South Vietnam

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This article is about the former country. For its geographical region, see Southern Vietnam.
"Republic of Vietnam" redirects here. For the modern country, see Socialist Republic of
Vietnam. For other uses, see Vietnam (disambiguation).

Republic of Vietnam

Việt Nam Cộng Hòa (Vietnamese)

1955–1975

Flag

Coat of arms

Motto: "Tổ Quốc – Danh Dự – Trách Nhiệm"

(English: "Fatherland – Honor – Duty")

Anthem: "Tiếng Gọi Công Dân"

(English: "Call to the Citizens")

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 South Vietnam in Southeast Asia during the Cold War

Capital Saigon
and largest city

Official languages Vietnamese

Recognised French
national languages

Religion  Buddhism
 Roman Catholicism
 Confucianism
 Taoism

Demonym(s) South Vietnamese

Government  Unitary presidentialconstitutional

republic(1955–1963; 1967–1975)
 Military junta (1963–1967)

President

• 1955–1963 Ngô Đình Diệm

• 1967–1975 Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
• 1975 Trần Văn Hương
• 1975 Dương Văn Minh
Prime Minister

• 1963–1964 (first) Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ

• 1975 (last) Vũ Văn Mẫu

Historical era  Cold War

 Vietnam War


• Referendum 26 October 1955
• 1963 coup 2 November 1963
• Paris Peace Accords 27 January 1973
• Fall of Saigon 30 April 1975

Area
• Total 173,809 km2(67,108 sq mi)

Population

• 1955 12,000,000
• 1974 19,582,000

Currency đồnga
 Time zone UTC+8 (Saigon Standard Time (SST))

Driving side right

Preceded by Succeeded by
State of Provisional
Vietnam Revolutionary
Government of the
Republic of South
Vietnam

Today part of Vietnam

Part of a series on the

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South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, Vietnamese: Việt Nam Cộng
Hòa; French: République du Viêt Nam, lit. Vietnam[ese] Republic), was a country that
existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member
 of the Western Bloc during part of the Cold War. It received international recognition in
1949 as the "State of Vietnam" (a self-governing entity in the French Empire), which was
a constitutional monarchy (1949–1955). This became the "Republic of Vietnam" in 1955. Its
capital was Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). South Vietnam was bordered by North
Vietnam to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, Thailand across
the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest, and the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei,
and Indonesia across the South China Sea to the east and southeast.
The Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed on 26 October 1955, with Ngô Đình Diệm as its
first president, after having briefly served as premier under Emperor Bao Dai who was
exiled.[1] Its sovereignty was recognized by the United Statesand 87 other nations. It had
membership in several special committees of the United Nations, but its application for full
membership was rejected in 1957 because of a Soviet veto (neither South nor North
Vietnam were members of the UN during the Vietnam War, but the united Vietnam became
a member state in 1977).[2][3] South Vietnam's origins can be traced to the French colony
of Cochinchina, which consisted of the southern third of Vietnam which was Cochinchina
[Nam Kỳ], a subdivision of French Indochina, and the southern half of Central Vietnam
or Annam [Trung Kỳ] which was a French protectorate. After the Second World War, the
anti-Japanese Viet Minh guerrilla forces, led by Ho Chi Minh, proclaimed the establishment
of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi in September 1945, issuing a Declaration of
Independence modeled on the U.S. one from 1776.[4]
In 1949, anti-communist Vietnamese politicians formed a rival government in Saigon led by
former emperor Bảo Đại. Bảo Đại was deposed by Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm in 1955,
who proclaimed himself president after a referendum. Diệm was killed in a military coup led
by general Dương Văn Minh in 1963, and a series of short-lived military governments
followed. General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu then led the country after a U.S.-encouraged civilian
presidential election from 1967 until 1975. The beginnings of the Vietnam War occurred in
1959 with an uprising by the newly organized National Liberation Front for South
Vietnam (Viet Cong), armed and supported by the northern Democratic Republic of
Vietnam, with other assistance rendered by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw
Pact communist satellites, along with neighboring People's Republic of China and North
Korea. Larger escalation of the insurgency occurred in 1965 with the landing of United
States regular forces of Marines, followed by Army units to supplement the cadre of military
advisors guiding ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) southern forces. A regular
bombing campaign over North Vietnam was conducted by offshore U.S. Navy airplanes,
warships, and aircraft carriers joined by Air Force squadrons through 1966 and 1967.
Fighting peaked up to that point during the Tet Offensive of February 1968, when there
were over a million South Vietnamese soldiers and 500,000 U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam.
Later on the war turned into a more conventional fight as the balance of power became
equalized. An even larger, armored invasion commenced during the Easter
Offensive following U.S. ground-forces withdrawal, and had nearly overran some major
northern cities until beaten back.
Despite a truce agreement under the Paris Peace Accords, concluded in January 1973,
after a torturous five years of on and off negotiations, fighting continued almost immediately
afterwards. The regular North Vietnamese army and Viet Cong auxiliaries launched a major
second combined-arms conventional invasion in 1975, termed the Spring Offensive.
Communist forces overran Saigon on 30 April 1975, marking the end of the Republic of
Vietnam's state. On July 2, 1976, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the
Republic of South Vietnam (which had taken over administration of the country) and
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Contents

 1Etymology
 2History
 o 2.1Founding of Vietnam
o 2.21955–1963
o 2.31963–1973
o 2.41973–1975
o 2.5Fall of Saigon: April 1975
 2.5.1Mekong Delta: The Last Region
o 2.6Relationship with the United States
 3Politics
 4Provisional Revolutionary Government
 5Merger into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
 6Leaders
 7Army
 8Media
o 8.1Radio
o 8.2Television
o 8.3Newspapers
 9Provinces
 10Geography
 11Economy
 12Demographics
 13Culture
 14See also
 15References
 16External links

Etymology[edit]
Main article: Names of Vietnam
The official name of the South Vietnamese state was Việt Nam Cộng hòa (Republic of
Vietnam) and the French name was referred to as République du Viêt Nam. The North was
known as the "Democratic Republic of Vietnam".
Việt Nam (Vietnamese pronunciation: [vjə̀tnam]) was the name adopted by Emperor Gia
Long in 1804.[5] It is a variation of "Nam Việt" (南 越, Southern Việt), a name used in ancient
times.[5] In 1839, Emperor Minh Mạng renamed the country Đại Nam ("Great South").[6] In
1945, the nation's official name was changed back to "Vietnam". The name is also
sometimes rendered as "Viet Nam" in English.[7] The term "South Vietnam" became
common usage in 1954, when the Geneva Conference provisionally partitioned Vietnam
into communist and non-communist parts.
Other names of this state were commonly used during its existence such as Free
Vietnam and the Government of Viet Nam (GVN).