Vietnam's History

Vietnam’s history is full of foreign invasions: first China, then France, and finally the United States. I will begin the complex story of this country’s history with the pre-colonial time, then the colonial period, the French and American war, and I will end with present-day Vietnam.

The first known signs of civilization in Vietnam were in 619 when the Chinese migrated south and settled in the land that is currently Vietnam. This society was named Anam, meaning “pacified south.” Anam stayed pacified for 320 more years. In 939, the Vietnamese rebelled against the Chinese and created a new Vietnamese state. From the 11th through the 17th centuries, this new state of Vietnam took over more land. They take the central part of their country from the Campa state and the Mekong delta from the Khmers. At the end of the 17th century, Vietnam divided into north and south. The north was called Trinh and the south was called Nguyen. The south, because of the more tropical climate, had to use the natural resources and grow their own food. The north, because of their proximity to China and beliefs in Confucianism, had more opportunities and valued their families, religion, and education very much. In 1802, an emperor named Gia Long united Vietnam. Gia Long wanted to model Vietnam after China, but the southerners did not agree. When Gia Long died, he passed on the throne to his son Minh Mang. Emperor Minh Mang was not able to fight off all rebellion in the south, and in 1859 the French came into the peninsula of Indochina, creating the Union of Indochina.

The Union of Indochina included Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. France had only taken control of the north, now named Tonkin, and the middle, Anam. The French allowed the Vietnamese emperors to rule the country-- well sort of! These emperors were basically puppets of the French; they had to do as the French told them to do or they would lose power. This “puppet government” continued until 1926. From 1926 to 1940, France decided to take complete control of Vietnam. In 1940, the Japanese occupied Vietnam. They forced the French to leave Vietnam. The Japanese occupation led to starvation and a downfall in the economy. When the war finished in 1945, around a million Vietnamese people were left dead, and a huge power vacuum was left in the country. The Viet Minh (the League for Independence of Vietnam lead by Ho Chi Minh) took this chance to seize control of Vietnam. The Viet Minh declared independence, but the French did not agree. They returned to Saigon and began preparations to fight the Vietnamese.

This conflict is the beginning of 30 years of war for Vietnam. The French were feeling very confident that they would win this war. They were fighting in a European style, but the Vietnamese were fighting in a guerilla style. They were digging tunnels from which to ambush the French, sabotaging their weapons, and raiding their camps. The turning point for Vietnam came in 1950 when the new communist government of China and the USSR began to aid Vietnam with weapons, food, uniforms, and other supplies. Due to this communist support and influence in Vietnam, the United States decided to become involved by sending money to the French. While the U.S. kept on increasing its involvement in Vietnam, France slowly left the war. Finally, after 4 years of bloody battles, a peace agreement in Geneva was signed, and France completely left Vietnam. The agreement said that for two years, the U.S. would keep control of the south and Ho Chi Minh would keep control of the north.

After two years were up, an election would take place. The United States, like France, put in a “puppet government.” They choose Ngo Dinh Diem to be the president of the south. Diem was a Catholic and very anti-communist. When the election year came around, Diem, with support from the U.S, refused to hold the election. Due to this violation of the agreement, Ho Chi Minh sponsored an organization in the South called the Viet Cong which promised the south Vietnamese liberation from the Americans. Due to the increasing popularity of the Viet Cong, the newly elected President Kennedy decided to increase the number of American troops on Vietnamese soil. By 1963, Diem’s government was becoming increasingly unpopular. One month after President Kennedy was assassinated, Diem was overthrown by a coup, supported by the Americans. For the next four years, south Vietnam had various governments, but finally in 1967 General Thieu became the president.

President Thieu would remain president until 1975. The predecessor of Kennedy was Johnson. President Johnson decided to directly confront the Viet Cong; therefore, he increased the American troops by a half-million. On the other side, Ho Chi Minh kept on receiving supplies and support from China and the USSR, bringing the war to its highest peak. In 1968, Nixon became elected. Nixon changed his strategy for fighting the war. Instead of putting soldiers on Vietnamese soil, he decided to use bombs. Additionally, protests within the U.S. were intensifying. College students were out on the streets demanding an end to the war. Demands for an end to the war increased as the death toll rose. The lack of support from the citizens and the decreasing morale from the American soldiers led to more political opposition. Ignoring these protests, Nixon increased the bombs not only in Vietnam but also in Cambodia and Laos. When I visit Laos next week, I will write more about this “secret war.” In Cambodia, the bombs dropped created social chaos and opened doors for the Khmer Rouge. In Laos, the bombs devastated the countryside and prevented anything from growing for the next 100 years.

President Nixon is re-elected in 1972. He increases diplomacy with the North, and the President Nixon and the Viet Minh sign a peace agreement in Paris in 1973. Nixon forces President Thieu to follow the agreement. The agreement includes a cease fire and the withdrawal of all American troops. The Paris Peace Agreement states that Vietnam is one united country. President Nixon resigns in 1974 and the U.S. stopped giving financial support to south Vietnam. In 1975, the North Vietnamese forces invaded the palace in Saigon and established one government. From 1975 to 1989, Vietnam’s economy was closed off from the rest of the world. In the mid nineties, Vietnam gradually begins to open up to the world, and in 1997 the U.S. lifted its embargo on Vietnam.  From then on, Vietnam was completely opened up but still ruled by one party, the Vietnamese Communist Party.

My Personal Experience in Vietnam

We arrived in Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City last night, and we will leave tomorrow. In this short period of time that I have here in Ho Chi Minh City, I will learn as much as I can. First, we had a traditional Vietnamese breakfast that consists of thin rice noodles with vegetables. Then, we went to visit the War Museum, which is dedicated to the Vietnam War.

Victims of Agent Orange

First, we went up to the Agent Orange Room, which is devoted to the victims of the chemical weapon called Agent Orange. The American jets sprayed this chemical over the Vietnamese forests to try to kill all the foliage that sheltered the Viet Cong fighters from the Americans. The chemical not only killed and injured numerous Viet Cong and American soldiers but also more than 3 million Vietnamese and the following three generations. In the end, Vietnam won the war but at a very high cost.

Next, we went back to the hotel to begin a Vespa tour. We visited a flower market, a statue of a monk who burned himself as a form of protest against Diem’s government, a Chinese temple where locals go to worship, a Buddhist pagoda, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine shop, a replica of the French Notre Dame, and the king’s Palace. Then we went back to the hotel to get ready for a dinner. Today we are going to have dinner with my dad’s Vietnamese friend. Her name is Mai. She lived through the Vietnam war, and I wanted to learn from her as much as possible. Mai was from the north of Vietnam, which was controlled by China and the USSR. The only clothes that Mai owned were pajamas and flip flops. Every night, her parents had to attend a meeting and she and her siblings were left at home alone in the middle of a war. When the north won the war, many of the southerners fled to the United States; there was one such person at the dinner. I learned a lot about the lives of the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War.

I was very surprised to hear how the Vietnamese people lived through the war. Before I arrived to Vietnam, I had only learned about the U.S. perspective about the war. I think it is important to learn both perspectives to then make your own decision about what you think. Many people in north Vietnam believed that they were fighting to release their fellow citizens from democracy. Growing up, Mai was led to believe that all Americans were cruel. However, when she met her first American, who happened to be my dad, at Harvard, she didn’t think they were cruel at all.

Today, we will leave to Danang. The time we spend in Danang will be used to catch up on homework. On Wednesday, though, we went to visit the old town. We left the hotel at 3:00pm. Then, we drove two hours to the main town. From the main town, we walked to the old town. The streets were illuminated with brightly colored spherical lamps, and classical music was playing on speaker on every block. In the old town, we visited many old houses. We also visited a pottery museum and an old Japanese bridge. Even though I only spent one week in Vietnam, I loved learning about its people, culture, hardships, and language.