Viet Cong (Việt cộng) National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng miền Nam Việt Nam)
Participant in the Vietnam War
The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the Flag of North Vietnam.[1]
Active	1954—1976
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism Left-wing nationalism Vietnamese nationalism Ho Chi Minh Ideology Anti-revisionism
Groups	National Liberation Front for Southern Vietnam Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (PRG) People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF) Alliance of National Democratic and Peace Forces Central Office for South Vietnam (COSVN)
Leaders	PLAF: Commander: Nguyễn Hữu Xuyến (1961–1963), Trần Văn Trà (1963–1967), (1973–1975). Hoàng Văn Thái, (1967–1973) COSVN: Party secretary: Nguyễn Văn Linh (1961–64), Nguyễn Chí Thanh (1964–1967), Phạm Hùng (1967–1975). NLF: Nguyễn Hữu Thọ (chairman), Huỳnh Tấn Phát (general secretary, vice-chairman), Phung Van Cung (vice-chairman), Võ Chí Công (vice-chairman).[2] PRG: Huỳnh Tấn Phát (president), Madame Nguyễn Thị Bình (foreign minister), Trần Nam Trung (minister of defense),[3] Trương Như Tạng (minister of justice)[4]
Headquarters	Mimot, Cambodia (1966–72); Loc Ninh, South Vietnam (1972–75)
Area of operations	Indochina, with a focus on South Vietnam
Originated as	Vietminh
Became	Vietnam Fatherland Front
Allies	North Vietnam, Soviet Union, China
Opponents	South Vietnam, United States
Battles/wars	See full list

The Viet Cong (Vietnamese: Việt cộng,  listen), or National Liberation Front (NLF), was a political organization and army in South Vietnam and Cambodia that fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War (1959–1975), and emerged on the winning side. It had both guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network of cadres who organized peasants in the territory it controlled. Many soldiers were recruited in South Vietnam, but others were attached to the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), the regular North Vietnamese army. During the war, communists and anti-war spokesmen insisted the Viet Cong was an insurgency indigenous to the South, while the U.S. and South Vietnamese governments portrayed the group as a tool of Hanoi. This allowed writers to distinguish northern communists from the southern communists. However, northerners and southerners were always under the same command structure.^[5]

Southern Vietnamese communists established the National Liberation Front in 1960 to encourage the participation of non-communists in the insurgency. Many of the Viet Cong's core members were "regroupees," southern Vietminh who had resettled in the North after the Geneva Accord (1954). Hanoi gave the regroupees military training and sent them back to the South along the Ho Chi Minh trail in the early 1960s. The NLF called for Southerners to "overthrow the camouflaged colonial regime of the American imperialists" and to make "efforts toward the peaceful unification." The Viet Cong's best-known action was the Tet Offensive, a massive assault on more than 100 South Vietnamese urban centers in 1968, including an attack on the US embassy in Saigon. The offensive riveted the attention of the world's media for weeks, but also overextended the Viet Cong. Later communist offensives were conducted predominately by the North Vietnamese. The group was dissolved in 1976 when North and South Vietnam were officially unified under a communist government.

Names[link]

The word Việt cộng appears in Saigon newspapers beginning in 1956.^[6] It is a contraction of Việt Nam Cộng-sản, (Vietnamese communist),^[6] or alternatively Việt gian cộng sản ("Communist Traitor to Vietnam").^[7] The earliest citation for "Vietcong" in English is from 1957.^[8] American soldiers referred to the Viet Cong as Victor Charlie or V-C. "Victor" and "Charlie" are both letters in the NATO phonetic alphabet. "Charlie" referred to communist forces in general, both Viet Cong and North Vietnamese.

The official Vietnamese history gives the group's name as the Liberation Army of South Vietnam or the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam (Mặt trận Dân tộc Giải phóng miền Nam Việt Nam).^{[5][nb 1]} Many writers shorten this to National Liberation Front (NLF).^{[nb 2]} In 1969, the Viet Cong created the "Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam" (Chính Phủ Cách Mạng Lâm Thời Cộng Hòa Miền Nam Việt Nam), abbreviated PRG.^{[nb 3]} Although the NLF was not officially abolished until 1977, the Viet Cong no longer used the name after PRG was created. Members generally referred to the Viet Cong as "the Front" (Mặt trận).^[6] Today's Vietnamese media most frequently refers to the group as the "Liberation Army" (Quân Giải phóng).^[9]

Relationship with Hanoi[link]

The relationship between the Viet Cong and the Hanoi government was highly controversial during the war. Communist and anti-war spokesmen insisted that the Viet Cong was an insurgency indigenous to the South.^[10] These sources identify the Viet Cong with the National Liberation Front, which they stress was a multiparty organization.^[10] Although the People's Revolutionary Party, the South Vietnamese communist party, was the front's "paramount member", there were two other parties in the NLF, the Democratic Party and the Radical Socialist Party.^[2]

Anti-communists countered that the Viet Cong was merely a front for Hanoi.^[10] Numerous statements issued by communist leaders in the 1980s and 1990s confirm that southern communist forces were strictly under the authority of Hanoi.^[10] Nguyễn Hữu Thọ, the NLF's non-communist chairman, was a figurehead.^[11] According to the memoirs of Trần Văn Trà, the Viet Cong's top commander and PRG defense minister, he followed orders issued by the "Military Commission of the Party Central Committee" in Hanoi, which in turn implemented resolutions of the Politburo.^{[nb 4]} Trà himself was deputy chief of staff for the PAVN before being assigned to the South.^[12] The official Vietnamese history of the war states that, "The Liberation Army of South Vietnam [Viet Cong] is a part of the People’s Army of Vietnam".^[5]

History[link]

Origin[link]

Soldiers and civilians helped the war effort by taking supplies south on the Ho Chi Minh Trail (1959)

By the terms of the Geneva Accord (1954), which ended the Indochina War, France and the Viet Minh agreed to a truce and to a separation of forces. The Vietminh became the government of North Vietnam and communist forces regrouped there. Non-communist forces regrouped in South Vietnam, which became a separate state. Elections on reunification were scheduled for July 1956. A divided Vietnam angered Vietnamese nationalists, but it made the country less of a threat to China. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai negotiated the terms of the ceasefire with France and then imposed them on the Vietminh.

About 90,000 Viet Minh were evacuated to the North while 5,000 to 10,000 cadre remained in the South, most of them with orders to refocus on political activity and agitation.^[6] The Saigon-Cholon Peace Committee, the first Viet Cong front, was founded in 1954 to provide leadership for this group.^[6] Other front names used by the Viet Cong in the 1950s implied that members were fighting for religious causes, for example, "Executive Committee of the Fatherland Front", which suggested affiliation with the Hòa Hảo sect, or "Vietnam-Cambodian Buddhist Association."^[6] Front groups were favored by the Viet Cong to such an extent that its real leadership remained shadowy until long after the war was over, prompting the expression, "the faceless Vietcong.".^[6]

The Ho Chi Minh and Sihanouk Trails were used to supply the Viet Cong.

Led by dictator Ngô Đình Diệm, a puppet of the United States, South Vietnam refused to sign the Geneva Accord. Arguing that a free election was impossible under the conditions that existed in communist-held territory, Diệm announced in July 1955 that the scheduled election on reunification would not be held. After subduing the Binh Xuyen organized crime gang in the Battle for Saigon in 1955, and the Hòa Hảo and other militant religious sects in early 1956, Diệm turned his attention to the Viet Cong.^[13] Within a few months, the Viet Cong had been driven into remote swamps.^[14] The success of this campaign inspired U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower to dub Diệm the "miracle man" when he visited the U.S. in May 1957.^[14] France withdrew its last soldiers from Vietnam in April 1956.^[15]

In March 1956, southern communist leader Lê Duẩn presented a plan to revive the insurgency entitled "The Road to the South" to the other members of the Politburo in Hanoi.^[16] He argued adamantly that war with the United States was necessary to achieve unification.^[17] But as China and the Soviets both opposed confrontation at this time, Lê Duẩn's plan was rejected and communists in the South were ordered to limit themselves to economic struggle.^[16] Leadership divided into a "North first", or pro-Beijing, faction led by Trường Chinh, and a "South first" faction led by Lê Duẩn.

As the Sino-Soviet split widened in the following months, Hanoi began to play the two communist giants off against each other. The North Vietnamese leadership approved tentative measures to revive the southern insurgency in December 1956.^[18] Lê Duẩn's blueprint for revolution in the South was approved in principle, but implementation was conditional on winning international support and on modernizing the army, which was expected to take at least until 1959.^[19] President Hồ Chí Minh stressed that violence was still a last resort.^[20] Nguyễn Hữu Xuyên was assigned military command in the South,^[21] replacing Lê Duẩn, who was appointed North Vietnam's acting party boss. This represented a loss of power for Hồ, who preferred the more moderate Võ Nguyên Giáp, who was defense minister.^[17]

A 23-year-old man who nearly starved to death after spending one month in a Viet Cong internment camp, 1966.

An assassination campaign, referred to as "extermination of traitors" ^[22] or "armed propaganda" in communist literature, began in April 1957. Tales of sensational murder and mayhem soon crowded the headlines.^[6] Seventeen civilians were killed by machine gun fire at a bar in Châu Đốc in July and in September a district chief was killed with his entire family on a main highway in broad daylight.^[6] In October 1957, a series of bombs exploded in Saigon and left 13 Americans wounded.^[6]

In a speech given on September 2, 1957, Hồ reiterated the "North first" line of economic struggle.^[23] The launch of Sputnik in October boosted Soviet confidence and led to a reassessment of policy regarding Indochina, long treated as a Chinese sphere of influence. In November, Hồ traveled to Moscow with Lê Duẩn and gained approval for a more militant line.^[24] In early 1958, Lê Duẩn met with the leaders of "Inter-zone V" (northern South Vietnam) and ordered the establishment of patrols and safe areas to provide logistical support for activity in the Mekong Delta and in urban areas.^[24] In June 1958, the Viet Cong created a command structure for the eastern Mekong Delta.^[25] French scholar Bernard Fall published an influential article in July 1958 which analyzed the pattern of rising violence and concluded that a new war had begun.^[6]

Launches "armed struggle"[link]

The North Vietnamese Communist Party approved a "people's war" on the South at a session in January 1959 and this decision was confirmed by the Politburo in March.^[15] In May 1959, Group 559 was established to maintain and upgrade the Ho Chi Minh Trail, at this time a six-month mountain trek through Laos. About 500 of the "regroupees" of 1954 were sent south on the trail during its first year of operation.^[26] The first arms delivery via the trail, a few dozen rifles, was completed in August 1959.^[27]

Two regional command centers were merged to create the Central Office for South Vietnam (Trung ương Cục miền Nam), a unified communist party headquarters for the South.^[15] COSVN was initially located in Tây Ninh Province near the Cambodian border. On July 8, the Viet Cong killed two U.S. military advisors at Biên Hòa, the first American dead of the Vietnam War.^{[nb 5]} The "2d Liberation Battalion" ambushed two companies of South Vietnamese soldiers in September 1959, the first large unit military action of the war.^[6] This was considered the beginning of the "armed struggle" in communist accounts.^[6] A series of uprisings beginning in the Mekong Delta province of Bến Tre in January 1960 created "liberated zones", models of Viet Cong-style government. Propagandists celebrated their creation of battalions of "long-hair troops" (women).^[28] The fiery declarations of 1959 were followed by a lull while Hanoi focused on events in Laos (1960–61).^[29] Moscow favored reducing international tensions in 1960, as it was U.S. presidential election year.^{[nb 6]} Despite this, 1960 was a year of unrest in South Vietnam, with pro-democracy demonstrations inspired by the South Korean student uprising that year and a failed military coup in November.^[6]

Brinks Hotel, Saigon, following a Viet Cong bombing on Dec. 24, 1964. Two American officers were killed.

To counter the accusation that North Vietnam was violating the Geneva Accord, the independence of the Viet Cong was stressed in communist propaganda. The Viet Cong created the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam in December 1960 at Tân Lập village in Tây Ninh as a "united front", or political branch intended to encourage the participation of non-communists.^[30] The group's formation was announced by Radio Hanoi and its ten point manifesto called for, "overthrow the disguised colonial regime of the imperialists and the dictatorial administration, and to form a national and democratic coalition administration."^[6] Thọ, a lawyer and the NLF's "neutralist" chairman, was an isolated figure among cadres and soldiers. South Vietnam's Law 10/59, approved in May 1959, authorized the death penalty for crimes "against the security of the state" and featured prominently in Viet Cong propaganda.^[31] Violence between the Viet Cong and government forces soon increased drastically from 180 clashes in January 1960 to 545 clashes in September.^[32]

By 1960, the Sino-Soviet split was a public rivalry, making China more supportive of Hanoi's war effort.^[33] For Chinese leader Mao Zedong, aid to North Vietnam was a way to enhance his "anti-imperialist" credentials for both the domestic and international audiences.^[34] About 40,000 communist soldiers infiltrated south in 1961–63.^[35] The Viet Cong grew rapidly and an estimated 300,000 members were enrolled in "liberation associations" (affiliated groups) by early 1962.^[6] The ratio of Viet Cong to government soldiers jumped from one to 10 in 1961 to one to five a year later.^[36]

The alleged 1966 martyrdom of Viet Cong soldier Nguyễn Văn Bé is much celebrated in Vietnam, despite the fact that he later turned up alive.^[37]

The level of violence in the South jumped dramatically in the fall of 1961, from 50 guerrilla attacks in September to 150 in October.^[38] U.S President John F. Kennedy decided in November 1961 to substantially increase American military aid to South Vietnam.^[39] The USS Core arrived in Saigon with 35 helicopters in December 1961. By mid-1962, there were 12,000 U.S. military advisors in Vietnam.^[40] The "special war" and "strategic hamlets" policies allowed Saigon to push back in 1962, but in 1963 the Viet Cong regained the military initiative.^[36] The Viet Cong won its first military victory against South Vietnamese forces at Ấp Bắc in January 1963.

A landmark party meeting was held in December 1963, shortly after a military coup in Saigon in which Diệm was assassinated. North Vietnamese leaders debated the issue of "quick victory" vs "protracted war" (guerrilla warfare).^[41] After this meeting, the communist side geared up for a maximum military effort and PAVN troop strength increased from 174,000 at the end of 1963 to 300,000 in 1964.^[41] The Soviets cut aid in 1964 as an expression of annoyance with Hanoi's ties to China.^{[42][nb 7]} Even as Hanoi embraced China's international line, it continued to follow the Soviet model of reliance on technical specialists and bureaucratic management, as opposed to mass mobilization.^[42] The winter of 1964–1965 was a high water mark for the Viet Cong, with the Saigon government on the verge of collapse.^[36] Soviet aid soared following a visit to Hanoi by Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in February 1965.^[43] Hanoi was soon receiving up-to-date surface-to-air missiles.^[43] The U.S. would have 200,000 soldiers in South Vietnam by the end of the year.^[44] In January 1966, Australian troops uncovered a tunnel complex which had been used by COSVN.^[45] Six thousand documents were captured, revealing the inner workings of the Viet Cong. COSVN retreated to Mimot in Cambodia. As a result of an agreement with the Cambodian government made in 1966, weapons for the Viet Cong were shipped to the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville and then trucked to Viet Cong bases near the border along the "Sihanouk Trail", which replaced the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Many Viet Cong units operated at night,^[46] and employed terror as a standard tactic.^[47] Rice procured at gunpoint sustained the Viet Cong.^[48] Squads were assigned monthly assassination quotas.^[49] Government employees, especially village and district heads, were the most common targets. But there were a wide variety of targets, including clinics and medical personnel.^[50] Notable Viet Cong atrocities include 48 killed in the bombing of My Canh floating restaurant in Saigon in June 1965^[51] and a massacre of 252 Montagnards in the village of Đắk Sơn in December 1967 using flamethrowers.^[52]

Logistics and equipment[link]

Tet offensive[link]

Major reversals in 1966 and 1967, as well as the growing American presence in Vietnam, inspired Hanoi to consult its allies and reassess strategy in April 1967. While Beijing urged a fight to the finish, Moscow suggested a negotiated settlement.^[53] Convinced that 1968 could be the last chance for decisive victory, General Nguyễn Chí Thanh, suggested an all-out offensive against urban centers.^{[54][nb 8]} He submitted a plan to Hanoi in May 1967.^[54] After Thanh's death in July, Giáp was assigned to implemented this plan, now known as the Tet offensive. The Parrot's Beak, an area in Cambodia only 30 miles from Saigon, was prepared as a base of operations.^[55] Funeral processions were used to smuggle weapons into Saigon.^[55] Viet Cong entered the cities concealed among civilians returning home for Tết.^[55] The U.S. and South Vietnamese expected that an announced seven-day truce would be observed during Vietnam's main holiday.

A U.S. propaganda leaflet urges Viet Cong to defect using the Chiêu Hồi Program.

At this point, there were about 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam,^[44] as well as 900,000 allied forces.^[55] General William Westmoreland, the U.S. commander, received reports of massive troop movements and understood that an offensive was being planned, but his attention was focused on Khe Sanh, a remote U.S. base near the demilitarized zone.^[56] In January and February 1968, some 80,000 Viet Cong struck more than 100 towns with orders to "crack the sky" and "shake the Earth."^[57] The offensive included a commando raid on the US Embassy, Saigon and a massacre at Huế of about 3,500 residents.^[58] House-to-house fighting between Viet Cong and South Vietnamese Rangers left much of Cholon, a section of Saigon, in ruins. The Viet Cong used any available tactic to demoralize and intimidate the population, including the assassination of South Vietnamese commanders.^[59] A photo by Eddie Adams showing the summary execution of a Viet Cong in Saigon on February 1 became a symbol of the brutality of the war.^[60] In an influential broadcast on February 27, newsman Walter Cronkite stated that the war was a "stalemate" and could be ended only by negotiation.^[61]

The offensive was undertaken in the hope of triggering a general uprising, but urban Vietnamese did not respond as the Viet Cong anticipated. About 75,000 communist soldiers were killed, according to Trần Văn Trà, commander of the "B-2" district, which consisted of southern South Vietnam.^[62] "We did not base ourselves on scientific calculation or a careful weighing of all factors, but...on an illusion based on our subjective desires," Trà concluded.^[63] Earle G. Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, estimated that Tet resulted in 40,000 communist dead^[64] (compared to about 6,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese dead). "It is a major irony of the Vietnam War that our propaganda transformed this debacle into a brilliant victory. The truth was that Tet cost us half our forces. Our losses were so immense that we were unable to replace them with new recruits," said PRG Justice Minister Trương Như Tạng.^[64] Tet had a profound psychological impact because South Vietnamese cities were otherwise safe areas during the war.^[65] U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and Westmoreland argued that panicky news coverage gave the public the unfair perception that America had been defeated.^[66]

Aside from some districts in the Mekong Delta, the Viet Cong failed to create a governing apparatus in South Vietnam following Tet, according to an assessment of captured documents by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.^[67] The breakup of larger Viet Cong units increased the effectiveness of the CIA's Phoenix program (1967–72), which targeted individual leaders, as well as the Chiêu Hồi Program, which encouraged defections. By the end of 1969, there was little communist-held territory, or "liberated zones," in South Vietnam, according to the official communist military history.^[68] There were no predominantly southern units left and 70 percent of communist troops in the South were northerners.^[69]

The Viet Cong created an urban front in 1968 called the Alliance of National, Democratic, and Peace Forces.^[70] The group's manifesto called for an independent, non-aligned South Vietnam and stated that "national reunification cannot be achieved overnight."^[70] In June 1969, the alliance merged with the NLF to form a "Provisional Revolutionary Government." (PRG)

Vietnamization[link]

The severe communist losses during Tet allowed the U.S. to gradually withdraw combat forces and to shift responsibility to the South Vietnamese, a process called Vietnamization. Pushed into Cambodia, the Viet Cong could no longer draw South Vietnamese recruits.^[69] In May 1968, Trường Chinh urged "protracted war" in a speech that was published prominently in the official media, so the fortunes of his "North first" fraction may have revived at this time.^[71] COSVN rejected this view as "lacking resolution and absolute determination."^[72] The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 led to intense Sino-Soviet tension and to the withdrawal of Chinese forces from North Vietnam. Beginning in February 1970, Lê Duẩn's prominence in the official media increased, suggesting that he was again top leader and had regained the upper hand in his longstanding rivalry with Trường Chinh.^[73] After the overthrow of Prince Sihanouk in March 1970, the Viet Cong faced a hostile Cambodian government which authorized a U.S. offensive against its bases in April. However, the capture of the Plain of Jars and other territory in Laos, as well as five provinces in northeastern Cambodia, allowed the North Vietnamese to reopen the Ho Chi Minh Trail.^[74] Although 1970 was a much better year for the Viet Cong than 1969,^[74] it would never again be more than an adjunct to the PAVN. The 1972 Easter Offensive was a direct North Vietnamese attack across the demilitarized zone between North and South.^[75] Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued. In March, Trà was recalled to Hanoi for a series of meetings to hammer out a plan for a massive offense against Saigon.^[76]

Viet Cong soldiers carry an injured American POW to a prisoner swap in 1972. The VC uniform was a floppy jungle hat, rubber sandals, and green fatigues without insignia.^[77]

In response to the anti-war movement, the U.S. Congress passed the Case-Church Amendment to prohibit U.S. military intervention in Vietnam in June 1973 and reduced aid to South Vietnam in August 1974.^[78] With U.S. bombing ended, communist logistical preparations could be accelerated.^[79] An oil pipeline was built from North Vietnam to Viet Cong headquarters in Loc Ninh, about 75 miles northwest of Saigon.^[79] (COSVN was moved back to South Vietnam following the Easter Offensive.) The Ho Chi Minh Trail, once a treacherous mountain trek, was upgraded into a drivable road.^[79] Between the beginning of 1974 and April 1975, the communists delivered nearly 365,000 tons of war material to battlefields, 2.6 times the total for the previous 13 years.^[68]

The success of the 1973–74 dry season offensive convinced Hanoi to accelerate its timetable. When there was no U.S. response to a successful communist attack on Phước Bình in January 1975, South Vietnamese morale collapsed. The next major battle, at Buôn Ma Thuột in March, was a communist walkover. After the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, the PRG moved into government offices there. At the victory parade, Tạng noticed that the units formerly dominated by southerners were missing, replaced by northerners years earlier.^[69] The bureaucracy of the Republic of Vietnam was uprooted and authority over the South was assigned to the PAVN. Perhaps 1 million people considered tainted by association with the former South Vietnamese government were sent to reeducation camps, despite the protests of the non-communist PRG members including Tạng.^[80] Without consulting the PRG, North Vietnamese leaders decided to rapidly dissolve the PRG at a party meeting in August 1975.^[81] North and South were merged as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in July 1976 and the PRG was dissolved. The NLF was merged with the Vietnam Fatherland Front in February 1977.^[80]

See also[link]

• Viet Cong and PAVN strategy, organization and structure
• Viet Cong and PAVN battle tactics
• Kit Carson Scouts, former Viet Cong who worked with U.S. Marines
• Vietnam People's Army, the North Vietnamese army.

Notes[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, The Human Cost of Communism in Vietnam (1972), part I, part II, part III, and part IV.
• Marvin Gettleman, et al. Vietnam and America: A Documented History. Grove Press. 1995. ISBN 0-8021-3362-2. See especially Part VII: The Decisive Year.
• Truong Nhu Tang. A Viet Cong Memoir. Random House. ISBN 0-394-74309-1. 1985. See Chapter 7 on the forming of the Viet Cong, and Chapter 21 on the communist take-over in 1975.
• Frances Fitzgerald. Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1972. ISBN 0-316-28423-8. See Chapter 4. "The National Liberation Front".
• Douglas Valentine. The Phoenix Program. New York: William Morrow and Company. 1990. ISBN 0-688-09130-X.
• Merle Pribbenow (translation). Victory in Vietnam: The Official History of the People's Army of Vietnam. University Press of Kansas. 2002 ISBN 0-7006-1175-4

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vietcong

• Tet Offensive 1968, US Embassy & Saigon fighting. CBS News footage of the Tet Offensive.
• Vietnam War – Hue Massacre 1968. A tribute to the dead of Huế by Trịnh Công Sơn, one of wartime Vietnam's most prominent composers.
• The Wars for Vietnam: 1945–1975. Primary documents concerning the Vietnam War, including peace proposals, treaties, and platforms.
• Digger History, VC Tunnels. At one point, Viet Cong tunnels stretched from the Cambodia border to Saigon.
• The Viet Cong 1965–1967 – part 1 and The Viet Cong 1965–1967 – part 2. Viet Cong recruiting video.
• "Tiên vê Sài Gòn" (Forward to Saigon.) This propaganda video features singing Viet Cong and newsreel footage from the 1975 offensive.

This article or section contains only non-IPA pronunciation information for some words. It should be expanded with an International Phonetic Alphabet transcription. For assistance, see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation.

This article contains Vietnamese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of chữ Nôm, chữ Hán and chữ Quốc Ngữ.

Vietnamese people
người Việt

Top: Triệu Thị Trinh • Nam Phương • Trưng Sisters Middle: Phan Boi Chau • Lê Lợi • Nguyen Dinh Chieu Bottom: Lê Văn Duyệt • Ho Chi Minh • Ngo Bao Chau
Total population
77,000,000
Regions with significant populations
Vietnam      74,000,000 (2008 est.)[1] (86% population of Vietnam)
USA 1,642,950 (2007)[2]  Cambodia 600,000 [3]  France 250,000 [4]  Taiwan 120,000 - 200,000 [5]  Australia 174,200 (2001) [6]  Canada 151,410 (2001) [7]  Laos 100,000  Malaysia 87,000 [8]  Germany 83,526 (2004) [9]  United Kingdom 55,000-70,000 [10][11]  Czech Republic 60,931 (2010) [12]  Poland 45,000  Japan 41,136 (2008) [13]  Russia 36,225 [14]  China 30,000  Philippines 27,600  Thailand 19,876  Norway 18,333 (2006) [15]  Netherlands 18,000 (2007)  Finland 4,000 [16]
Languages
Vietnamese
Religion
Predominantly Mahayana Buddhism, with influences of Taoism and a background of Confucian thought (Triple Religion theory). Significant Roman Catholic, Hoa Hao Buddhist, Cao Dai and small Protestant minorities.[17]
Related ethnic groups
Gin people of China (also known as Jing or Kinh) Muong people Southern Chinese or other people in South China. For vague historical references, see also Bǎiyuè.

The Vietnamese people (Vietnamese: người Việt or người Kinh) are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam. The earliest recorded name for the ancient Vietnamese people appears as "Lạc".

Although geographically and linguistically labeled as Southeast Asians, long periods of Chinese domination and influence have placed the Vietnamese culturally closer to East Asians, or more specifically their immediate northern neighbours, the Southern Chinese and other tribes within the South China. The word Việt is shortened from Bách Việt, a name used in ancient times. Nam means "south".

If regarded as a single ethnic group, the Vietnamese constitute one of the world's largest."CIA World Factbook". May 8th, 2012. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vm.html. Retrieved 11 May 2012. 

Origins[link]

The ancient Vietnamese people were first known simply as the Lạc or Lạc Việt in recorded history, and the country of Vietnam during that time was known as Văn Lang. Archaeological evidence of the bronze age Dong Son Culture (also known as Lac Society) suggests the ancient Vietnamese people were among the first to practice agriculture.

According to a research study done by the Hôpital Saint-Louis in Paris, France: "the comparison of the Vietnamese with other East Asian populations showed a close genetic relationship of the population under investigation with other Orientals", with the exception of seven unique markers. These results, along with remnants of Thai enzyme morphs, indicate a theory of a dual ethnic origin of the Vietnamese population from Chinese and Thai populations.^[18] A 2001 HLA study headed by laboratories at the Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei (Taiwan) classifies the Vietnamese people in the same genetic cluster as the Miao (Hmong), Southern Han (Southern Chinese), Buyei and Thai, with a divergent family consisting of Thai Chinese and Singapore Chinese, Minnan (Hoklo) and Hakka.^[19]

Legend and early history[link]

According to legend, the first Vietnamese descended from the dragon lord Lạc Long Quân and the female heavenly angel Âu Cơ. They married and had one hundred eggs, from which hatched one hundred children. Their eldest son Hùng Vương ruled as the first Vietnamese king.

The First Vietnamese[link]

Historians believe that the earliest Vietnamese people gradually moved from the Indonesian archipelago through the Malay Peninsula and Thailand until they settled on the edges of the Red River in the Tonkin Delta. Archaeologists follow a path of stone tools from the Early Pleistocene Age (600,000-12,000 BC), across Java, Malaysia, Thailand and north to Burma. These stone tools are thought to be the first human tools used in Southeast Asia. Archaeologists believe that at this time the Himalayas, a chain of mountains in northern Burma and China, created an icy barrier which isolated the people of Southeast Asia. During the Ice Age, (12,000-8000 BC) the extreme northern and southern parts of the earth froze into giant glaciers and icebergs, while at the equator temperatures did not fall below freezing. Due to the formation of icebergs in the far north, the ocean levels around the equator dropped significantly. This resulted in the exposure of the shallow areas surrounding the coasts and islands of Southeast Asia - today known as the Sunda Shelf.

It is generally thought^{[citation needed]} that the exposed Sunda Shelf looked like a giant salt plain, and that perhaps people ventured out across this area to settle on other coasts or islands. Later, when the glaciers melted, the Sunda Shelf again disappeared under water. Because it is a relatively shallow body of water, it has always provided a safe area for traders and travelers in small boats to pass safely without the threat of high or choppy seas. In this way, the geography of the area has had a lot to do with the way in which cultures developed. As the map indicates, outside the Sunda Shelf are some deep ocean basins which were not often crossed until heavier and wider Chinese vessels (massive vessels from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) that dwarfed later European man-of-war sailing ships) could traverse these deep and sometimes dangerous seas.

As the glaciers melted and the seas near these coasts rose, traders and other travelers who wanted to migrate to other areas, or perhaps to proselytize religion, used boats as transport. For the next 4,000 years, until 8000 BC, people also moved across the mainland of Southeast Asia towards the Tonkin Delta, some stopping and settling along the way. Eventually, the descendants of these migratory peoples entered the Neolithic Age (from around 8000-800 BC), when humans started to use simple stone tools. In the Early Neolithic Period (8000-2500 BC), those who arrived to settle along Vietnam's northern coasts were probably negritos, or short, dark curly-haired people who, according to one theory^[which?], came south from China. Remains of these people and their culture have been found in the Hoa Binh Caves along the Red River and in the Tonkin Delta. In the Middle Neolithic Period (2500-2000 BC), more people appeared in the area of present-day Vietnam and settled at another location called Bac Son, in a central area of the Tonkin Delta. These people were probably somewhat taller and lighter-skinned than the negritos from Hoa Binh; they excelled in the art of basketry as well as in the manufacturing and use of polished double-edged stone tools.

Earlier Vietnamese groups[link]

Map of Văn Lang, 500 BC.

Sometime after the advent of the societies found at Hoa Binh and Bac Son, another group of people developed a culture at Quynh van (Nghe-An) where an aspect of their religion was manifested in large mounds of mollusk shells which had been collected from the Red River Delta. Bodies had been buried under these piles of shells in a seated position with bent knees - in the same position as many buried bodies found throughout Indonesia and the Philippines. This signifies to archaeologists that these early people had an advanced society based on fishing and that their religion was oriented toward the sea. At a location further south of the Tonkin Delta, in the central region of Vietnam's coast, remains of another culture have been found at Sa Huynh. This culture existed from about 4000 to 1000 BC. Tools, ornamental beads, and funerary jars have also been found at these archaeological sites. These jars were usually located at the water's edge and probably signified a dead person's journey out to sea.

Throughout Southeast Asia, the Neolithic Period can be considered the period in which organized societies developed. During this period the Vietnamese people spread across a large area from the foothills of northern Vietnam's western cordillera (Truong Son) to the eastern coast. It is thought that they lived in small communities with groups of extended families living in a simple communal way. The growing of rice, their staple food, had developed into two distinct methods, shifting cultivation, done on a dry field, usually in upland areas, and wet rice cultivation, which involved the construction of dikes around rivers that collected water into knee-deep ponds in which the rice was grown.

Pictures of Vietnamese indigenous repelled in highlands and pejoratively called "Moï" (savage). They are now part of the 53 minorities.^[20][21][22]

Cultural and historical influences[link]

South[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Vietnam today is characterized by two major river deltas, the Red River Delta in the north and the Mekong River Delta in the south. In prehistoric times a kingdom formed along the coasts north of the Mekong River Delta. It was composed of Malayo-Polynesian people and was highly influenced by Indian and Indonesian traders and religious people. This area developed into the kingdom of Champa which was similar to other Hindu-Buddhist civilizations which were being formed in Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia.

Champa did not become an established kingdom until 192 AD after which time it became quite advanced with walled cities, books and archives, palaces, and monuments, many of which were built by slaves. Residents of Champa were able to grow two crops of rice per year with a sophisticated system of irrigation which was overseen by a water chief, someone selected to monitor the irrigation ditches and canals. While some cities in Champa remained centers of religion and trade, this kingdom was mostly made up of small territories in river valleys and on coastal plains, each with a local ruler who was seen by his subjects as a representative of the gods. The height of Cham civilization occurred during the 6th to 8th centuries. At this time, much trading occurred between the Chams and the highlanders who needed salt as well as with coastal villages in Vietnam and with China. Important trade items included elephant and rhinoceros tusks, cardamom, bee wax, aromatic woods and betel nut. However, when times were not going well in the small coastal city-states, the people turned to looting and pirating in other coastal towns of Champa and Vietnam. After centuries of these pirate raids, the Vietnamese began to fight back and eventually conquered Champa, but not before many aspects of Cham society were incorporated into the societies of Vietnam Cham society is organized in a cluster of City-States, not very different from ancient Greece, in contrast of centralized Vietnamese society influenced by China in the north.

North[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Before the Chinese actually colonized Vietnam, groups from southern China began to move into the Tonkin Delta in order to start new lives after being forced to leave their homelands. Thus, around the 3rd century BC, changes in China began to heavily influence the Dong Son culture which was thriving in Vietnam. One important series of changes occurred along the Yangtze River in southern China. According to historians, in 333 BC, three cultures, the Shu, the Ch'u, and the Yueh began to fight among themselves, causing the Yueh to move south in small scattered kingdoms. At the same time, the central power of northern China, the Ch'in Dynasty, began to split so that a large number of princes and members of the aristocracy also moved south to start their own small kingdoms. Cantonese "Yueh" gave the name "Viet".

People of Tonkin, 1861-1880

The people of the Red River civilizations, also known as Lac society, began to feel the effects of these newcomers who gradually moved into their homelands. Many historians believe that it was not difficult for the Yueh to be incorporated into Lac society. However, the Au Lac lords began to fight with the Ch'in princes. While they were involved in this fighting, another group from the northwest, the Thuc (who had once been the Shu of the Yangtze River) took advantage of weakness in the area and asserted their authority. The legendary citadel of Co Loa, the remains of which can still be seen today. An Dương Vương's arrival explains the origins of the legendary Au Lac kingdom which is usually associated with the height of Dong Son culture.Vietnamese language may be representative of these inflences.

Prehistoric mythology[link]

The movement and changing cultures of early Vietnam are explained through myths which give historians insight into what might have happened in the Dong Son era. The most well-known origin myth says the first Vietnamese people originated from the marriage of a dragon father and a fairy mother who had 100 sons. Because the dragon was a water creature and the fairy was a land creature, they decided they could no longer stay together. The fairy mother took 50 sons to the highlands, and the dragon father took 50 sons to the coast. One of the sons who went with the dragon father became the founder of the Hung Dynasty which is thought to have existed from as early as 2769 BC until 100 AD. The 50 sons who went to the coast are considered to be the people of the Lac Kingdom. According to historians and archaeologists, the Lac people were coastal people who had developed a sophisticated wet rice agricultural society from as early as 1500 BC. The Hungs, as depicted in the mythology, were mountain people who are believed to have had a reciprocal agreement with the Lac Kingdom so that the Hungs protected the Lacs from aggressive mountain groups in return for rice and other crops grown on the coastal plains of the Red River. These mythological stories, which in many cases can be matched with archaeological remains, tell of the joining of fire and water, or the earth people and the water people. The joining of these two elements has both historical and religious meaning.^[23]

Many historians believe that the original people of Vietnam came both overland and across the water bringing different cultures, languages, and types of people together in the Tonkin Delta. Some historians believe that the water god of the Dong Son people was the frog, which might explain the many frogs found on the Dong Son drums and might indicate that the first Dong Son people arrived in Vietnam by sea. Later this symbol was changed to the dragon following Chinese mythology. These origin myths were not written down by the Vietnamese people until about the 13th century AD, long after the Vietnamese had been colonized by the Chinese.^[24]

Rickshaw in Hanoi in the 19th century

Origin myths also show how the early Vietnamese people saw themselves in terms of their environment. Since water and sun were the most important elements of nature, they were incorporated into their mythology in a way which gave the people and the elements a common origin. Much of early Vietnamese religion involved nature and human relationships with their surroundings. The early Vietnamese people compared the soil, the water, and the sun to God in animism. In these elements there was energy which benefited the people and the greater power to help or to destroy. At times this power was compared to that of a child who may cause great destruction without even realizing it. In the earliest times people believed in ghosts and spirits which were thought to dwell in every tree, stone, mountain, cloud, stream, and animal. Rocks and mountains were thought to be able to multiply. These spirits were said to be the wandering souls of the dead, the ancestors of the people who had settled nearby. This type of religion is known as an ancestor cult. Because the ancestor spirits were the medium between living people and the greater forces of nature, they had to be honored in rituals and sacrifices in order to maintain harmony between the elements, the spirits, the ancestors, and the people. Later, as the Vietnamese people were converted to Buddhism, Taoism, and then Confucianism by the Chinese, most villagers maintained these original beliefs—especially those involving ancestor cult and incorporated them into the new religions. This is an example of "creative borrowing" by a people while their own culture remains a strong underlying force.^[25]

Early historical period[link]

Chinese histories refer to the early inhabitants of southern China and northern Vietnam as the Bǎiyuè, also shortened to Yuè,^[26] which is cognate to Vietnamese Việt. In 258 BC An Dương Vương founded the kingdom of Âu Lạc in the area of present-day northern Vietnam. In 208 BC, Triệu Đà, a former Qin Dynasty general from China, allied with the leaders of the Yue in the area of modern-day Guangdong and declared himself king of the Nam Việt, or Southern Yue. He defeated An Dương Vương and then combined Âu Lạc with his territories in southern China.

Diaspora[link]

Vietnamese New Year parade, San Jose, California.

Originally from northern Vietnam and southern China, the Vietnamese have conquered much of the land belonging to the Champa Kingdom and Khmer Empire over the centuries. They are the dominant ethnic group in most provinces of Vietnam, and constitute a significant portion of the population of Cambodia.

Under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, they were the most persecuted group. Tens of thousands were murdered in regime-organized massacres. Most of the survivors fled to Vietnam.

During the sixteenth century, some Vietnamese migrated into Thailand and China. In Thailand, they are mostly distributed in Isan provinces such as Nakhon Phanom or Mukdahan. In China, although somewhat more sinicized, their descendants still speak Vietnamese and form the Gin people of China. They are among the recognized minority groups in the People's Republic of China based especially in or around Guangxi Province.

When the French left Vietnam in 1954, some Vietnamese emigrated to France. However, some ethnic Vietnamese had already resided and/or studied in France at least since the end of World War I (1918). As a result of the partition of North and South Vietnam, nearly one million Vietnamese fled the North for the South to escape persecution. Meanwhile, a much smaller number of southerners joined the north.

The end of the Vietnam War prompted millions to flee the country escaping from the new Communist regime and Communists from the North. Recognizing an international humanitarian crisis, many countries accepted Vietnamese refugees, including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, West Germany, Sweden, and Australia. Tens of thousands had been sent to work or study in Central and Eastern Europe and later settled there after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the vast majority among those from the north or those who stayed in reunified Vietnam after 1975.

See also[link]

Vietnam portal