Government of South Vietnam
| Republic of Vietnam | ||||||||||
| Việt Nam Cộng hòa | ||||||||||
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Motto "Tổ quốc - Danh dự - Trách nhiệm" (English: "Fatherland – Honor – Duty") |
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Anthem "Tiếng gọi Công dân" (English: "Call to the citizens") |
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 Vietnam in Southeast Asia from 1954 to 1976
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| Capital | Saigon | |||||||||
| Languages | Vietnamese (official) | |||||||||
| Religion | ||||||||||
| Government |
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| President | ||||||||||
| • | 1955–1963 | Ngô Đình Diệm | ||||||||
| • | 1967–1975 | Nguyễn Văn Thiệu | ||||||||
| • | 1975 | Trần Văn Hương | ||||||||
| • | 1975 | Dương Văn Minh | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | ||||||||||
| • | 1963–1964 (first) | Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ | ||||||||
| • | 1975 (last) | Vũ Văn Mẫu | ||||||||
| Historical era | ||||||||||
| • | Referendum | 26 October 1955 | ||||||||
| • | 1963 coup | 2 November 1963 | ||||||||
| • | Paris Peace Accords | 27 January 1973 | ||||||||
| • | Fall of Saigon | 30 April 1975 | ||||||||
| • | De jure reunification | 2 July 1976 | ||||||||
| Area | ||||||||||
| • | 1955 | 173,809 km2 (67,108 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | ||||||||||
| • | 1955 est. | 12,000,000 | ||||||||
| Density | 69/km2 (179/sq mi) | |||||||||
| • | 1974 est. | 19,582,000 | ||||||||
| Density | 113/km2 (292/sq mi) | |||||||||
| Currency | đồnga | |||||||||
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| Today part of |
 Vietnam (Socialist Republic of Vietnam) |
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| South Vietnam | |
| Vietnamese alphabet | Nam Việt Nam |
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| Chữ Nôm | 南越南 |
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) (Vietnamese: Việt Nam Cộng Hòa), was a state governing the southern half of the current Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. It received international recognition in 1949 as the "State of Vietnam" (as a self-governing entity in the French Empire), with a constitutional monarchy (1949–1955), and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" (1955–1975). Its capital was Saigon. The term "South Vietnam" became common usage in 1954, when the Geneva Conference provisionally partitioned Vietnam into communist and non-communist parts.
The Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed on 26 October 1955, with Ngô Đình Diệm as its first president, after having briefly served as premier under Emperor Bao Dai who was exiled. Its sovereignty was recognized by the United States and eighty-seven other nations. It had membership in several special committees of the United Nations, and would have been a member of the United Nations itself had it not been for a Soviet veto in 1957.
South Vietnam's origins can be traced to the French colony of Cochinchina, which consisted of the southern third of Vietnam which was Cochinchina [Nam Kỳ], a subdivision of French Indochina, and the southern half of Central Vietnam or Annam [Trung Kỳ] which was a French protectorate. After the Second World War, the anti-Japanese Viet Minh guerrilla forces, led by Ho Chi Minh, proclaimed the establishment of a Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi in September, 1945, issuing a Declaration of Independence modeled on the American one from 1776. In 1949, anti-communist Vietnamese politicians formed a rival government in Saigon led by former emperor Bảo Đại. Bảo Đại was deposed by Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm in 1955, who proclaimed himself president after a referendum. After Diệm was killed in a military coup led by general Dương Văn Minh in 1963, there was a series of short-lived military governments. General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu then led the country after an American encouraged civilian presidential election from 1967 until 1975. The beginnings of the Vietnam War occurred in 1959 with an uprising by southern newly organized communist influenced Viet Cong forces, armed and controlled by northern Democratic Republic of Vietnam, with other assistance rendered by the Soviet Union and its East European Warsaw Pact communist satellites, along with neighboring People's Republic of China and North Korea. Larger escalation of the insurgency occurred with the 1965 landing of United States regular forces of Marines followed by Army units to supplement the cadre of military advisors guiding ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) southern forces. A regular bombing campaign over North Vietnam, conducted by offshore U.S. Naval Aviation warships and aircraft carriers joined by Air Force squadrons through 1966 and 1967. Fighting reached a climax during the Tet Offensive of February 1968, when there were over 1.5 million South Vietnamese soldiers and American military growth to 500,000 U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam.
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