South Vietnam
 South Vietnam  (Country)    | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Formation | 1955 |
| Extinction | 1975 |
| Location | Asia, South East Asia |
| Leader | President of South Vietnam |
| Type |  nation state |
| Subpage | •South Vietnam/Ambassador |
| US puppet state and location for most of the Vietnam War | |
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam, was a country that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of the Cold War. It first received international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the French Union, with its capital at Saigon (renamed to Ho Chi Minh City in 1976), before becoming a republic in 1955. South Vietnam was bordered by North Vietnam to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and Thailand across the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. Its sovereignty was recognized by the United States and 87 other nations, though it failed to gain admission into the United Nations as a result of a Soviet veto in 1957.[1]
Event
| Event | Description |
|---|---|
| Vietnam War/My Lai Massacre | The systematic, cold-blooded murder, butchery and rape of 504 Vietnamese civilians including 173 children by a company of 115 US army soldiers. |
Group
| Group |
|---|
| Viet Cong |
Jobs here
| Event | Job | Appointed | End | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Gunther Dean | Regional Director for Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support | 1970 | 1972 | Part of the death squad counterinsurgency Phoenix Program |
| William Westmoreland | Commander of Military Assistance Command Vietnam | June 1964 | 1968 |
Event Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bandung Conference | 1955 | 1955 | Indonesia | Important conference for the global south; participants soon became prime targets for US foreign policy |
