Ho Chi Minh City History

Compared to the rest of the country, the area around H· Chí Minh City is a relatively new addition to the Vietnamese nation. Set in the swampland of the Saigon River, the city that is now home to more than seven million people had its inauspicious beginning as a small fishing village. It wasn’t until the Later Lˆ Dynasty’s expansion in the 16th century that the area’s growth got seriously underway.

In the late 17th century, the northern government, realizing Saigon’s ideal location as a port, began to focus its attention on the small village. In 1698, Lord Nguy[n Phuc Chu took steps toward development, and the swampland was filled in to facilitate overland travel and trade. The city first appeared on the European radar as a convenient locale from which to pursue economic activities during the 1700s. The atmosphere began to change, however, after the French captured the city in 1859—the first conquest in their drive toward a colonial empire in the area.

The French Kiss Of Death

For the next century, the French utilized Saigon as their primary trade base in Indochine, their Southeast Asian colonial stronghold. During that time, they provided the city with an infrastructure, building wide avenues and practical systems of transport, as well as marking their presence architecturally. With transportation and trade established in the Saigon area, rice cultivation in the Mekong Delta grew rapidly under French occupation.

During World War II, the city was briefly occupied by the Japanese. In 1945, H· Chí Minh declared the independence of the nation of Vietnam, hastening the end of French rule. But the stubborn French troops refused to leave the country and instead seized Saigon from the new Communist government, turning independence celebrations into street riots and initiating the First Indochina War between Vietnam and France. Nearly a decade later, in 1954, the French were permanently expelled from the country after their embarrassing defeat at i_n Biˆn Ph© in the north. A few months later, Western powers—including France, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the US—met with Vietnamese officials to create the Geneva Convention. Vietnam was divided along the 17th Parallel; the northern half became a communist state, and the southern half became a democratic state. The Vietnamese had little say in the matter, but they complied with the decision, with the understanding that two years later, in 1956, the country would be reunified and hold national elections. The northern half (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) was handed over to H· Chí Minh and his Communist Vietnamese Worker’s Party, while the southern half (the Republic of Vietnam) was placed in the hands of Ng® ình Di_m, an anti-Communist political figure who ruled from Saigon.

Pre-Lapsarian Saigon

Here’s a sentence you don’t see very often: things didn’t go exactly as outlined at the Geneva Convention. With the help of the US, the southern contingency was able to develop an anti-Communist government with which to be reckoned. Life under Ng® ình Di_m was far from ideal, though, for those living in the south. Determined to stay in power, he called on the US to help attack the northern army and guerrilla fighters, the National Liberation Front (NLF), which was established in 1960. Di_m employed violent repression as a means of rooting out opposition, passing a law that made it legal to jail suspected Communists without trial. The country’s response to Di_m’s oppressive rule was swift, however, and Saigon soon became a stronghold of students, intellectuals, and Buddhist monks who worked to make their dissenting voices heard. In the early 1960s, large numbers of Buddhist monks set themselves on fire in the streets to protest the repressive regime and its increased military and political action in the southern countryside. The US responded to the outcries by backing a coup that ended mysteriously in the assassination of Di_m in 1963, when General Nguy[n Vn Thi_u took over to replace him. In 1964, the American government passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, guaranteeing extended military action against the North and closer involvement with (read: “control over”) Thi_u in Saigon.

During the war, Saigon served as the center of US military and intelligence operations, as well as the southern capital under President Thi_u. Most of the local military action occurred in the regions north of the capital city; troops and supplies were transported along the H· Chí Minh Trail, where the NLF found plenty of wooded cover from which to operate its offensive. In 1966, the US directed its focus at the NLF in the south, who were believed to be hiding in the C© Chi Tunnels north of the city; frustratingly, they failed to uncover anything. At one point, during the 1968 T\t Offensive, the NLF actually managed to penetrate the US Embassy in Saigon, prompting a speedy American counterstrike. A year later, US President Nixon met with President Thi_u to discuss the withdrawal of troops.

By 1972, more than half of the US forces had left the country. The US then began supplying bombs instead of soldiers—and plenty of bombs, at that. This offensive hindered the progression of peace talks with the North, and it wasn’t until the American assault slackened that the ceasefire was signed at the Paris Peace Accords. By the end of 1973, the last of the US combat forces had withdrawn, leaving the South in the hands of President Thi_u. Instead of maintaining a strong base in the capital city, Thi_u spread his troops around the region, allowing the NLF to gain strength in the absence of aerial raids and tear through the south at a startling rate. South Vietnamese fled to the coast from their homes in the Central Highlands, although most were captured or killed by the northern troops en route. The confusion rapidly made its way toward Saigon, which was overrun by refugees flooding in from the quickly toppling highlands and coast. President Thi_u resigned, handing power over to D™£ng Vn Minh. The southern government was losing its grip.

The Fall Of Saigon

On April 30, 1975, hundreds of NLF tanks rolled into Saigon. The troops barreled their way through President Minh’s palace and initially refused to let him surrender, proclaiming that there was nothing left to give up. Later, the president was allowed the clemency of a radio announcement.

The remaining American forces promptly evacuated the city, leaving the majority of their South Vietnamese allies to fend for themselves. A few Vietnamese managed to flee with American troops on boats and helicopters, leaving behind everything they owned. Over 2600 children had already been safely transported to the US during “Operation Babylift,” and others escaped during “Operation Frequent Wind,” the primary helicopter evacuation from Saigon that began only one day before the tanks rampaged the city. But for the most part, the citizens of Saigon were left in the hands of a new, Communist government and an entirely different way of life. Almost anyone who had been closely tied to the southern government, including military personnel and intellectuals, was captured and sent out of the city to re-education prison camps in the jungle. Those who avoided internment remained in rechristened H· Chí Minh City, with money that no longer had any value and no claim to their land.

Picking Up The Pieces

After the fall of Saigon, times were more than difficult. Southern monetary resources were scarce, and the government was relatively intolerant and corrupt (as it remains, to some extent, today). Many Southern Vietnamese continued to flee the country in order to dodge delayed reprisals for collaborating with the defeated enemy. After over a decade of communist-style economic stagnation, the government softened its stance against the market economy with the inception of Œ%i møi (“open door”) liberalizing policies in 1986. The capitalism-starved Saigonese needed no second bidding.

Today, the busy Communist streets, glowing with neon signs and advertisements, look far more market-driven and American-influenced than when it was fighting Communism. Almost seven million people manage to keep up with the fast-paced lifestyle of the big city. Life is far from perfect—there’s no escaping the developing world realities of high unemployment rates and widespread poverty—but reincarnation is a way of life in Saigon. It’s been that way for centuries.