A brief history of Vietnam, focusing on the reunification period of 1955-1975.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the topic of the unification of Vietnam. Specifically, it explains why Vietnamese nationalists during the 1955-1975 period believed that all of Vietnam, North and South, should be unified as a single state and why most of them also believed that the Hanoi regime was legitimate, whereas the Saigon regime was not. The two regimes of Vietnam had two different agendas, no matter who put them in power, and these agendas did not always mesh with what the people of Vietnam desired. Unfortunately, in a war with so many twists and turns, the needs and desires of the people were often overlooked because of political bias and the need for ultimate power and control.
“For decades, Vietnam had always been under the control of a foreign country. Gradually, many Vietnamese came to hate the French and all European attitudes, and gradually, they began to fight out against the French, hoping to gain their independence from foreign domination. An early nationalist was Ho Chi Minh, who grew up in a nationalist household, and while he wanted to evict the French from his homeland, he also wanted to end mandarin rule, which he felt was elitist (Schulzinger 7-8). Ultimately, Ho and other nationalists believed the poverty and rural agrarian lifestyle in Vietnam were all the fault of the colonizing French.”