Vietnam War

Domestic effects and aftermath in Indochina

Vietnam

Virtually every Vietnamese, especially South Vietnamese, was affected by the war, having endured relentless bombardments. To the northerners, fighting and hostility continued on with neighboring countries until 1989. Many Vietnamese lost relatives as a result of the war in general. The end of the war marked the first time that Vietnam was not engaged in substantial civil war or active military conflict with an external opponent in many years. North and South Vietnam were reunified under the Socialist Republic of Vietnam following the war.

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Fear of persecution caused many highly skilled and educated South Vietnamese connected with the former regime to flee the country during the fall of Saigon and the years following, severely depleting human capital in Vietnam. The new government promptly sent people connected to the South Vietnam regime to concentration camps for "reeducation", often for years at a time. Others were sent to so-called "new economic zones" to develop the undeveloped land. Furthermore, the victorious Communist government implemented land reforms in the south similar to those implemented in North Vietnam earlier. However, it is as well to remember that large areas of land in South Vietnam had already been appropriated by the communists well before the end of the war—and their owners compensated for the loss by the South Vietnamese government. Persecution and poverty prompted an additional 2 million people to flee Vietnam as boat people over the 20 years following unification. The problem was so severe that during the 1980s and 1990s the UN established refugee camps in neighboring countries to process them. Many of these refugees resettled in the United States, forming large Vietnamese-American emigrant communities with a decidedly anti-communist viewpoint.

Related Topics:
Fall of Saigon - Human capital - Boat people - Vietnamese-American

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The newly established Republic of South Vietnam promptly implemented currency reforms. The dong previously used in South Vietnam was converted to the "liberation dong" at a rate of 500 old dongs to 1 liberation dong, essentially rendering much of the South Vietnamese money worthless. After unification in 1976, the liberation dong was abandoned in favor of a new unified dong. While the north exchanged at the 1:1 rate, the south had to exchange 10 liberation dong for each 8 unified dong. Private enterprises in the South were socialized. During much of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Vietnam underwent an economic depression and came close to famine.

Related Topics:
Republic of South Vietnam - Dong - 1976 - 1970s - 1980s

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The new unified Vietnamese government also took it upon themselves to punish the indigenous highland Montagnard tribes Vietnam, for their long term opposition to Hanoi, and their cooperation with the United States during the war. Between 1975 and 1978, the Vietnamese government carried out retributions against the highland tribes; imprisoning or executing nearly all prominent tribal leaders and confiscating fertile tribal lands for coffee plantations. Several human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, has called this an act of genocide.

Related Topics:
Montagnard - Human Rights Watch - Genocide

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Vietnam today is among the poorest countries in the world, and remittance from overseas Vietnamese constitute a considerable part of the economy. Vietnamese people often make reference to events as happening "before 1975" or "after 1975", but life in South Vietnam before 1975 is rarely discussed because most newspapers and movies published in the South prior to 1975 are forbidden from circulation. Many people were disabled during war, and continue to be killed and disabled by unexploded ordnance. Agent Orange, used as a defoliant during the war, is alleged by the Vietnamese government to continue to cause birth defects in many children and still preventing any substantial environmental recovery in some areas.

Related Topics:
Vietnam - Remittance - Overseas Vietnamese - Agent Orange - Birth defects

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The large number of people born after 1975 may be indicative of a postwar baby boom, and despite the devastating effect of the civil war on their parents' generation, a general disinterest in politics and recent history among this postwar generation of Vietnamese is notable.

Related Topics:
1975 - Baby boom

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In the late 1980s the government instituted economic reforms known as ??i m?i (renovation), which introduced some market elements, achieving modest results. The Soviet collapse in 1991 left Vietnam without its main economic and political partner, and thus it began to seek closer ties with the West. After taking office, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced his desire to heal relations with Vietnam. His administration lifted economic sanctions on the country in 1994, and in May 1995 the two nations renewed diplomatic relations, with the U.S. opening up an embassy on Vietnamese soil for the first time since 1975.

Related Topics:
1980s - ??i m?i - Soviet collapse - Bill Clinton - May 1995 - 1975

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Cambodia

In 1975, shortly before the end of the war, the Communist Khmer Rouge seized power in Cambodia after a bloody civil war. This led to a genocide that collectively killed some 1.7 million people, one-fifth of the country's population. A month after taking power Khmer Rouge soldiers seized the SS Mayaguez, an American merchant ship, which resulted in a tough response from President Ford who ordered air strikes on Cambodian oil installations and the landing of troops at Kok Tang Island which resulted in the recapture of the ship and the freeing of the crew (see Mayaguez Incident). The Khmer Rouge were driven from power in 1979 when Vietnam invaded and installed a pro-Vietnam government.

Related Topics:
Khmer Rouge - Cambodia - Mayaguez Incident

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