3. ABOUT VIETNAM:
Area: 331,689 km2
Population: 83 million
Capital City: Hanoi (population 3.5 million)
Largest City: Ho Chi Minh City (population 7.8
million)
People: Kinh Vietnamese 85% and 53 other
ethnic groups
Language: Vietnamese (tiếng Việt)
4. Religions: mainly buddhism, catholicism,
protestantism, cao dai and hoa hao religions
Traditional dress: “AO DAI”
Vietnam national food: pho is a Vietnamese noodle
soup, usually served with beef (phở bò) or chicken
(phở gà).
5. THE VIETNAM WAR
- Also known as the Second Indochina War and known in
Vietnam as Resistance War Against America
- A war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from 1
November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975
- It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially
fought between North Vietnam and the government of South
Vietnam
- The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet
Union, China and other communist allies and the South
Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South
Korea, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies
6. - Gradual withdrawal of U.S. ground forces began as
part of "Vietnamization", which aimed to end American
involvement in the war while transferring the task of
fighting the communists to the South Vietnamese
themselves.
- Direct U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August
1973. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese
Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and
North and South Vietnam were reunified the following
year.
- The Viet Cong , a South Vietnamese
communist common front aided by the North, fought
a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the
region, while the People's Army of Vietnam engaged in
more conventional warfare, at times committing large
8. PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
- In 1950, the People's Republic of China
extended diplomatic recognition to the Viet
Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam and sent
weapons, as well as military advisers led by Luo
Guibo to assist the Viet Minh in its war with the
French.
- China's support for North Vietnam included
both financial aid and the deployment of
hundreds of thousands of military personnel in
9. SOVIET UNION
- The Soviet Union supplied North Vietnam
with medical supplies, arms, tanks, planes,
helicopters, artillery, anti-aircraft missiles and
other military equipment.
- In addition, Soviet military schools and
academies began training Vietnamese soldiers –
in all more than 10,000 military personnel.
10. NORTH KOREA
- As a result of a decision of the Korean Workers'
Party in October 1966, in early 1967 North
Korea sent a fighter squadron to North Vietnam
to back up the North Vietnamese 921st and
923rd fighter squadrons defending Hanoi. They
stayed through 1968, and 200 pilots were
reported to have served.
- North Korea also sent weapons, ammunition
and two million sets of uniforms to their
11. CUBA
- The contribution to North Vietnam by
the Republic of Cuba, under Fidel Castro have
been recognized several times by
representatives of the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam.
- Fidel Castro mentioned in his discourses the
Batallón Girón as comprising the Cuban
contingent that served as military
advisors during the war
13. SOUTH KOREA
- On the anti-communist side, South Korea
had the second-largest contingent of foreign
troops in South Vietnam after the United
States.
- The South Koreans soon developed a
reputation for effectiveness, reportedly
conducting counterinsurgency operations so
well that American commanders felt that the
South Korean area of responsibility was the
14. AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
- Australia and New Zealand, close allies of the United
States and members of the Southeast Asia Treaty
Organization and the military co-operation treaty,
sent ground troops to Vietnam.
- Australia began by sending advisors to Vietnam in
1962, and combat troops were committed in 1965.
- New Zealand began by sending a detachment of
engineers and an artillery battery, and then started
sending special forces and regular infantry which
were attached to Australian formations.
- Most Australians and New Zealanders served in
15. PHILIPPINES
- Some 10,450 Filipino troops were dispatched
to South Vietnam. They were primarily engaged
in medical and other civilian pacification
projects. These forces operated under the
designation PHLCAG-V or Philippine Civic Action
Group-Vietnam.
- More noteworthy was the fact that the naval
base in Subic Bay was used for the U.S. Seventh
Fleet from 1964 till the end of the war in 1975.
16. THAILAND
- Thai Army formations, including the "Queen's
Cobra" battalion, saw action in South Vietnam
between 1965 and 1971. Thai forces saw much more
action in the covert war in Laos between 1964 and
1972, though Thai regular formations there were
heavily outnumbered by the irregular "volunteers" of
the CIA-sponsored Police Aerial Reconnaissance
Units or PARU, who carried out reconnaissance
activities on the western side of the Ho Chi Minh
trail.
17. TAIWAN
- Since November 1967, the Taiwanese
government secretly operated a cargo transport
detachment to assist the United States and South
Vietnam. Taiwan also provided military training units
for the South Vietnamese diving units, later known as
the Lien Doi Nguoi Nhai.
- Military commandos from Taiwan were captured by
communist forces three times trying to infiltrate
North Vietnam.
18. BRAZIL
-
The Brazilian government of President Cast
elo Branco officially supported the United
States' position in South Vietnam and
contributed a medical team and supplies to
the country — the only Latin
American country to do so.
19. CANADA AND THE ICC
- Canada, India and Poland constituted
the International Control Commission, which
was supposed to monitor the 1954 ceasefire
agreement. Officially, Canada did not have
partisan involvement in the Vietnam War and
diplomatically it was "non-belligerent"
20. INFLUENCE OF THE WAR
- The Vietnam War has been featured
extensively in television, film, video games,
and literature in the participant countries.
- The war also influenced a generation of
musicians and songwriters in Vietnam and the
United States, both anti-war and pro/anti-
communist.
21. LITERATURE
- Vietnamese literature was developed at an
early date. Despite the harsh trials of history in
the form of repeated foreign invasion, its own
characteristics remain.
- Vietnamese literature includes two major
components which have developed
simultaneously and are profoundly interrelated:
Folk literature and written literature
23. Vietnamese folk literature was early
introduced and had a profound effect
on the spiritual life of the Vietnamese.
The folk literature always praised
beauty, humanism, and the love of
goodness, and contributed to the
formation of a national sense.
24. Legends, fairy tales, humorous
stories, folk songs and epics have a
tremendous vitality and have lived
on today.
26. - First appeared around the 10th century. It
had a leading role and bore the main traits of
Vietnamese literature.
- From the 10th century, literary works were
written in Han (classical Chinese) and chu
nom. But since the 16th century, chu
nom literature became increasingly popular,
and held a prim position by the early 18th
century.
27. - Well-known works written in chu nom
included Chinh Phu Ngam by female poet Doan
Thi Diem, the Kieu story by Nguyen Du, and chu
nom poems of female poet Ho Xuan Huong.
- These works were the cream of Vietnamese
literature. However entering the 20th century,
works written in classical Chinese disappeared.
28. In the 20's, and the following
decades, the country's literature was
written in Vietnamese quoc ngu
(Romanized national language).
29. From then on Vietnamese literature
developed constantly, particularly during the
two wars of resistance for national liberation.
Many young authors emerged in the literary
circles.
Traditionally, Vietnamese literature always
featured patriotism, national pride and
humanism. It was not by chance that great
cultural personalities such as Nguyen Trai,
Nguyen Du and Ho Chi Minh were also
