Vietnam’s American War: A History

Abstract

For more than a thousand years, starting in 111 BCE, the Vietnamese were vassals of China, part of its frontier province of Jiaozhi (Giao Chi to the Vietnamese). At that time, they resided mostly in and around the Red River Delta. The rest of what is now Vietnam, including its Central and Southern regions, belonged to other ethnic groups. The Vietnamese staged several rebellions during the millennium of Chinese rule; all failed. Only in 939 CE, following the spectacular triumph by Ngo Quyen (898-944) over a Chinese fl eet on the Bach Dang River near Ha Long Bay the year before, did they fi nally regain their independence. Over the next seven decades, rival clans vied to rule the now-sovereign nation. This First Vietnamese Civil War ended in 1009, with the founding of the Ly Dynasty, which branded its kingdom "Dai Viet" in 1054 and made Thang Long, now Hanoi, its capital. For the fi rst time, Vietnamese lived under a government of their own in an ostensibly independent country. Independence remained precarious, however. The Chinese continued to harbor designs over Dai Viet, and invaded again in 1075. They were ousted four years later by forces under the command of General Ly Thuong Kiet (1019-1105), who famously used a poem entitled "Mountains and Rivers of the Southern Country" ( Nam quoc son ha ) to motivate his troops before battle. The poem reads:The Southern country's mountains and rivers the Southern Emperor inhabits.The separation is natural and allotted in Heaven's Book.If the bandits come to trespass it, You shall, in doing that, see yourselves to be handed with failure and shame!