THE INDOMITABLE PEOPLE OF VIETNAM

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VIETNAM - THE WAR YEARS
 
 
        In the 20th Century alone, Vietnam fought French Colonialists, the United States, Communist China, Imperial Japan during WWII and the Communist Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot in Cambodia.  They basically fought two Revolutionary Wars and a Civil War simultaneously all the while coming into the 21st Century as SouthEast Asia's new 'tiger' economy.  The people and steel land of Vietnam have proven to be indomitable.   
             Sai Gon 
'Paris of the East' built by French Colonialists starting around the 1870's.  

    The French surrender in 1954 after 56 days of fighting at Dien Bien Phu (Central part of the country). They withdraw the next year leaving behind everything they had built in their colony and the country is split at the 17th parallel, establishing North and South.


                         

Ngo Dinh Diem in the South becomes "President," strongly anti-communist and backed by the United States initially, he later is assassinated in a military coup.  From here the United States increases bombings, starts to land troops and the Vietnam War, or the American War of Aggression for the Vietnamese has officially begun.  For Vietnam it was a National War fought by everyone and showed the power of people's strength when united.  





Entire villages all over Vietnam, North and South trained, strategic, innovative.  Bridges get hit with bombs, they get repaired and the trucks keep moving. 




By 1973, U.S. soldiers have been withdrawn and the ARVN are left to defend themselves.


Independence Palace and the tank that crashed through the gate. - Ho Chi Minh City

 

Comments

voirdive2008.blogspot.com said…
Very interesting history of Vietnam...
November 26, 2023 at 8:45 AM
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