South Vietnam

South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam , was a country in <a href="/facts/Southeast_Asia/VafwT517">Southeast Asia</a> that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered <a href="/facts/Diplomatic_recognition/scYJlwys">international recognition</a> in 1949 as the <a href="/facts/State_of_Vietnam/x16mtSGa">State of Vietnam</a> within the <a href="/facts/French_Union/7PWc4WKK">French Union</a>, with its capital at <a href="/facts/Saigon/TyQxqTmQ">Saigon</a>, before becoming a republic in 1955, the time when the southern half of <a href="/facts/Vietnam/0ulfA8Eq">Vietnam</a> was one member of the <a href="/facts/Western_Bloc/RS9Ev5RJ">Western Bloc</a> during part of the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a> after the <a href="/facts/1954_Geneva_Conference/oBs72jK7">1954 division of Vietnam</a>. South Vietnam was bordered by <a href="/facts/North_Vietnam/1d0osuEy">North Vietnam</a> (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) to the north, <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Laos/yYG2vJTU">Laos</a> to the northwest, <a href="/facts/Khmer_Republic/dsql6Chv">Cambodia</a> to the southwest, and <a href="/facts/Thailand/GCUnN4JK">Thailand</a> across the <a href="/facts/Gulf_of_Thailand/N0RLjG0m">Gulf of Thailand</a> to the southwest. Its sovereignty was recognized by the United States and 87 other nations, though it failed to gain admission into the <a href="/facts/United_Nations/fgXLnmgT">United Nations</a> as a result of a <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet</a> veto in 1957. It was succeeded by the <a href="/facts/Provisional_Revolutionary_Government_of_the_Republic_of_South_Vietnam/ngnC2fvE">Republic of South Vietnam</a> in 1975. In 1976, the Republic of South Vietnam and North Vietnam merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The end of the <a href="/facts/Second_World_War/2efV5L1U">Second World War</a> saw anti-<a href="/facts/Empire_of_Japan/gMpNKg2W">Japanese</a> <a href="/facts/Vi%25E1%25BB%2587t_Minh/l03MGQh5">Việt Minh</a> guerrilla forces, led by <a href="/facts/Communist/PkUwa9xK">communist</a> fighter <a href="/facts/Ho_Chi_Minh/JLRhYPI7">Ho Chi Minh</a>, proclaiming the establishment of the <a href="/facts/Democratic_Republic_of_Vietnam/1d0osuEy">Democratic Republic of Vietnam</a> (DRV) in <a href="/facts/Hanoi/0W2xfMQN">Hanoi</a> in September 1945. In 1949, during the <a href="/facts/First_Indochina_War/oQW2oRrR">First Indochina War</a>, the French helped establish the State of Vietnam (SVN), a rival government of <a href="/facts/Anti-communist/bJuolzxo">anti-communist</a> Vietnamese politicians in Saigon, led by former emperor <a href="/facts/B%25E1%25BA%25A3o_%25C4%2590%25E1%25BA%25A1i/LszrDtu7">Bảo Đại</a>. After the 1954 Geneva Conference, the DRV took control of North Vietnam, while the SVN administered South Vietnam, which encompassed the <a href="/facts/Southern_Vietnam/7JnxLTvt">southern</a> and part of the <a href="/facts/Central_Vietnam/JXTyXnPl">central</a> regions of the country. A <a href="/facts/1955_State_of_Vietnam_referendum/AvXb7C19">1955 referendum</a> on the state's future form of government was widely marred by electoral fraud and resulted in the <a href="/facts/Deposition_(politics)/Cx4Nz5Q6">deposal</a> of Bảo Đại by <a href="/facts/Prime_Minister_of_South_Vietnam/xKfn0rXN">Prime Minister</a> <a href="/facts/Ng%25C3%25B4_%25C4%2590%25C3%25ACnh_Di%25E1%25BB%2587m/m6pYmcEQ">Ngô Đình Diệm</a>, who proclaimed himself <a href="/facts/President_of_South_Vietnam/xKfn0rXN">president</a> of the new republic on 26 October 1955. Diệm was killed in a <a href="/facts/CIA/U7urmQYL">CIA</a>-backed <a href="/facts/Arrest_and_assassination_of_Ngo_Dinh_Diem/CrKpIV8d">military coup</a> led by general <a href="/facts/D%25C6%25B0%25C6%25A1ng_V%25C4%2583n_Minh/aqqDfAAm">Dương Văn Minh</a> in 1963, and a series of short-lived military governments followed. General <a href="/facts/Nguy%25E1%25BB%2585n_V%25C4%2583n_Thi%25E1%25BB%2587u/go08XXRH">Nguyễn Văn Thiệu</a> then led the country after <a href="/facts/1967_South_Vietnamese_presidential_election/rtvDpdnK">a US-encouraged civilian presidential election</a> from 1967 until 1975.
The beginnings of the <a href="/facts/Vietnam_War/W0gfbGTE">Vietnam War</a> occurred in 1955 with an uprising by the newly organized <a href="/facts/National_Liberation_Front_for_South_Vietnam/hkoWcwRy">National Liberation Front for South Vietnam</a> (Việt Cộng), armed and supported by North Vietnam, with backing mainly from <a href="/facts/China/lTjIXY5p">China</a> and the Soviet Union. Larger escalation of the insurgency occurred in 1965 with <a href="/facts/United_States_in_the_Vietnam_War/rr8sqUDg">American intervention</a> and the introduction of regular forces of <a href="/facts/United_States_Marine_Corps/J8JDlJG2">Marines</a>, followed by <a href="/facts/United_States_Army/WACWBEK9">Army</a> units to supplement the cadre of military advisors guiding the <a href="/facts/Republic_of_Vietnam_Military_Forces/Y9h3pBwS">Southern armed forces</a>. A <a href="/facts/Operation_Rolling_Thunder/k5koDMHf">regular bombing campaign</a> over North Vietnam was conducted by offshore <a href="/facts/United_States_Navy/xYK0fUou">US Navy</a> airplanes, warships, and aircraft carriers joined by <a href="/facts/United_States_Air_Force/7MxWBYlc">Air Force</a> squadrons through 1966 and 1967. Fighting peaked up to that point during the <a href="/facts/Tet_Offensive/ImMHIwCv">Tet Offensive</a> of February 1968, when there were over a million South Vietnamese soldiers, 500,000 <a href="/facts/United_States_Armed_Forces/NHVsU9Id">U.S. soldiers</a>, and 100,000 soldiers from other allied nations such as <a href="/facts/South_Korea/pCobAaVw">South Korea</a>, <a href="/facts/Australia/qLHpbppq">Australia</a>, and <a href="/facts/Thailand/GCUnN4JK">Thailand</a> in South Vietnam. What started as a guerrilla war eventually turned into a more conventional fight as the balance of power became equalized. An even larger, armored invasion from the North commenced during the <a href="/facts/Easter_Offensive/VX0Tm6tn">Easter Offensive</a> following US ground-forces withdrawal, and had nearly overrun some major southern cities until being beaten back.
Despite a truce agreement under the <a href="/facts/Paris_Peace_Accords/EpE1SKg3">Paris Peace Accords</a>, concluded in January 1973 after five years of on-and-off negotiations, fighting continued almost immediately afterwards. The regular <a href="/facts/People%2527s_Army_of_Vietnam/ayoTsmQP">North Vietnamese army</a> and Việt-Cộng auxiliaries launched a major <a href="/facts/1975_spring_offensive/48Crlf90">second combined-arms conventional invasion in 1975</a>. Communist forces <a href="/facts/Fall_of_Saigon/9jrBqnvp">overran Saigon</a> on 30 April 1975, marking the end of the Republic of Vietnam. On 2 July 1976, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the North Vietnamese-controlled Republic of South Vietnam merged to form the <a href="/facts/Socialist_Republic_of_Vietnam/0ulfA8Eq">Socialist Republic of Vietnam</a>; Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

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South Vietnam