Democratic Republic of Vietnam

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed by Ho Chi Minh on September 2, 1945, following the Japanese surrender, and fought the First Indochina War against France (1946-54) before achieving independence in the northern half of the country under the 1954 Geneva Accords. Backed by the Soviet Union and China, North Vietnam prosecuted a 21-year struggle to reunify Vietnam under communist rule, first through armed insurgency in the South and then through conventional military operations. After the American withdrawal in 1973 and its final military offensive in 1975, North Vietnam captured Saigon on April 30, 1975; the country was formally reunified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on July 2, 1976.

• Existed: 1945 CE – 1976 CE
• Type: Entity
• Government: Single-party communist state
• Capital: Hanoi