South Vietnam

South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), {{ll|Vietnamese}} Việt Nam Cộng Hòa from 1955, was a country that existed from 1954 to 1975 in the territory of Vietnam that lay south of the Demilitarized Zone while North Vietnam was situated to the north of the DMZ. The partition was made during the Geneva Conference (1954), after the Viet Minh fought successfully to end almost 100 years of French colonialism. The Republic was proclaimed in Saigon by Ngo Dinh Diem on October 22, 1955, after the Emperor Bao Dai was deposed.

Related Topics:
1955 - 1954 - 1975 - Vietnam - Demilitarized Zone - North Vietnam - Geneva Conference (1954) - Viet Minh - French colonialism - Saigon - Ngo Dinh Diem - October 22 - Bao Dai

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The founding of South Vietnam was based on the support of the United States, and the history of the relationship is controversial. Despite its popular reputation for supporting democracy and elections, the U.S. and the Diem government agreed that elections mandated by the Geneva Conference (1954) should not occur, as Ho Chi Minh was highly popular and any other Vietnamese figure of the time would likely have lost. The dominant political rationale for supporting the South was claimed at the time to have been based in its anti-communist ideology, and a desire to limit the expansion of the North government, which had allied itself with the Soviet Union. Under circumstances that remain controversial to this day, conflict steadily escalated to become the Vietnam War. Following American troop withdrawal from the war in 1973, the South Vietnam government continued fighting the NLF and North Vietnam, until, overwhelmed by the opposition, it finally surrendered on April 30, 1975. The NLF took power and established the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam until the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam was inaugurated on July 2, 1976.

Related Topics:
United States - Geneva Conference (1954) - Anti-communist - Soviet Union - Vietnam War - NLF - April 30 - 1975 - Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam - Socialist Republic of Vietnam - July 2 - 1976

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