VIETNAM

[Dealey Joe]

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam (i/ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm/ vee-et-nahm; Vietnamese: Việt Nam, listen), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Cộng hòa xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam, listen) – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea – referred to in Vietnam as the East Sea (Vietnamese: Biển Đông) – to the east. With an estimated 90.5 million inhabitants as of 2011, Vietnam is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country.The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. Efforts to resist the French eventually led to their expulsion from the country in the mid-20th century, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two countries. Fighting between the two sides continued, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, which ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.Emerging from this prolonged military engagement, the war-ravaged Communist nation was politically isolated. In 1986, the government instituted economic and political reforms and began a path towards international reintegration.[11] By 2000, it had established diplomatic relations with most nations. Its economic growth has been among the highest in the world since 2000,[12] and according to Citigroup, such high growth is set to continue. Vietnam has the highest Global Growth Generators Index among 11 major economies,[13] and its successful economic reforms resulted in it joining the World Trade Organization in 2007. However, the country still suffers from relatively high levels of income inequality, disparities in healthcare provision, and poor gender equality.The pro-Hanoi Vietcong began a guerrilla campaign in the late 1950s to overthrow Diem's government, which an official Vietcong statement described as a "disguised colonial regime."[34] In the North, thousands of landowners were killed by the communists, and collectivization efforts led to a brief famine. In the South, Diem went about crushing political and religious opposition, imprisoning or killing tens of thousands; dissidents were routinely labelled as communists even if they were anti-communist. Both Vietnams developed into virtual police states.[citation needed]A Vietcong soldier stands guard during a prisoner exchange with American forces in 1973.In 1963, Buddhist discontent with Diem's pro-Catholic regime erupted into mass demonstrations following the banning of the Buddhist flag and the Hue Vesak shootings. With Diem unwilling to compromise, Nhu orchestrated the Xa Loi Pagoda raids; estimates of the death toll range into the hundreds. As a result, America's relationship with Diem broke down, resulting in the 1963 coup that saw Diem and Nhu killed.Diem was followed by a series of corrupt military regimes that often lasted only months before being toppled by other military officers. With South Vietnam paralyzed by instability, the communists began to gain ground. There were more than a dozen South Vietnamese governments between 1961 and 1965, before the pairing of Air Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky and General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu took control in mid-1965. Thieu gradually outmaneuvered Ky and cemented his grip on power in fraudulent elections in 1967 and 1971.[citation needed]To support South Vietnam's struggle against the communist insurgency, the United States began increasing its contribution of military advisers, using the controversial 1964 Tonkin Gulf incident as a pretext for such intervention. US forces became embroiled in ground combat operations in 1965, and at their peak they numbered more than 500,000.[35][36] Communist forces attacked most major targets in South Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive, and although their campaign failed militarily, it shocked the American establishment, and turned US public opinion against the war.[37] Communist forces supplying the Vietcong carried supplies along the Ho Chi Minh trail, which passed through Laos and Cambodia. US president Richard Nixon authorized Operation Menu, an SAC bombing campaign in Laos and Cambodia, which he kept secret from the US Congress.[38][39]Its own casualties mounting, and facing opposition to the war at home and condemnation abroad, the US began withdrawing from ground combat roles according to the Nixon Doctrine; the process was subsequently called Vietnamization. The effort had mixed results, failing to stabilize South Vietnam. The Paris Peace Accords of 27 January 1973 formally recognized the sovereignty of Vietnam "as recognized by the 1954 Geneva Agreements." Under the terms of the accords, all American combat troops were withdrawn by 29 March 1973. Limited fighting continued, before North Vietnam captured the province of Phuoc Long in December 1974 and started a full-scale offensive, culminating in the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. South Vietnam briefly came under the nominal rule of a Provisional Revolutionary Government while under military occupation by North Vietnam. On 2 July 1976, North and South Vietnam were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

[kenmurray]

Declassified Vietnam War:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvTf3miW ... re=related

[kenmurray]

by kenmurray » Thu Oct 28, 2010 11:20 am Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived:http://www.virtualjfk.com/http://www.ct ... jfk_3.html

[kenmurray]

The Phoenix Program:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tMDrnbOSb4

[kenmurray]

The American Experience: My Lai Massacre.http://video.pbs.org/video/1475790127/

[kenmurray]

Vietnam In HD: The Tet Offensive.http://www.history.com/shows/vietnam-in ... -offensive