Travel Tips - Vietnam - History
Introduction
Vietnam indeed has a storied history. A nation that’s been occupied, invaded or at war for much of its history, peace is relatively new to this country on the move.
Chinese dynasties ruled for almost 1,000 years holding it as a tributary state, then came the French who colonized not only Vietnam but neighboring Laos and Cambodia, the Japanese followed with a brief stay during WWII, then the infamous Vietnam War fought with America. Modern day Vietnam is one of the region’s powerhouses with commerce being king.
Early Kingdoms
Simple agriculture is evident in Vietnam about 7,000BC with the first real sophisticated society, the Dong Song, emerging in the 3rd century BC, they being producers of high quality bronze drums, metal tools and weapons.
Between the 1st and 6th centuries AD an Indian-influenced Cambodian kingdom, Funan, who used Sanskrit, ruled southern Vietnam and its delta region. Their main city was a thriving port known as Oc-Eo which there is evidence of trade with China, Indonesia, Persia and areas as far away as the Mediterranean.
During this same period the mid-part of the country (centered around modern day Danang) was ruled by a Hindu kingdom known as Champa. They expanded their territory, waging war up and down the coast, but eventually extinguishing most of their influence in the late 8th century after many a battle with the Khmer to the south and Vietnamese in the north exhausted their resources.
Chinese Domination
The Chinese first invaded Vietnam in 111 BC, dividing the area into three territories – southern, mid and northern. For almost 1,000 years the Chinese dominated much of modern day Vietnam, taking tribute, instituting forced labor and enslaving much of its populace. The Chinese also brought with them medical knowledge and the ability to build dikes and substantial irrigation systems. During this period Vietnam also served as an important stop on trade routes between China and India. These traders brought with them Confucianism, Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism, Theravada Buddhism along with medical and scientific knowledge that would ultimately help the Vietnamese people flourish.
Independent Vietnam
The Chinese were finally defeated in 938 AD by Ngo Quyen and his Vietnamese forces, who then ruled themselves for the first time from the 11th to 13th century. It was a period not without attack as the mighty Mongols lead by Kublai Khan, who had defeated the Chinese in the mid-13th century, tried the same in Vietnam. Here they were not as successful and were repelled and defeated at the battle of Bach Dan River, a major victory for the Vietnamese.
The Chinese Return
In the early 15th century the Chinese returned, seizing control of much of the country, instituting a strict society, took many of its treasure and educated populace back to China and ruled with an iron fist. Having had enough of Chinese domination, in 1418 a wealthy scholar Le Loi rallied his people and successfully expelled the Chinese in 1428. Le Loi then declared himself Emperor Le Thai To, establishing the mighty Le dynasty which went on to defeat the remaining Champa to the south.
Europeans Arrive – a Nation Divided
The Portuguese arrived in 1516 at the port city of Danang, followed by the Dominicans, Japanese, Dutch and other foreign powers who set up trade missions and brought along with them Catholicism, which quickly took a strong foot in the country.
During much of the 17th and 18th centuries the country was one more or less divided, being ruled by Trinh Lords and Le Kings in the north and Nguyen Lords in the south. The Trinh were armed by the Portuguese and the Nguyen by the Dutch who had superior weaponry, helping the Nguyen to exert control and advance their territory far south into the Mekong Delta, pushing Khmer forces out of the region.
A Country United
A group of three brothers kick-started a rebellion in 1765 led by a group known as the Tay Son Rebels. Within a decade they controlled central Vietnam, went on to capture Saigon in 1783 from the surviving Nguyen Lords and defeated the Trinh Lords in the north, then ruling the country as three kings in the south, mid and northern parts of the country. In 1802 a surviving member of the Nguyen lords proclaimed himself Emperor Gia Long, retook the south, soon thereafter captured Hanoi and started the Nguyen dynasty, uniting the country with Hue as its capital.
French Influence – Rise of the Viet Minh
France first attacked Vietnam in 1847 at Danang in response to suppression of Catholic missionaries. From here there was a long running series of attacks, seizures of regions and treaties, leading to the Indochinese Union being proclaimed in 1887, extinguishing a formal independent Vietnam. Pockets of resistance remained throughout the country, but none made impact until the communists came on to the stage in 1925 with the formation of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth League by Ho Chi Minh in Canton, China. In 1930 the Vietnamese Communist Party was established and Ho formed the League for the Independence of Vietnam, more commonly known as the Viet Minh in 1941, establishing the force that would fight Japanese occupation after the defeat of the French by Germany in WWII.
In August 1945 the Viet Minh called for an uprising which became known as the August Revolution. Through a series of power-plays and coalitions Ho Chi Minh declared independence in September 1945, but this was short-lived.
During the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the Chinese Kuomintang accepted the surrender of the Japanese north of the 16th Parallel and the British agreed to the same in the southern part of the country. Chaos ensued with the release of jailed Japanese and French troops, along with the retreating Kuomintang who had suffered defeat by the communists in China made their way to Hanoi, asserting their power, influence and generally reeking havoc. In a move to accept the lesser of two evils, Ho Chi Minh succeeded power to the French rather than being occupied by the Kuomintang in exchange for Vietnam being recognized as a free state in the French Union. But this was not to last. A bloody eight-year guerilla war between the French and Viet Minh ensued and brought an end to French rule with their surrender in May 1954.
Partition
The Geneva Accords ‘temporarily’ partitioned the country in two at the 17th parallel with a 300 day grace period for the relocation and safe passage of persons over this point and a promise of democratic elections. This never came to fruition; instead the country descended into a bloody civil war with the north being supported and armed by China and the Soviet Union and the south being supported by the United States of America.
War
In 1964 a supposed unprovoked attack upon US warships by North Vietnamese forces (Vietcong) became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and is regarded as the kick-off of America’s official involvement in what would become a major war. In March 1965 the first US troops arrived on Vietnam’s shores and battle ensued, with the goal being to stop the spread of communism through Southeast Asia.
The largest battle of the war took place in January 1968 at Khe Sanh in the Demilitarized Zone, followed by the TET Offensive which saw the North and South battle it out in more than 100 cities, notably Saigon, while Americans watched-on in their living rooms. High troop and civilian causalities swayed American public opinion of the war and things quickly went downhill from there.
American forces in Vietnam peaked at 543,400 in April 1969 and desperation followed with the US secretly bombing Vietnamese positions within Cambodia then pursuing Vietcong (VC) by foot into that country. The VC aligned themselves with Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, who quickly took over half of Cambodia.
On the losing side of the battle American forces officially departed in 1973 but the war raged on between North and South Vietnamese forces with the North declaring victory over Saigon and formally unifying the country in July 1976.
Aftermath
More than 58,000 Americans troops, 223,000 South Vietnamese soldiers, roughly one million North Vietnamese soldiers and about four million Vietnamese civilians were killed during the conflict, which also left the land poisoned, mined and battered.
Sentiments between North and South Vietnamese were tumultuous for years with many southerners being persecute for the side they took during the war and were sent to ‘reeducation’ camps. During the years that followed more than half a million South Vietnamese fled the country to seek out better lives around the world.
Vietnam then invaded Cambodia in December 1978, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge in 1979, where they remained for 10 years, informally occupying the country and fighting a civil war along the way. In response, China, who was aligned with the Khmer Rouge, invaded Vietnam in February 1979 and a 17-day war ensued with no real outcome.
Today
The last 20 years have brought dramatic change to Vietnam, both as a unified nation and their place in the world. The government instituted reformed economic policies for the private sector in 1986 and the country has grown by leaps and bounds since to become one of Southeast Asia’s fastest growing economies.
Vietnam entered the region stage in 1995 by joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the world stage in 2006 when it became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Vietnam is on the move.
Sources:
Wikipedia.org
Lonely Planet Thailand (Joe Cummings)
