a short history of vietnam

A SHORT HISTORY OF A SHORT HISTORY OF VIETNAMVIETNAM

A SHORT HISTORY OF A SHORT HISTORY OF VIETNAMVIETNAM- Early KingdomsEarly Kingdoms

- Period of Chinese dominationPeriod of Chinese domination- Medieval Feudal DynastiesMedieval Feudal Dynasties

- French ColonizationFrench Colonization- Indochina War ( 1945-1954)Indochina War ( 1945-1954)

- Vietnam War(1954-1975)Vietnam War(1954-1975)- Vietnam TodayVietnam Today

Early Kingdoms

179BC

Period of Chinese domination

938AD

Medieval feudal dynasty

1858

French colonization

Indo China war

1954

Vietnam war

1975 Today1945

Chart of History of Vietnam

EARLY KINGDOMSto 179 BC

• According to the Vietnamese myths , the first Vietnames people were descended from a couple of Lac Long Quan( Dragon) and Au co( Angel) .

• The cuple decided to part ways : 50 kids went with their mame to the mountains ; other 50 – with their dad went to the sea , creating their country ( Vietnam nowadays )

• Their eldest son became the first of earliest king , collectively, known as the Hung kings( Hung kings Era or Hong bang Dynesty) . It began around 3000 BC .

Saying “Goodbye”

• Through the archeological excavations , the first vienamese kingdom was Vanlang emerged around to VII .BC , with a population consisting of 15 tribs .

• State organization of the first Vietnamese kingdom Van lang was such as

Lac hau(Court consisted of Assistants )

King Hung

Lac Tuong

Lac Tuong

LacTuong

King Hung’s temple

• Country composed of 15 Bo (Region ) , each was ruled by Lac Tuong(Lac Lord) .

• A Bo(region) comprised agricultural hamlets and villages based on matriarchal clan relationships and headed by Bochinhs( leader of region).

• The economy was based on water-rice cultivation , and in addition were handicrafts , hunting , gathering , fishinng . Lac Lord controlled the communal settlement around each irrigated area , organized construction and maintenance of the dykes .

• The famous relics in Van lang time are bronze drums belonging Dong son culture .

Song Da bronze drum

THE SECOND KINGDOM-AU LAC• By the third century BC , the last Hung King

was overthrown by Thuc Phan( An Duong Vuong ) , the ruler of small neighboring kingdom Thuc , another Viet group

• Thuc Phan deafeted Van lang and then united it with Thuc land to form Au Lac- a new kingdom. He built his capital at Co loa, thirty-five km north of present-day Ha noi .

• Co Loa was built with many concentric layers of walls around the city for defensive purpose . King An Duong vuong only had the “Magic crossbow “, that could one time deliver thousands of arrows .

• In 179 BC , a chinese warlord named Trieu Da(Zhao Tuo) defeated king An Duong vuong by having his son Trong Thuy(Zhong Shi) act as a spy after marrying An Duong vuong’s daughter, My chau .

• Trieu Da annexed the kingdom Au Lac , beginning a period of chinese domination upon Vietnam ( 179 BC – 938 AD )

A map of Co Loa

A part of Co Loa’s remain nowadays

King An Duong Vuong’s temple

Vietnam in III BC

PERIOD OF CHINESE DOMINATION

• TRUNG SISTERS ( 40-43 AD)• LADY TRIEU UPRISING (248)• LY BI & TRIEU VIET VUONG DYNASTY(544-

602 )• MAI HAC DE (722)• PHUNG HUNG(791-798)

Autonomy- KHUC THUA DU (906-930)- DUONG DINH NGHE(931-937)- Battle in Bach dang River 938 against the

South Han .

Stakes in Bach dang river

• SOME FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF VIETNAM HISTORY IN THE PERIOD OF CHINESE DOMINATION .

• Two historical tendencies : sinicization and desinicization

• The chinese dynasties carried out assimilation policies upon Vietnamese people , destroyed vietnamese culture

• Vietnamese people led an enduring struggle against chinese assimilation policies . The vietnamese villages became fortresses preserving vietnamese culture , especially , vietnamese language.

• Vietnamese culture was challengeable successfully during the period of Chinese domination lasting 10 centuries , because , it has got its own traditional character .

• Chinese domination was both interrupted and uninterrupted , creating chances for Vietnamese people to get a temporary national independence .

• Chinese domination only destroyed the Laclords construction , didn’t reached to Vietnamese villages , where Vietnamese culture has been serving through generation to generation .

Viet Dragons

Chinese Dragon

Folclore picture

MEDIEVAL FEUDAL DYNASTIES

• In 938 , Southern Han Dynasty sent troops to conquer autonomous Giao chau( name of Vietnam now) . Ngo Quyen , the virtuous Lord defeated the Southern Han fleet at the Battle of Bach Dang River . He then proclaimed himself King Ngo , began the age of independence for Vietnam .

• After King Ngo’s death , the country got in a civil war with twelve Warlords , lasting from 945 to 967. One of them was Dinh Tien Hoang, who defeated other Warlords , then founded Dinh Dynasty( 968-980) . He called himself Emperor and his country Dai Co Viet ( Great Viet Land )

• After Prior Le Dynasty founded by Le Hoan, who defeated a Song Dynasty aggressive troop in 981 at Chi Lang Pass, Vietnam became a new era with Ly and Tran Dynasties.

• Ly Dynasty (1009-1225) change the country’s name to Dai Viet (Great Viet), built the new capital named Thang Long (Ascending Dragon), in present-day Hanoi, founded the first University Quoc Tu Giam (1071).

• The Ly Dynasty firstly set up stronger feudalism in Vietnam, holding regular examinations to select elites for the government machine, organizing a new system of taxation. The Ly dynasty also promoted Buddhism, yet maintained a pluralistic attitude toward three main philosophical system of the time: Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.

• The Ly Dynasty had two major wars with Song China (1075) and a few conquests against neighboring Champa in the South.

• Tran Dynasty (1225-1400) replaced Ly Dynasty to ruled Dai Viet for more than two centuries. Almost Tran Kings ruled the country in similar manner to the Ly Kings. Under Ly Dynasty, Vietnam had a formal 30-volume history written by Le Van Huu, and created Nom script – a system of writing for Vietnamese language.

Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature)

Ly Dragon

Chinese dragon

• Tran Dynasty three times won Mongol aggression (in 1257, 1284, 1288). The DaiViet’s strategy was to advoid the Mongol’s strength in open field battles (the Tran Court abadoned the capital and cities), and then organized attacking the enemies at their weak points. Some famous battles were Chuong Duong, Ham Tu, Van Kiep,Bach Dang river. The military architect behind DaiViet victories was commander Tran Quoc Tuan (known as Tran Hung Dao).

• Le Dynasty (1428 – 1527, formally existed untill 1778). Tran Dynasty was in turn overthrown by Ho Quy Ly in 1400. He changed the country’s name to Dai Ngu. In 1407, under the pretext of helping to restore Tran Dynasty, Chinese Ming troops invaded Dai Ngu, ended Ho Dynasty, lasting for only 7 years.

• In 1428, Le Loi, a wealthy farmer successfully led the Lam Son revolution against Ming invasion, then founded the Le Dynasty. He renamed the contry back to DaiViet.

• The Le Dynasty carried out land reforms, leaned toward Confucianism, composed the Hong Duc Code, a comprehensive set of laws.

• The Le Dynasty was overthrown by Mac Dang Dung in 1527. This event opened a chaos time in Vietnamese history, a period of division (1528-1802), that was lasting two phases.

• In the first phase, there were three feudal military groups taking apart in the civil war ended in 1592, between the Le court and the Trinh lords against the Mac group .

• Nguyen lords (in the South) were against Trinh lords (in the North) 1627-1672

• The second phase began with Tay Son revolution led by Nguyen Hue – Quang Trung in 1771. He successfully defeated Trinh Lords in the North and Nguyen Lords in the South, founded the Tay Son Dynasty 1778-1802.

• Soon after overthrowing the Tay Son Dynasty in 1802 Nguyen Anh ascended the throne and called himself Emperor Gia Long.The Nguyen Dynasty lasted until 1945.

• The period of division with many tragedies and dramatic historical development inspired many poets and gave rise to some Vietnamese masterpieces verse such as the epic poem “The tale of Kieu” by Nguyen Du “Song of a soldier’s wife” by Dang Tran Con, Doan Thi Diem or the poem written by Ho Xuan Huong

Elder village notable

French colonization

• After failing to have Nguyen Dynasty open the doors for free trade, in 1858 French’s gunship attacked the post of Da Nang, beginning the French invasion into Vietnam.

• From 1859-1867 French troops expanded their control over all 6 provinces on the Mekong Delta and formed a French colony known as Cochin china.

• In October 1887, French Indochina was formed from Annam (central Vietnam), Tonkin (Northern Vietnam), Cochinchina (Southern Vietnam) and then added Cambodia, Laos

• Politically, Cochinchina had the status of a French colony. Annam was a protectorate where the Nguyen Dynasty still ruled, and Tonkin had a French Governor yet local governments were run by Vietnamese officials.

Schema of French

Expansion in Indochina

• After pacification of Vietnam, French colonialism carried out a set of colonial exploitation policies. They invested capital in building railways, factories, mines…that changed the Vietnamese economy and Vietnamese society into the orbit of capitalism.

• During the French colonization happened many Vietnamese uprisings against French colonists. There were 5 main socio-political movements.

• The first, Can Vuong movement was led by former court officers and confucianists, trying to rally the people to resist the French. It went to the end in the last XIX century

• The second, Dong Du movement (Go East) was led by Phan Boi Chau. He sent many Vietnamese students to Japan to learn modern skill, organized a few Vietnamese society in Japan. Due to French pressure, Japan later deported Phan Boi Chau to China.

Phan Chau Trinh Phan Boi Chau

• The forth, The Vietnam Quoc Dan Dang (Vietnam National Party) consisted of a sort of patriots (students, bourgeois, soldiers…). It was modeled after the Guo Ming Tang in China.

• The firth, Marxism movement. Before the starting Marxism movement, the Vietnamese revolution were lack of outline and leadership.Marxism in beginning was introduced into Vietnam with the emergence of three separate communist groups (Indochinese communists, Annamese communists and Indo chinese communist Union). In 1930 Nguyen Ai Quoc co-ordinated unification of 3 groups into the Vietnamese Communist Party.

• In 1941, Ho Chi Minh (formally known as Nguyen Ai Quoc) arrived in Northern Vietnam to form Vietnam Front fighting for Vietnam’s independence.

• In August 1945, the Japanese surrendered to the Allies creating a power vaccum in Vietnam. The Viet Minh launched “the August Revolution” to seize power, ending the Nguyen Dynasty and Japanese domination. On September 2, 1945 Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam independent founding the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. (DRV).

IndoChina war 1945-1954

• According to Alta conference among three Powers, the USA, Soviet union and British Kingdom, Chiang Kaishek’s army and the British forces would disarm the Japanese in Vietnam.

• Yet, August Revolution already occurred before the Allies forces entered Vietnam. So Ho Chi Minh government had to face the dangerous situation: 20.000 British troops in the South , and about the same quantity of Chang Kaishek’s troops in the North , and in addition was French colonists; all of them planned squeezing the Revolution to death.

• Ho Chi Minh had to negotiate with Chang Kaishek’s army, deported them back to China; then he signed a temporary agreement with the French, in March 1946 to get time for preparing the war against the French.

• 1946-1950: Viet Minh troops were resisting against the French without any international helps, just in the end of 1950, Viet Minh successfully opened the border with China and began to receive some assistance from Mao Zedong government.

Battle in Hanoi 1946

• Dien Bien Phu battle in 1954 led to the collapse of French colonism in Vietnam.

• During the period of Indo china war, two governments were established in Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh’s government (1945) and Bao Dai’s government (1949)

• In 1950, Bao Dai’s government gained recognition from the United Kingdom and the US

• In 1954, the Geneva conference was held for peace and recognition of Vietnam independence. But the powers purposely ignored the Vietnamese willing, taking 17th parallel to split the country into 2 states.

Occupying French commander’s tunel at Dien Bien Phu

Former EmperorBao Dai

Vietnam War(The Resistance against the

American’s invasion)• According to Geneva Accord, Vietnam has

temporarily to partition into two states at the 17th parallel. But supported from the US government, Ngo Dinh Diem, a former mandarin of Nguyen Dynasty was selected as Premier of Bao Dai’s state of Vietnam in 1954.

• Using the referendum in 1955, Diem deposed Bao Dai and declared him as President of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN). Since then the USA began to provide military and economic aids to the RVN, training RVN personnels, sending US advisors to assist Diem’s government. They destroyed the Geneva Accords, stopping the process of unification of Vietnam.

Ngo Dinh Diem

Periods of War

Eisenhower

1954

Kennedy

1960

Johson

1965

Nixon

1968

Ford

1973 1975

• 1954-1960, The US helped Diem Government to build an army , developed South Vietnam’s economy.

• 1961-1964, The strategy “Special War” supplied Dollars, military advisor to RVN.

• 1965-1968, the strategy “Local War”. 500,000 troops directly taking apart in war; Tet offensive.

• 1969-1973, the strategy “Vietnamization War”.-Jan-1973, Paris peace Agreement, the US troops had to withdraw from Vietnam, civil war rebegan.-May/30th/1975 victory.

Occupying the Palace” Independence”April 30th 1975

Vietnam Today

• After the resistence against the American’s invasion, Vietnam freely implemented reunification of country.

• In 1976, Vietnam was renamed Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRVN)

• SRVN was of a centralized command economy. For a decade, Vietnam’s economy was plagued with inefficiency and corruption in state programs, poor quality and underproduction and restriction on economic activites and trade. It also suffered from the trade embargo from the US and most of European countries.

• In 1986, Vietnam began economic reform with market economy mechanism. Private ownership was encouraged in industries, commerce and agriculture.Since then, Vietnam achieved around 7-8% annual GDP growth from 1990 to 2007.

• In 1995, Vietnam officially became a number of ASEAN and it was accepted into WTO in November 7th ,2006.

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