About vietnam's reunification Day: the origin story
posted by Paul Rowe, 30/04/21, HCMC, Vietnam.
Vietnam's Reunification Day celebrates the final ousting of foreign colonial rulers and imperialists from Vietnam.
In 1975, in Saigon, the April 30th victory signaled an end to the Indochina Wars. For the first time since 1858 Vietnam was free from foreign interference. It was the first time the country of Vietnam could be called Vietnam since 1887.
It was the end of a long and bloody chapter for the Vietnamese people.
Reunification Day is a celebration of happiness.
**
In 1975, in Saigon, the April 30th victory signaled an end to the Indochina Wars. For the first time since 1858 Vietnam was free from foreign interference. It was the first time the country of Vietnam could be called Vietnam since 1887.
It was the end of a long and bloody chapter for the Vietnamese people.
Reunification Day is a celebration of happiness.
**
The Viets had been expanding southwards into Cham and Khmer country for hundreds of years. First were the merchants, then came the tens of thousands of peasant farmers. They were rushing to the fertile delta region around present day HCM city. There were so many Viets living in the southern region that by 1623 Lord Nguyen Phuc Nguyen "establish[ed] two custom-houses at the river ports of Prei Nokor and Kas Krobei, ... to collect taxes from Vietnamese merchants" (Dr. Vu, The Making of Saigon, p.6).
"Vietnam became a target for Western colonialists who were hunting for new colonies. In 1858, the French-Spanish troops attacked ... Da Nang, starting their invasive war... Within nearly three decades of invasion ..., the French imposed their ... domination over Vietnam" (Hieu and Huyen, 2017, Vietnam - A Brief History in Pictures, p.77).
"The Điện Biên Phủ Victory of 1954 crushed the French colonialists (the United States was financially assisting the French at this time), forcing the French government to sign the Geneva Agreement in July 1954, recognising independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the three Indochinese countries, ending Việt Nam’s long-lasting resistance war" (Colonel Trần Tiến Hoạt, 2020, VietnamNews.vn/politics-laws/716301/battle-of-dien-bien-phu-flashback.html).
**
HOWEVER,
the END of "Việt Nam’s long-lasting resistance war"
WAS NOT TO BE.
**
HOWEVER,
the END of "Việt Nam’s long-lasting resistance war"
WAS NOT TO BE.
**
"Nine participating countries pledged themselves to guarantee the agreements, but the United States made it clear that it was not bound by them." (https://www.britannica.com/event/Geneva-Accords).
"With the help of British troops, on the night of September 22, 1945, French troops RE-OCCUPIED Saigon" (Museum of HCMC).
And so started Indochina Wars One and Two.
"With the help of British troops, on the night of September 22, 1945, French troops RE-OCCUPIED Saigon" (Museum of HCMC).
And so started Indochina Wars One and Two.
Fast forward 21 painful years.
"11;30 am of April 30 [1975] ... Chief Bui Van Tung quickly entered the Palace ... raised the flag of the South Vietnam National Liberation Front ... forcing the Saigon puppet authority to surrender unconditionally, completely ...
re-unifying the country" (Museum of HCMC. An Angle of Historic-cultural Vision, p.78).
"11;30 am of April 30 [1975] ... Chief Bui Van Tung quickly entered the Palace ... raised the flag of the South Vietnam National Liberation Front ... forcing the Saigon puppet authority to surrender unconditionally, completely ...
re-unifying the country" (Museum of HCMC. An Angle of Historic-cultural Vision, p.78).
VIETNAM HISTORY, CULTURE
and other good stuff.
and other good stuff.
posted by Paul Rowe, 30/04/21, HCMC, Vietnam.