Democratic Republic of Vietnam | ||||||||||||||
Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa 越南民主共和國 |
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Motto "Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc" (English: "Independence – Freedom – Happiness") |
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Anthem "Tiến Quân Ca" (English: "Army March") |
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Location of North Vietnam in Southeast Asia.
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Capital | Hanoi | |||||||||||||
Languages | Vietnamese (official) | |||||||||||||
Religion | None (state atheism) | |||||||||||||
Government | Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party state | |||||||||||||
Party Chairman First Secretary |
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• | 1945–1956 | Trường Chinh | ||||||||||||
• | 1956–1960 | Hồ Chí Minh | ||||||||||||
• | 1960–1976 | Lê Duẩn | ||||||||||||
President | ||||||||||||||
• | 1945–1969 | Hồ Chí Minh | ||||||||||||
• | 1969–1976 | Tôn Đức Thắng | ||||||||||||
Prime Minister | ||||||||||||||
• | 1945–1955 | Hồ Chí Minh | ||||||||||||
• | 1955–1976 | Phạm Văn Đồng | ||||||||||||
Historical era | Cold War · Vietnam War | |||||||||||||
• | Republic declared | September 2, 1945 | ||||||||||||
• | Viet Minh reenters Hanoi | October 10, 1954 | ||||||||||||
• | PAVN enters Saigon | April 30, 1975 | ||||||||||||
• | North and South Vietnam merged | July 2, 1976 | ||||||||||||
Area | ||||||||||||||
• | 1960 | 157,880 km² (60,958 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
Population | ||||||||||||||
• | 1960 est. | 15,916,955 | ||||||||||||
Density | 100.8 /km² (261.1 /sq mi) | |||||||||||||
• | 1974 est. | 23,767,300 | ||||||||||||
Density | 150.5 /km² (389.9 /sq mi) | |||||||||||||
Currency | đồng | |||||||||||||
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Today part of | Vietnam |
North Vietnam | |
Vietnamese name | |
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Vietnamese alphabet | Bắc Việt Nam |
Chữ Nôm | 北越南 |
Democratic Republic of Vietnam | |
Vietnamese alphabet | Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa |
Chữ Nôm | 越南民主共和 |
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), was a state in Southeast Asia which existed from 1945 to 1976. Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh declared independence from France on 2 September 1945 and announced the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. France reasserted its colonial dominance and a war ensued between France and the Viet Minh, led by Ho. The Viet Minh ("League for the Independence of Vietnam") was a coalition of nationalist groups, mostly led by communists. In February 1951, the communists announced the creation of the Lao Động Party (Labor Party), gradually marginalizing non-communists in the Viet Minh.
Between 1946 and 1954, the Viet Minh captured and controlled most of the rural areas of Vietnam. In 1954, after the French were defeated, the negotiation of the Geneva Accords ended the war between France and the Viet Minh and granted Vietnam independence. The Geneva Accords divided the country provisionally into northern and southern zones, and stipulated general elections in July 1956 "to bring about the unification of Viet-Nam." The northern zone was commonly called North Vietnam and the southern zone South Vietnam, or, formally, the Republic of Vietnam.
Supervision of the implementation of the Geneva Accords was the responsibility of an International Commission consisting of India, Canada, and Poland. The United States did not sign the Geneva Accords but instead stated that the U.S. "shall continue to seek to achieve unity through free elections supervised by the United Nations to insure that they are conducted fairly." In July 1955, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, announced that the Republic of Vietnam would not participate in elections to unify the country. He said that South Vietnam had not signed the Geneva accords and was not bound by it.
With the failure to reunify Vietnam by elections, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam attempted to unify the country by force in the Vietnam War (1955–75). North Vietnam and the Viet Cong insurgents supported by their communist allies, including the Soviet Union and China, fought against the military of South Vietnam, the U.S. and other anti-communist military forces, including South Korea, Australia, Thailand and smaller players. North Vietnam also supported indigenous communist rebels in Cambodia and Laos against their respective U.S,-backed governments. The war ended when Democratic Republic of Vietnam forces and the Viet Cong defeated the Republic of Vietnam and in 1976 united the two parts of the country into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.