Vietnamese History
A summary of the history of Vietnam.
Origins of Vietnam
The history of the Vietnamese people is one of foreign conquest and an ongoing struggle for independence. Their civilization rose in the Red River Delta, a valley of fertile plains and abrupt hills. According to Vietnamese custom, the early agrarian tribes in this region first united in 2789 BCE. Little is known about this mythic period. By about 1000 BCE, however, the people of the Red River Delta had formed Iron Age societies of sophisticated rice farmers, fishermen, merchants, and craftsmen.
Chinese Rule and Independence in Vietnam
In the 2nd century BCE, much of modern China unified under Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The growing empire led a series of aggressive expansions, including into Vietnam. At the time, the region was known in Chinese as ‘Nam Việt’ or the land of southern barbarians. The Vietnamese remained more or less under Chinese control until the 10th century CE. This period was marked by several notable rebellions. In 39 CE, two women known as the Trung sisters led a major revolt against Han China. They carved out a kingdom for themselves over the next four years, but their reign ended in defeat and mutual suicide. Between 544 and 602, the Lý dynasty ruled while China went through a period of political turmoil. Ngô Quyền at last defeated a Chinese fleet to establish true Vietnamese independence in 938 CE. Nonetheless, the Vietnamese continued many Chinese customs, including the use of Confucian education and Chinese script.
Dynastic Vietnam
For several centuries, the dynasties of Vietnam reigned in relative prosperity. Periodic succession disputes saw a series of dynasties controlling the region. Mongol armies invaded three times during the 13th century but could not adapt to the humid, swampy landscape. The Vietnamese state, meanwhile, expanded slowly southward. This culminated in 1471, when the Vietnamese invaded the southern, Indian-influenced Kingdom of Champa in the Mekong Delta. Their conquest pushed the Chams people out of modern Vietnam and into Cambodia, where most remain to this day.
European Influence and Civil War in Vietnam
After successful resistance to Chinese domination, the Lê Dynasty began a gradual decline. The region descended into civil war in the 16th century. This is also when Vietnam first came into contact with Europeans. The Portuguese arrived in 1516. Christian traders and missionaries soon followed, though they made little progress among the local population. The French in particular took interest in Vietnam and its minority Catholic population. By the 17th century, Vietnam had split into northern and southern territories, each under related dynastic families. The Nguyễn controlled the south, while the Trinh ruled in the north. They divided the former kingdom for about 150 years, creating cultural and political differences in the process. Vietnam unified again by 1802 under the Nguyễn dynasty.
The Colonial Era in Vietnam
Independent Vietnamese rule ended in the 19th century. The French, eager for new colonial holdings, conquered modern Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon in 1859. Hanoi fell by 1882. In 1887, France formed the Indochinese Union of Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina. The French were generally not welcome in Vietnam. Colonial governors faced popular revolts and guerrilla warfare throughout the colony. To complicate things, ideological divisions soon rose between these resistance factions. The Vietnamese Communist Party, headed by Ho Chi Minh, came to the forefront in the 1930s. After World War II brought an end to the Nguyễn dynasty and Japanese occupation, Vietnam fell back into French hands. This arrangement, however, was short-lived. Vietnamese forces led by Ho Chi Minh continued their resistance. Their efforts made France’s position untenable by 1954.
Communist Vietnam
Communist leadership in Vietnam attracted the attention of Cold War powers, including the United States. With Ho Chi Minh's reluctant consent, the nation divided in two between north and south. Initially, there were plans for both halves to reunify following a democratic election. Ideological differences and allegations of fraud soon scuttled those hopes. North Vietnam, backed by Soviet Russia and China, went to war with the US-backed southern Republic of Vietnam. The civil war that followed lasted nearly 20 years and killed millions of civilians. It ended with the withdrawal of the United States and a North Vietnamese victory in 1975. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has since recovered from the devastation, though the lingering effects of the war continue to be felt. Vietnam now represents one of the fastest growing nations in the world.
References
Crawford, Ann Caddell. Customs and Culture of Vietnam. Tuttle Publishing. 2012.
Goscha, Christopher. Vietnam: A New History. Basic Books. 2016.
McLeod, Mark W and Thi Dieu Nguyen. Culture and Customs of Vietnam. Greenwood Publishing. 2001.
Taylor, K.W. A History of the Vietnamese. Cambridge University Press. 2013.
“The World Factbook: Vietnam.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 12 July 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vm.html.
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