Difference between revisions of "Vietnam"
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[[Image:Vietnammap.gif|thumb|right|250px|A map of Vietnam.]] | [[Image:Vietnammap.gif|thumb|right|250px|A map of Vietnam.]] | ||
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[[Image:Vietnamflag.gif|thumb|right|250px|The Vietnamese flag.]] | [[Image:Vietnamflag.gif|thumb|right|250px|The Vietnamese flag.]] | ||
| − | + | The '''Socialist Republic of Vietnam''' (Vietnamese: Việt Nam) is a [[communist]] nation in Southeast Asia previously part of [[Indochina]]. | |
| − | '''Vietnam''' is a [[communist]] nation in Southeast Asia previously part of [[Indochina]]. | ||
Vietnam borders [[China]], [[Cambodia]], [[Laos]], and the [[Pacific Ocean]]. Much of Vietnam is [[mountainous]] or covered in [[jungle]]. The capital of Vietnam is [[Hanoi]]. | Vietnam borders [[China]], [[Cambodia]], [[Laos]], and the [[Pacific Ocean]]. Much of Vietnam is [[mountainous]] or covered in [[jungle]]. The capital of Vietnam is [[Hanoi]]. | ||
Revision as of 17:44, June 19, 2007
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam) is a communist nation in Southeast Asia previously part of Indochina. Vietnam borders China, Cambodia, Laos, and the Pacific Ocean. Much of Vietnam is mountainous or covered in jungle. The capital of Vietnam is Hanoi.
In the 20th century Vietnam was the site of guerrilla fighting during World War Two in the 1940s, a war against the French for independence in the 1950s, and a civil war between the United States backed South Vietnam while China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics backed North Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s.
After American forces withdrew in 1975 the entire country fell to communism and the butcherous Khmer Rouge in nearby Cambodia was emboldened. About one million Vietnamese civilians lost their lives after the U.S. withdrawal, roughly half to Communist reprisals (see also Boat people).
Use of defoliants
The wide-spread use by the United States Air Force of concentrated herbicides, especially the dioxin-contaminated Agent Orange, has been criticized for its long-lasting consequences on the environment. According to the Vietnamese government, it led to an important increase in birth defects.