Recent Historical Events
Recent historical events — Our country became a French colony around the end of the 19th century. In 1940, a World War erupted. In Vietnam, on March 9, 1945, the Japanese overturned the French in a military coup. Emperor Bảo Ðại enacted the abolition of the treaty of protectorate concluded with France and entrusted to Mr. Trần Trọng Kim the formation of the first government of the independent state of Vietnam. On the global scene, the countries of the Axis - Germany, Italy and Japan - were overcome by the Allies - England, France, the United States, the USSR and China. In our country, on August 19, 1945, the Việt Minh revolutionary forces seized the power held by the Trần Trọng Kim government and proclaimed the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. As France sought to restore its domination, on December 19, 1946, a war of national resistance was declared in view of defending our independence. At that time, the Việt Minh revealed its true communist nature and initiated a campaign to eliminate the nationalist groups. Faced with the danger of being gradually eradicated, the nationalist parties pulled back into special zones controlled by another non-communist government.
After the battle of Ðiện Biên Phủ, the Geneva agreement of 1954 divided our country into two: the North became the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the South, the Republic of Vietnam. The North pledged open allegiance to the communist bloc and immediately launched the process of conquering the South by force, an act which it dissimulated to the eyes of the world by operating behind an organization of its creation, called the Front of Liberation of the South. At that time, South Vietnamaccepted the support of the United States and the allied forces of the free world created to stop the expansion of communism. In the 1960s, as the invading forces from the North grew in numbers and in strength, the United States started pouring their own troops into the South, and the war intensified.
In 1972, after the rupture of relations between the USSR and China, President Nixon went to China and signed the Shanghai Agreement. Consequently, no longer needing an “outpost in the fight against communism”, the United States dropped their support of the Republic of Viet Nam! [The book “Khi Ðồng Minh Tháo Chạy (When the Allies Ran Away)” by Dr. Nguyễn Tiến Hưng reveals the disappointing truths about the betrayal of the Americans in their shameful flight.] According to the Paris agreement signed in 1973, the United States was to withdraw their troops from South Vietnam and only leave in place a number of military advisers, while the North Vietnamese troops remained fully stationed in the South! The Communists of North Vietnam were therefore free to continue their unabated invasion of the South with the considerable assistance of the international communist bloc. Despite the courage shown in its war of self-defense, because of the serious lack of ammunition and fuel, South Vietnam was pushed into an untenable situation. On April 30, 1975, Saigon, the capital of the South, fell. In the months and years following that date, the world witnessed the exodus of the Vietnamese men, women and children fleeing communism, in search of freedom. I trust you already know the next chapters of our story with sufficient details.
