Vietnam

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a nation in Southeast Asia with an eastern coast on the South China Sea. Vietnam is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, and Cambodia to the southwest.

Throughout Vietnam's history, the nation has endured successive occupations by China from the north. Beginning in the 10th Century, a series of Vietnamese dynasties ruled the area, until the colonization of Southeast Asia by the French in the 19th Century. After World War II, a Vietnamese independence movement led by Ho Chi Minh sought to cast off French influence, and this effort succeeded in 1953.

Split as a result of postwar agreements between a Communist-controlled North Vietnam and a United States-supported South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam entered a bloody period beginning in the 1960s with the advent of the Vietnam War. After the collapse of the South Vietnamese government in 1975, Vietnam was reunified and has been a one-party Communist state ever since. However, the nation has become increasingly prosperous through foreign capital investment and industrial growth despite the government's espousal of Communism.

• Wikipedia: Vietnam People's Army | Vietnam People's Air Force | Vietnam People's Navy | Vietnam People's Police

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• Wikipedia: Geography of Vietnam

• Country Studies: Vietnam Geography

• WorldAtlas.com: Vietnam Map and Information

• National Geographic: Vietnam Map