April 1975.

The National Assembly/House of Representatives was located in the Saigon Opera House, now the Municipal Theatre, Ho Chi Minh City, while the Senate was located at 45-47 Bến Chương Dương Street (đường Bến Chương Dương), District 1, originally the Chamber of Commerce, and now the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange.

The South Vietnamese government was regularly accused of holding a large number of political prisoners, the exact number of which was a source of contention. Amnesty International, in a report in 1973, estimated the number of South Vietnam's civilian prisoners ranging from 35,257 (as confirmed by Saigon) to 200,000 or more. Among them, approximately 22,000–41,000 were accounted "communist" political prisoners.

Leaders

Main article: Leaders of South Vietnam

Flag of Bảo Đại as the Head of State of the State of Vietnam (1949-1955)

• 1946–1947 Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina (Chính phủ Cộng hoà Nam Kỳ tự trị). The creation of this republic, during the First Indochina War (1946–1954), allowed France to evade a promise to recognise Vietnam as independent. The government was renamed in 1947 Provisional Government of Southern Vietnam, overtly stating its aim to reunite the whole country.
  • Nguyễn Văn Thinh (1946)
  • Lê Văn Hoạch (1946–1947)
  • Nguyễn Văn Xuân (1947–1948)
• 1948–1949 Provisional Central Government of Vietnam (Chính phủ lâm thời Quốc gia Việt Nam). This "pre-Vietnam" government prepared for a unified Vietnamese state, but the country's full reunification was delayed for a year because of the problems posed by Cochinchina's legal status.
  • Nguyễn Văn Xuân (1948–1949)
• 1949–1955 State of Vietnam (Quốc gia Việt Nam). Internationally recognized in 1950. Roughly 60 percent of Vietnamese territory was actually physically controlled by the communist Việt Minh in 1952. Vietnam was partitioned at the 17th parallel in 1954.
  • Bảo Đại (1949–1955). Abdicated as emperor in 1945 following surrender of Imperial Japanese occupying forces at the end of World War II, later serving as head of state to 1955.
• 1955–1975 Republic of Vietnam (Việt Nam Cộng hòa). Fought in the Vietnam War (or Second Indochina War; 1959–1975) against the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi.
  • Ngô Đình Diệm (1955–1963). Once highly lauded by the United States, he was ousted and assassinated in a coup supported by Americans in November 1963.
  • In 1963–1965, there were numerous coups and short-lived governments, several of which were headed by Dương Văn Minh or Nguyễn Khánh.
  • Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (1965–1975). Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ was the top leader of the last of the military regimes in 1965–1967 before a US-backed civilian government was instituted, following a new constitution and elections in 1967, with Thieu elected president.
  • Trần Văn Hương (1975)
  • Dương Văn Minh (2nd time) (1975). Surrendered South Vietnam to North Vietnam.
• 1975–76 Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (Chính phủ Cách mạng lâm thời Cộng hoà miền Nam Việt Nam). It was de facto controlled by North Vietnamese communists.

• Huỳnh Tấn Phát (1975–1976)

Ministries

South Vietnam had the following Ministries:

• Ministry of Culture and Education (Bộ Văn hóa Giáo dục) at 33–5 Lê Thánh Tôn
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bộ Ngoại giao) at 4–6 Rue Colombert (now 4–6 Alexandre de Rhodes)
• Ministry of Health (Bộ Y tế) at 57–9 Hong Thap Tu (now 57-9 Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai)
• Ministry of Justice (Bộ Tư pháp) at 47 Lê Duẩn
• Ministry of National Defence (Bộ Quốc phòng) at 63 Lý Tự Trọng
• Ministry of Police (Bộ Tư lệnh Cảnh sát Quốc gia) at 258 Nguyễn Trãi
• Ministry of Public Works and Communications (Bộ Công chính và Truyền thông) at 92 Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa
• Ministry of Revolutionary Development

Administrative divisions

Provinces

Administrative divisions and military regions of South Vietnam, June 1967

South Vietnam was divided into forty-four provinces:

Name	Population (1968 est.)	Capital
Quảng Trị Province	279,088	Quảng Trị
Thừa Thiên Province	633,799	Huế
Quảng Nam Province	915,123	Hội An
Quảng Tín Province	306,518	Tam Kỳ
Quảng Ngãi Province	678,606	Quảng Ngãi
Kon Tum Province	104,241	Kontum
Bình Định Province	902,085	Qui Nhơn
Pleiku Province	192,682	Pleiku
Phú Bổn Province	51,313	Hậu Bổn
Phú Yên Province	329,464	Tuy Hòa
Darlac Province	293,194	Ban Me Thuot
Khánh Hòa Province	403,988	Nha Trang
Quảng Đức Province	28,863	Gia Nghĩa
Tuyên Đức Province	93,646	Đà Lạt
Ninh Thuận Province	156,194	Phan Rang
Lâm Đồng Province	65,561	Bảo Lộc
Bình Thuận Province	267,306	Phan Thiết
Phước Long Province	104,213	Phước Bình
Long Khánh Province	144,227	Xuân Lộc
Bình Tuy Province	59,082	Hàm Tân
Bình Long Province	70,394	An Lộc
Tây Ninh Province	235,404	Tây Ninh
Bình Dương Province	235,404	Phú Cường
Biên Hòa Province	449,468	Biên Hòa
Phước Tuy Province		Phước Lễ
Hậu Nghĩa Province	279,088	Khiêm Cường
Gia Định Province	1,089,773	Gia Định
Long An Province		Tân An
Gò Công Province		Gò Công
Định Tường Province		Mỹ Tho
Kiến Tường Province	42,597	Mộc Hóa
Kiến Phong Province		Cao Lãnh
Châu Đốc Province	575,916	Châu Phú
An Giang Province	491,710	Long Xuyên
Sa Đéc Province	264,511	Sa Đéc
Kiên Giang Province	387,634	Rạch Giá
Phong Dinh Province	426,090	Cần Thơ
Vĩnh Long Province	500,870	Vĩnh Long
Kiến Hòa Province	582,099	Trúc Giang
Vĩnh Bình Province	404,118	Phú Vinh
Chương Thiện Province	248,713	Vị Thanh
Ba Xuyên Province	352,971	Khánh Hưng
Bạc Liêu Province	259,891	Vĩnh Lợi
An Xuyên Province	235,398	Quản Long
Saigon	1,622,673	Saigon

Regions

See also: State of Vietnam § Autonomous regions

Throughout its history South Vietnam had many reforms enacted that affected the organisation of its administrative divisions.

The "Bảo Đại Palace" in Buôn Ma Thuột, one of the residences of the Head of State located in the Domain of the Crown.

The Domain of the Crown was officially established as an administrative unit of autonomous territories within the State of Vietnam on 15 April 1950. In the areas of the Domain of the Crown, the Chief of State Bảo Đại was still officially (and legally) titled as the "Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty". It was established to preserve French interests in French Indochina and to limit Kinh (Vietnamese) immigration into predominantly minority areas, halting Vietnamese influence in these regions while preserving the influences of both French colonists and indigenous rulers. On 11 March 1955 Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm dissolved the Domain of the Crown reducing both the power of the Chief of State Bảo Đại and the French directly annexing these areas into the State of Vietnam as the crown regions still in South Vietnam would later become Cao nguyên Trung phần in the Republic of Vietnam.

Following the creation of the State of Vietnam and the establishment of its government, the Chief of State Bảo Đại signed the two ordinances related to the administration and local governance of the State of Vietnam, namely Ordinance No. 1 ("Organisation and Operation of civil authorities in Vietnam") and Ordinance No. 2 ("Statutes of Government office"). These ordinances renamed the regions to Bắc Việt (北越), Trung Việt (中越), and Nam Việt (南越). Later on 4 August 1954 the government of the State of Vietnam enacted Ordinance No. 21 which renamed the regions to Bắc Phần (北分), Trung Phần (中分), and Nam Nhần (南分). On 24 October 1956 the South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm officially abolished the three region system as the regions were divided into smaller regions in South Vietnam. At the time, President Ngô Đình Diệm enacted a reform of the administrative divisions system of the Republic of Vietnam in the form of Decree 147a/NV. This decree divided the region of Trung phần into Trung nguyên Trung phần (the Central Midlands) and Cao nguyên Trung phần (the Central Highlands).

The offices of appointed representative and assistant representative of the central government were created for the region of Trung phần, the main representative had an office in Buôn Ma Thuột, while the assistant had an office in Huế.

Following the 1963 United States-backed coup d'état that outsted Diệm, the Central Government's Representatives in the Trung phần region were gradually replaced by the control of the Tactical zone's Commanders (Tư lệnh Vùng Chiến thuật), which replaced a civil administration with a military one. However, following the 1967 Senate election the military administration was replaced back with civilian administrators.

On 1 January 1969, during the presidency of Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, Act 001/69 became effective which abolished the offices of government's representative and assistant government's representative, this was later followed on 12 May 1969 with Decree 544 – NĐ/ThT/QTCS which completely abolished the civil administration in Trung nguyên Trung phần in favour of the Tư lệnh Vùng Chiến thuật.

Foreign relations

South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm receiving Mr. Carlos Garcia Vice-President of the Philippines. Saigon, October 1955.

Prime Minister Harold Holt of Australia with Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ of South Vietnam on Kỳ's visit to Australia in 1967.

South Vietnam had diplomatic relations with 91 countries, the Holy See, and consular relations with 3 countries in October 1974. South Vietnam and its predecessor failed to gain admission into the United Nations as a result of the Soviet vetoes in 1952, 1957, and 1958; however North Vietnam and its puppet state also failed to join it. From 1952 to 1975, South Vietnam was an observer of the United Nations while the North was not.

International Relations of the Republic of Vietnam
Region	Nation/State
Asia (22)	Bahrain, Burma, Cambodia, Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey
Europe (20)	Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, West Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom
Americas (25)	Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela
Africa (22)	Botswana, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo, Tunisia, Upper Volta, Zaire
Oceania (5)	Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Tonga, Western Samoa

Countries that recognized the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) as of August 7, 1958.

  Republic of Vietnam

  North Vietnam

  A countries that officially recognizes the Republic of Vietnam

   Countries that have implicitly recognised the RVN de jure.

   Countries that have recognised the RVN de facto.

Relationship with the United States

Vice President of the US Lyndon B. Johnson visiting a textile mill in Saigon, 1961

American President Johnson conferring with South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu in Hawaii on 9 July 1968.

United States President Richard Nixon Bidding Farewell to South Vietnam's President Nguyen Van Thieu at the Door to the Air Force One Helicopter, Flanked by an Honor Guard on the Helipad of the Western White House, La Casa Pacifica, in San Clemente, California, 3 April 1973.

Unlike France, the United States had no intention of imposing colonialism on Vietnam; but the United States supported French colonialists during the First Indochina War because of anti-communist ideology of both and because the Việt Minh was communist. During the war, the United States supported a non-communist Vietnam gaining unification and high autonomy and later complete independence from France to prevent the spread of communism hidden under the guise of "national liberation". After the French Union failed in the First Indochina War, the United States provided aid directly to the Saigon government without having to go through France as before. The United States became the main ally of South Vietnam with the goal of stopping the spread of communism in accordance with its domino theory during the Cold War with the Soviet Union when North Vietnam fell to the communists.

The United States and United Kingdom recognized South Vietnam on 7 February 1950, Donald Heath was appointed as the first American ambassador to take office in Saigon capital in 1950. In 1955, the US recognized South Vietnam becoming a republic led by Ngô Đình Diệm. The Geneva Accords promised elections in 1956 to determine a national government for a united Vietnam. Neither the United States government nor Ngô Đình Diệm's State of Vietnam signed anything at the 1954 Geneva Conference. With respect to the question of reunification, the non-communist Vietnamese delegation objected strenuously to any division of Vietnam, but lost out when the French accepted the proposal of communist Viet Minh delegate Phạm Văn Đồng, who proposed that Vietnam eventually be united by elections under the supervision of "local commissions". The United States countered with what became known as the "American Plan", with the support of South Vietnam and the United Kingdom. It provided for unification elections under the supervision of the United Nations, but was rejected by the Soviet delegation and North Vietnamese. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote in 1954 that "I have never talked or corresponded with a person knowledgeable in Indochinese affairs who did not agree that had elections been held as of the time of the fighting, possibly eighty percent of the population would have voted for the Communist Ho Chi Minh as their leader rather than Chief of State Bảo Đại. Indeed, the lack of leadership and drive on the part of Bảo Đại was a factor in the feeling prevalent among Vietnamese that they had nothing to fight for." According to the Pentagon Papers, however, from 1954 to 1956 "Ngô Đình Diệm really did accomplish miracles" in South Vietnam: "It is almost certain that by 1956 the proportion which might have voted for Ho—in a free election against Diệm—would have been much smaller than eighty percent." In 1957, independent observers from India, Poland, and Canada representing the International Control Commission (ICC) stated that fair, unbiased elections were not possible, reporting that neither South nor North Vietnam had honored the armistice agreement. Also; about 90,000 communist Việt Minh were evacuated to the North while 5,000 to 10,000 cadre remained in the South, most of them with orders to refocus on political activity and agitation. The population of the North itself was larger than the population of the South.

The failure to unify the country in 1956 led in 1959 to the foundation of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (abbreviated NLF but also known as the Việt Cộng) by North Vietnam, which initiated an organized and widespread guerrilla insurgency against the South Vietnamese government. Hanoi directed the insurgency, which grew in intensity. The United States, under President Eisenhower, initially sent military advisers to train the South Vietnamese Army. As historian James Gibson summed up the situation: "Strategic hamlets had failed…. The South Vietnamese regime was incapable of winning the peasantry because of its class base among landlords. Indeed, there was no longer a 'regime' in the sense of a relatively stable political alliance and functioning bureaucracy. Instead, civil government and military operations had virtually ceased. The National Liberation Front had made great progress and was close to declaring provisional revolutionary governments in large areas." President John F. Kennedy increased the size of the advisory force fourfold and allowed the advisers to participate in combat operations, and later acquiesced in the removal of President Diệm in a military coup.

After promising not to do so during the 1964 election campaign, in 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to send in much larger numbers of combat troops, and conflict steadily escalated to become what is commonly known as the Vietnam War. In 1968, the communist Viet Cong ceased to be an effective fighting organization after the Tet Offensive and the war was largely taken over by regular army units of North Vietnam. In Paris, President Thiệu, who had not even been informed of the secret negotiations between the U.S and North Vietnam, was presented with the draft of the new agreement, he was furious with Kissinger and Nixon (who were perfectly aware of South Vietnam's negotiating position) and refused to accept it without significant changes. He then made several public radio addresses, claiming that the proposed agreement was worse than it actually was. However, Nixon ordered a halt to bombings north of the 20th parallel on 30 December 1972. With the U.S. committed to disengagement (and after threats from Nixon that South Vietnam would be abandoned if he did not agree), Thiệu had little choice but to accede. South Vietnam was pressurized into accepting an agreement that virtually ensured its collapse.

Following American withdrawal from the war in 1973, the South Vietnamese government continued fighting, until, overwhelmed by a conventional attack by the North Vietnemese and Viet Cong, it finally unconditionally surrendered on 30 April 1975, the day of the surrender of Saigon. North Vietnam controlled South Vietnam under military occupation, while the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, which had been proclaimed in June 1969 by the North-controlled Viet Cong, became the nominal government. The unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam was inaugurated on 2 July 1976.

The Embassy of the Republic of Vietnam in Washington donated 527 reels of South Vietnamese-produced film to the Library of Congress during the embassy's closure following the Fall of Saigon, which are in the Library to this day.

International organisations and treaties

South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Văn Tâm welcoming delegates to The 3rd session of the WHO Regional Committee in Saigon capital, 1952.

The delegation of South Vietnam at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy.

South Vietnam was a member or observer of many international organizations such as: the International Labour Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), UNICEF, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the IMF, the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO), the Coordinating Committee for Offshore Prospecting in Asia (CCOP), Interpol, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the ITU, the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (LORCS), UNESCO, the Universal Postal Union (UPU), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, FIFA, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the United Nations, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), the Southeast Asian Games Federation, and the World League for Freedom and Democracy.

Unified communist Vietnam not only inherited South Vietnam's membership in many international organizations; but also recognized or completed international treaties Saigon signed such as the Geneva Conventions of 1949 on 4 July 1976, the General Regulations and Universal Postal Convention of the UPU on 27 October 1976, and the 1973 International Telecommunication Convention on 16 December 1976.

Military

Main articles: Vietnamese National Army and Republic of Vietnam Military Forces

South Vietnamese armored reconnaissance unit stands inspection at Thu Duc Officers School, 1952. The vehicle is a 1939 French Panhard 178 B armored car.

The patch (1955-1975) of the South Vietnamese Airborne Division

A group of South Vietnamese troops celebrated victory after repelling North Vietnamese communist troops at An Loc, 1972.

The Republic of Vietnam Military Forces (RVNMF; Vietnamese: Quân lực Việt Nam Cộng hòa – QLVNCH), was formally established on 26 October 1955. Created out from the Vietnamese National Army of the State of Vietnam (1949-1955). The armed forces of the new state consisted in the mid-1950s of ground, air, and naval branches of service, respectively:

• Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), main force
• Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF)
• Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN)
• Republic of Vietnam Marine Division (RVNMD)

Their roles were defined as follows: to protect the sovereignty of the free Vietnamese nation and that of the Republic; to maintain the political and social order and the rule of law by providing internal security; to defend the newly independent Republic of Vietnam from external (and internal) threats; and ultimately, to help reunify Vietnam.

The French ceased training the QLVNCH in 1956 and training passed to American advisers who progressively restructured the military along US military lines.

The country was divided from north to south into four corps tactical zones: I Corps, II Corps, III Corps, IV Corps and the Capital Military District in and around Saigon.

At the time of signing of the Paris Peace Accords, the South Vietnamese government fielded the fourth largest military force in the world as a result of the American Enhance and Enhance Plus programs with approximately one and one-half million troops in uniform. The lack of sufficient training and dependence on the U.S. for spare parts, fuel, and ammunition caused maintenance and logistical problems. The impact of the 1973 oil crisis, a faltering economy, inflation and reduced US aid led to a steady decline in South Vietnamese military expenditure and effectiveness.

The ARVN always had problems keeping men in the ranks, but during 1973–75, the problem reached epidemic proportions. During 1974, for example, only 65 percent of authorized manpower was present for duty at any time. The nation's officer corps still suffered from the promotion and retention of generals due to their political loyalties, not their professional abilities. Corruption and incompetence among officers was endemic, with some "raising it almost to an art form".

South Vietnamese Marines boarded HMM-164 CH-46 to join the offensive in the Second Battle of Quảng Trị, 28 June 1872.

In 1972, General Creighton Abrams fumed at ARVN complaints that they lacked arms and equipment. He likewise harangued President Nguyen Van Thieu and chief of staff General Cao Van Vien: "Equipment is not what you need. You need men that will fight... You've got all the equipment you need... You lost most of your artillery because it was abandoned."

The Vietnamese National Military Academy was the main military school of South Vietnam and was founded in December 1948 in Huế, one year before the establishment of the Saigon regime. Under French operation, the academy was simply a nine-month officer training school designed to produce infantry platoon leaders. In 1950 it moved to Da Lat because of better local weather and remained under French operation until after the signing of the Geneva Accords in 1954, when the French army withdrew.

Economy

Main article: Economy of the Republic of Vietnam

See also: Commercial Import Program

Anhao Paper Factory, Bien Hoa, 1961

Power plant in Nha Trang, 1968

South Vietnam Economic Map, 1972

South Vietnam maintained a capitalist free-market economy with ties to the West. It established an airline named Air Vietnam in 1951. In 1953, notes (dated 1952) were introduced by the Institut d'Emission des Etats du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 100 and 200 đồng for South Vietnam. On 22 September 1955, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs announced that notes from the Bank of Indochina and the Institut d'Emission issues for Cambodia and Laos would be exchanged for Institut d'Emission issues for Vietnam starting 30 September until 7 November. The Institut issues for Cambodia and Laos ceased to be legal tender on 7 October, and all Bank of Indochina notes lost their legal tender status on 31 October following the 15 October introduction of the first notes from the National Bank of Vietnam.

When the republic was established in South Vietnam on 26 October 1955, there were a few industrial facilities left over from the French colonial period, including some tobacco factories, beverages and alcohol, two sugar processing factories (Hiệp Hòa and Khánh Hội), a few machinery factories, and Michelin rubber processing plants. The government of Ngô Đình Diệm carried out a policy of export-oriented industrialization to replace imported goods and set up trade protectionism, tariff and non-tariff barriers were created to protect light industrial businesses. The result of this policy brought about the first paper factory of Vietnam, An Hao Paper Factory (1961) in Bien Hoa which supplied 30-40% domestic paper demand. Saigon served as the financial, industrial and transport centre of the Republic of Vietnam. Diem also attempted to pursue a "personalist third-way" policy of mixed-state and private ownership. The timber industry and the Long Tho cement factory were nationalised, as was the only South Vietnamese coal mine at Nong Son, while the government also theoretically had the right to claim 51% ownership of critical industries. However, South Vietnam lacked the trained personnel or finances to exercise true state intervention in the economy, thus majority state ownership was only applied to a sugar mill and cotton-spinning factory.

Da Lat Nuclear Research Institute (taken in 2011), established under Ngô Đình Diệm on 26 February 1963.

Major Bridge along the Saigon Bypass Highway west of Saigon, under construction by the American company RMK-BRJ, 31 January 1972

South Vietnamese Boeing 707-331 in Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong, 8 December 1974

From 1955 to 1975 the economy was greatly assisted by American aid, especially after the fall of Diệm. Electrical production increased fourteen-fold between 1954 and 1973 while industrial output increase by an average of 6.9 percent annually. South Vietnam had a small industrial sector and fell far behind other countries in the region in this respect. Output increased 2.5 to 3 times over the 20 years of the country's existence, but the share in total GDP remained at only around 10%, even dropping to 6% in some years, while the economy was dominated by strong agricultural and service sectors. Industrial production was highly dependent on imported inputs (some as part of aid programs) and mostly oriented towards local markets, while exports were dominated by agricultural and sea products. Over the 20 years of the existence of the Republic of Vietnam, the share of services in the economy grew from around 45% to 50-60%. Food processing and textiles became the largest industries by 1967, both having increased their capital ten-fold and employing over 17000 workers each. Other important industries included paper, rubber, basic chemicals, and cement. After 1965 industry suffered from escalating warfare and increasing inflows of American consumer goods. Some industries were able to continue growing rapidly, including food processing, wood processing, construction materials, and metals. By 1973 food processing was by far the largest industry in terms of output (almost half of the total industrial output of 448 billion dong), followed by textiles (around 1/5 of total output, but the largest employer with 32,489 out of 111,964 workers) and chemicals (1/10) (in terms of capital, electricity was the largest industry). Industry was highly concentrated in Saigon, Biên Hòa, Gia Định, with these three accounting for 85% of industrial companies and 90% of manufacturing output.

During the same period, rice output increased by 203 percent and the number of students in university increased from 2,000 to 90,000. US aid peaked at $2.3 billion in 1973, but dropped to $1.1 billion in 1974. Inflation rose to 200 percent as the country suffered economic shock due to the decrease of American aid as well as the oil price shock of October 1973.

A 2017 study in the journal Diplomatic History found that South Vietnamese economic planners sought to model the South Vietnamese economy on Taiwan and South Korea, which were perceived as successful examples of how to modernize developing economies. However, political conflicts and unrests (armed conflicts between factions, continuous coup d'état) confined the efficiency of those policies.

Economic relations between the Saigon government and the communists were established with the 1954 Geneva Accords after the two sides were hostile to each other in the First Indochina War. At one point there were minor commercial relations between the Saigon government in the South and the communists in the North, these interactions ceased in 1959, when political ties between the two sides deteriorated because the communists decided to use force in the South. In 1963, the Saigon government of Diệm and the communists secretly agreed that they would restore economic relations between the two sides. A new potential was offshore oil. Since 1968, South Vietnam had promoted cooperation with CCOP (Coordinating Committee for Offshore Prospecting in Asia) to sponsor and attract oil prospecting techniques. By 1973, the South Vietnamese government put out a bid for 18 plots (each plot was 4,800 km²) for international firms to open exploration. Shell received three boxes, Sumingdale received two boxes, Mobil Oil received two boxes, and Esso received one. By August 1974, South Vietnam found an oil vein.

Demographics

South Vietnam population density map (left) and South Vietnamese ethnic map (right), 1972

In 1968, the population of South Vietnam was estimated to be 16,259,334. Rural areas were home to 71% of the population. Urban population was 29%. The natural increase was 2%-2.2% with children under 20 years old accounting for 57%. The average density was 95 people/square kilometer, but because of uneven distribution, in economic terms, the Central Coast was a place where overpopulation was at a serious level because each square kilometer of rice fields (cultivated land) had 1,258 people. Compared to the South, there are 425 people per square kilometer of rice fields. Divided by ethnicity, there were 394,463 Cambodian Vietnamese (Khmer Krom), 23,819 Chams and 464,354 Montagnards. Statistics on Montagnards were inaccurate because they lived in remote areas and inspections were limited because of the security situation. The Chinese (Hoa people) made up about one million people, concentrated in Cho Lon and some towns. The largest number were Kinh people (Vietnamese): 15.409.126, accounting for 94.7%. The largest city was the Saigon capital with 1,736,880 people, including the surrounding area of 2,500,000.

Vietnamese was the official language and was spoken by the majority of the population. Despite the end of French colonial rule in Vietnam (1883-1954), the French language maintained a strong presence in South Vietnam where it was used in administration, education (especially at the secondary and higher levels), trade and diplomacy as a national language. The ruling elite of South Vietnam spoke French. Due to its special relationship with France, South Vietnam became a member of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie in 1970, its membership was later inherited by unified communist Vietnam in 1979. With US involvement in the Vietnam War, English was also later introduced to the armed forces and became a secondary diplomatic language. Languages spoken by minority groups included Chinese, Khmer, Cham, and other languages spoken by Montagnard groups.

On 30 May 1949, the French delegated the authority to manage the Central Highlands from the Montagnard country of South Indochina to the State of Vietnam. Chief of State Bảo Đại separated the Central Highlands from the central government and established a special administrative system called the Domain of the Crown within the State of Vietnam as crownlands of Bảo Đại through Dụ số 6/QT/TG with the Central Highlands being its part on 15 April 1950. In the crown areas, Bảo Đại held both the titles of "Chief of State" (國長, Quốc trưởng) and "Emperor" (皇帝, Hoàng Đế). In Central Vietnam (Trung Việt) the Domain of the Crown was assigned 5 provinces and in Northern Vietnam (Bắc Việt) it received 11. According to the agreement between French President Vincent Auriol and the State of Vietnam, after the French ceded control over the Montagnard country of South Indochina to the Vietnamese, the autonomous status of the ethnic minorities would be subject to separate regulations and would continue to fall under special protection (statut particulier) from the French Government. Therefore, when promulgating a law, the government of the State of Vietnam must have an agreement from France in order to pass it. The crown domains in the central highlands area continued to be administered through a French special delegate and not a representative of the State of Vietnam. Bảo Đại claimed that he accepted the proposal because he believed that he could help in the ethnic minority tribes in their development and enjoy the serene environment of the territories.

Starting from 1955, the South Vietnamese government of Ngô Đình Diệm carried out an assimilation policy towards indigenous peoples (Montagnard) of the Central Highlands and the Cham people, including banning the Cham language in public schools, seizing indigenous lands and granting them to mostly Catholic Northern Kinh people who had moved to South Vietnam during Operation Passage to Freedom. This resulted in increasing nationalism and support for independence among the Cham and other indigenous peoples. Some Cham joined the communist Viet Cong, some others joined the Front de Libération des Hauts Plateaux du Champa. By 1964, civil rights activists and independent organizations of the indigenous peoples, including Cham organizations, had been merged into the Front Unifié de Lutte des Races Opprimées (FULRO), which struggled against both the governments of North and South Vietnam, as well as the succeeding Socialist Republic of Vietnam until 1992. There were some industrial businesses run by local Chinese, including textiles, food processing, while local Vietnamese people had only workshop-size industrial activities. The Chinese dominated South Vietnam's economy. President Ngô Đình Diệm issued a series of measures between 1955 and 1956 to integrate the ethnic Chinese into South Vietnamese society. However, after Diệm's death, the war later prompted the South Vietnamese government to gradually liberalize and deregulate the economy, adopting relatively liberal market policies which caused the local Hoa business community to exploit the opportunities that materialized where it invariably allowed them to even extend their commercial dominance into Southern Vietnam's light industry. During the Vietnam War and direct American involvement between 1965 and 1973, the Khmer Krom (Cambodians in Vietnam) were recruited by the United States Armed Forces to serve in MIKE Force. The force fought on the side of South Vietnam against communist North Vietnam but in time the militia regrouped as the "Front for the Struggle of Kampuchea Krom" (French: Front de Lutte du Kampuchea Krom). Headed by a Khmer Krom Buddhist monk, Samouk Sen, the group was nicknamed the "White Scarves" (Khmer: Kangsaing Sar; Vietnamese: Can Sen So) and allied itself with FULRO against South Vietnam.

The majority of the population identified as Buddhists. Approximately 10% of the population was Christian, mainly Catholic. Other religions included Caodaism and Hoahaoism. Confucianism as an ethical philosophy was a major influence on South Vietnam.

Culture

South Vietnam winning gold at the 1959 SEA Games. During its existence (1949-1975), South Vietnam joined FIFA (in 1952) and the AFC while the North did not. Vietnam unifying in 1976 started to be classified as its successor by FIFA.

Saigon University Institute, 1961

Cultural life of Vietnam was strongly influenced by China until the French colonial period. At that time, the traditional culture began to acquire an overlay of Western characteristics. Many families had three generations living under one roof. The emerging South Vietnamese middle class and youth in the 1960s became increasingly more Westernised, and followed American cultural and social trends, especially in music, fashion and social attitudes in major cities like Saigon.

Music

Yellow Music (Nhạc vàng) refers to music produced in South Vietnam, especially after the country was divided; and it also refers to South Vietnamese flag being mostly yellow, named in opposition to "Red Music" (Nhạc đỏ) endorsed by the communist government of North Vietnam. The genre contained topics and characteristics considered decadent and was banned in 1975, with those caught listening to it punished, and their music confiscated. Most Yellow Music has been associated with the bolero genre. After the Fall of Saigon, many Vietnamese artists emigrated to the United States to pursue their careers and industry there instead. The ban on Yellow Music was lightened in 1986, but by then the music industry had ceased to exist.

In the 1990s, Vietnam's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism promoted the "nhạc xanh" genre (literally "green music", which refers to music for young generations) to divert people from listening to yellow music, but with little success.

At the beginning of the 21st century, various yellow music concerts were held in Vietnam. In August 2010, two singers – Hương Lan and Tuấn Vũ – performed at the Hanoi Opera House for half a month.

During the 1970s, Young Music Festival was the biggest cultural event in Asia and Oceania. It had attracted many vocalists and bands from South Vietnam, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and even the United States. Their purpose was an anti-war exhortation and a supporting peace for whole world.

On 27 April 1971, South Vietnamese television station reported Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng's tour. She performed at Lệ Thanh Theatre, Bát Đạt Grand Hotel in the capital Saigon for a month, then visited the Western Delta. Teng performed first hit No of composer Nguyễn Ánh 9 by Japanese and Mandarin language.

The Vietnam War, the consequent Fall of Saigon, and the plight of South Vietnamese refugees gave rise to a collection of musical pieces that have become "classical" anthems for Vietnamese people both in Vietnam and abroad. Notable writers including Phạm Duy and Trịnh Công Sơn. Singers including Thái Thanh, Khánh Ly and Lệ Thu.

Thúy Nga Productions was established as a music record store in Saigon of South Vietnam in 1972. Paris By Night was conceived by it in 1983, in Paris, France, to "fill the cultural void" felt by Vietnamese refugees living in France. Shortly afterwards, the show's production company transferred to Orange County, California, which has a larger Vietnamese community.

Media

Radio

Radio Vietnam broadcast hours cards, denoting times and frequencies of radio broadcasts in 1960 and 1962. Address: 3 Phan Dinh Phung St., Saigon

1974 English language Voice of Vietnam (Radio Vietnam) foreign service broadcast from Saigon

In 1922 the French Compagnie générale de la télégraphie sans fil established the Centre Radioelectrique on the rue Richaud, Saigon for government communications. In 1930 Saigon Radio began broadcasting French language news and entertainment programmes. In the Republic of Vietnam; there were four AM and one FM radio stations, all of them owned by the government (VTVN), named Radio Vietnam. One of them was designated as a nationwide civilian broadcast, another was for military service and the other two stations included a French-language broadcast station and foreign language station broadcasting in Chinese, English, Khmer and Thai. Radio Vietnam started its operation in 1950 under the State of Vietnam but the French still controlled it. In 1955 following South Vietnamese complete independence, the station was taken over by the government and named Đài phát thanh Sài Gòn broadcasting in Vietnamese. It ceased operation on 30 April 1975, with the broadcast of the surrender to the North Vietnamese army by South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh at 9:30. The radio stations across the former South were later reused by the communist regime to broadcast their state-run radio service.

Film

Saigon produced numerous documentary and public information films, as well as feature films. The most well known feature film of the late 1950s was Chúng Tôi Muốn Sống (We Want To Live), a realistic depiction of the bloody land reform campaign in North Vietnam under the Communist regime. Some mid-1960s black-and-white features dealt with war themes, with actors such as Đoàn Châu Mậu and La Thoại Tân. Some later popular color features revolved around the theme of family or personal tragedy in a war-torn society, such as Người Tình Không Chân Dung (The Faceless Lover) starring Kiều Chinh, Xa Lộ Không Đèn (Dark Highway) starring Thanh Nga, Chiếc Bóng Bên Đường (A Silhouette by the Road) starring Kim Cương and Thành Được. Comedy movies were usually released around Tết, the Vietnamese New Year; most notable was Triệu Phú Bất Đắc Dĩ (The Reluctant Millionaire) starring the well-loved comedian Thanh Việt.

Joseph Mankiewicz's adaptation of Graham Greene's The Quiet American was filmed in and around Saigon in 1957. American actor Marshall Thompson directed and starred in A Yank in Vietnam, or Year of the Tiger in 1964. Also as of 1964, there were 170 35mm movie theaters, of which about 100 were concentrated in Saigon-Cho Lon.

Television

South Vietnamese Economic Minister Phạm Kim Ngọc on TV news, 20 August 1972

Television was introduced to South Vietnam on 7 February 1966 with a black-and-white FCC system. Covering major cities in South Vietnam, started with a one-hour broadcast per day then increased to six hours in the evening during the 1970s. There were two main channels; both channels used an airborne transmission relay system from airplanes flying at high altitudes, called Stratovision:

• THVN-TV (Truyền hình Việt Nam-TV) on Channel 9, featuring Vietnamese-language shows, news, and special announcements from Saigon. This entirely Vietnamese language channel catered to the Vietnamese populace. In Los Angeles during the 1980s, some former technicians re-established THVN9 to broadcast news and dramas by Vietnamese language for service to the Vietnamese American community. It was the first television broadcaster in Vietnam. From 1972, all important events were broadcast in color as standard. South Vietnamese television station sponsored the Young Music Festival and Vietnam Film Day. In 1974, it broadcast the FIFA World Cup final between West Germany and the Netherlands. Its final programming aired the evening of April 29, 1975. On 30 April 1975, the TV crew of THVN9 went to the Presidential Palace to broadcast for South Vietnamese President Dương Văn Minh, but did not because around 7 am, president Minh told everyone to leave.

• AFVN-TV on Channel 11, operated by Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (now American Forces Network), catered to US troops in South Vietnam. Broadcasting entirely in English, it relayed popular US-made shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and various sports games like the World Series. It also broadcast news and special announcements from the American government and military commanders. AFVN broadcast the landing of Neil Armstrong on the Moon in 1969 for audiences in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).

See also

• Leaders of South Vietnam
• Thanh Niên Hành Khúc
• History of Vietnam
• Overseas Vietnamese
• Vietnamese democracy movement

Further reading

Academic articles and chapters

• Nguyen, Phi-Vân (2018). "A Secular State for a Religious Nation: The Republic of Vietnam and Religious Nationalism, 1946–1963". The Journal of Asian Studies. 77 (3): 741–771. doi:10.1017/S0021911818000505. hdl:1993/34017. S2CID 165729774.
• Tran, Nu-Anh (2023). "Denouncing the 'Việt Cộng': Tales of revolution and betrayal in the Republic of Vietnam". Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 53 (4): 686–708. doi:10.1017/S0022463422000790. S2CID 256739269.
• Taylor, K. W. (2015). "Voices from the South". In Taylor, K. W. (ed.). Voices from the Second Republic of South Vietnam (1967–1975). Cornell University Press. pp. 1–8. ISBN 9780877277958.
• Gadkar-Wilcox, Wynn (2023). "Universities and Intellectual Culture in the Republic of Vietnam". In Ho Peché, Linda; Vo, Alex-Thai Dinh; Vu, Tuong (eds.). Toward a Framework for Vietnamese American Studies: History, Community, and Memory. Temple University Press. pp. 57–75. ISBN 9781439922880.
• Hoang, Tuan (2023). "The August Revolution, the Fall of Saigon, and Postwar Reeducation Camps: Understanding Vietnamese Diasporic Anticommunism". In Ho Peché, Linda; Vo, Alex-Thai Dinh; Vu, Tuong (eds.). Toward a Framework for Vietnamese American Studies: History, Community, and Memory. Temple University Press. pp. 76–94. ISBN 9781439922880.

Monographs and edited volumes

• Miller, Edward (2013). Misalliance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and the Fate of South Vietnam. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674072985.
• Chapman, Jessica M. (2013). Cauldron of Resistance: Ngo Dinh Diem, the United States, and 1950s Southern Vietnam. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801450617.
• Vu, Tuong; Fear, Sean, eds. (2020). The Republic of Vietnam, 1955–1975: Vietnamese Perspectives on Nation Building. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501745126.
• Stur, Heather Marie (2020). Saigon at War: South Vietnam and the Global Sixties. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316676752.
• Tran, Nu-Anh (2022). Disunion: Anticommunist Nationalism and the Making of the Republic of Vietnam. University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 9780824887865.
• Tran, Nu-Anh; Vu, Tuong, eds. (2022). Building a Republican Nation in Vietnam, 1920–1963. University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 9780824892111.
• Luu, Trinh M.; Vu, Tuong, eds. (2023). Republican Vietnam, 1963–1975: War, Society, Diaspora. University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 9780824895181.
• Nguyen-Marshall, Van (2023). Between War and the State: Civil Society in South Vietnam, 1954–1975. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9781501770579.

External links

• (in English) The Constitution of the Republic of Vietnam 1956 (archived from the original on 2009-03-25).
• The Constitution of the Republic of Vietnam 1967
• HIẾN PHÁP VIỆT NAM CỘNG HOÀ 1967 (in Vietnamese) (archived 5 June 2020)
• Timeline of NVA invasion of South Vietnam