Vietnam 
(map)
n the late 1800s, France had occupied much of what is now Vietnam. As a French protectorate and colony, the people of Vietnam, already used to being conquered by several of their neighbors and influenced by China for centuries quickly adapted. By the 1900s few Vietnamese did not speak French. French culture mixed with Asian culture produced a remarkably interesting blend especially considering Thai spices and French cooking.
A mix of Buddhist religious tenets and Christian missionaries also created a unique sub-culture, with clashing French morality and Christian Puritanism. In the end, a raging wild side of Vietnam continued to clash with the secular side. The result was government graft and a large chasm between city life and the rural, with modern western ways clashing with the ox and cart lifestyles in the fields outside the cities.
Chinese communist influences created a wave of change moving from the North toward the South, and communist guerillas soon became a major threat to the French overseers and after a number of years of battling the insurgents the French government tired of the effort. Ho Chi Minh, a stern communist task master established a government in the North and in 1954 the French were on the run.
At the same time, the U.S., having recovered sufficiently from a near disaster in Korea, began efforts to shore up governments all over South East Asia, in the fear that Communist culture would sweep through Asia and threaten allies in the region.
By the early 1960s as the French were moving out of South Vietnam, the U.S. was moving in advisors. By the mid 1960s, the U.S. was fully involved in war and the considerable American military machine was drafting American boys and sending them to Vietnam at a prodigious rate. The conflict, balancing political forces dead in the middle of the Cold War, turned even more political as Russian and Chinese advisors helped the North Vietnamese irregulars (Viet Cong) and regular forces. The Viet Cong, a virulent guerilla force blended into the local villages North and South, becoming "part of the landscape" so to speak. Using tunnels and buried weapons caches, the guerillas could pop up just about anywhere ready to conduct effective fire fights. Even large cities such as the capital of the south, Saigon, were not immune. Infiltrators working with local children killed and maimed soldiers and civilians alike with bombs and other typical insurgent activities.
Meanwhile, in the outlying areas, the Viet Cong began getting supplies, then arms down the "Ho Chi Minh" trail, a network of routes leading from North Vietnam down into South Vietnam. U.S. ignored the trail for far too long and by the Tet Offensive in 1967, the amount of supplies and arms, as well as North Vietnam regular soldiers had become a critical mass, and led to decisive U.S. loses on the battlefield by a fairly well organized and overpowering force.
While the U.S. might not feel they lost this battle -- it by no means removed U.S. effectiveness on the field -- it was a political disaster of huge proportion and it spelled the end. The U.S. began an influx of troops and equipment to fight this newly armed foe and also began bombing across the border in an effort to bring the North Vietnamese to the bargaining table. However, political pressure at home became a larger enemy and when President Nixon took office, it was clear that the U.S. government had lost its stomach for the war.
A cease fire agreement in 1973 allowed the U.S. to fully withdraw, and in 1975, the North overran the South, bringing Vietnam together under one communist regime. For the next 10 years, Vietnam and its neighbors fell behind the Chinese section of the Iron Curtain or succumbed to insurgents and deadly political regimes. Finally in 1985, the curtain opened a little as Vietnam began to stabilize under its slightly softer communist regime.
Today Vietnam is slowly opening the door to western markets, in classic third world efforts beginning with textiles. Normalization of relations with the outside world has also begun, Vietnam's communist government softening even further in the light of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Vietnam's agricultural products include paddy rice, corn, potatoes, rubber, soybeans, coffee, tea, bananas; poultry, pigs; and fish. The major exports are crude oil, marine products, rice, coffee, rubber, tea, garments, and shoes. The labor force is focused agriculture 67%, industry and services 33% and imports match typical third world nations, especially those under a communist regime, importing modern world items such as machinery and equipment, petroleum products, fertilizer, steel products, raw cotton, grain, cement, and (anyone whose been to Vietnam will nod in vigorous agreement), motorcycles. However the major mode of transportation in Vietnam is a one speed bicycle, manufactured locally.
While a sensitive relationship exists between Vietnam and non-communist countries, it appears to be desirous of emerging onto the world's stage. Accordingly, non-communist overtures to improve relations continues with the hope of change.
Vietnam has complained of some terrorist activities in the last five years. However, none of the groups seem to be well organized and none have made it onto the U.S. terrorist lists.
Recent Events
Vietnam has begun to participate in negotiations to join ASEAN, a trade
and economic aid organization. They have also just recently offered
to help find more evidence of the last days of MIAs from the Vietnam war.
Terrorist Groups Thought to be Active in Vietnam
© Copyright 2002, MILNET
