"Tiến Quân Ca" (; lit. "The Marching Song"), known in English as the "Marching Song", "Song of a Marching Army" or "Song of Advancing Soldiers", is the national anthem of Vietnam, written and composed by Văn Cao in 1944. The "Army Marching Song" was adopted as the national anthem of North Vietnam in 1954 and was adopted as the national anthem of the new unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976, following the reunification of North Vietnam and South Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War. Though it has two verses, only the first one is usually sung, like the Star-Spangled Banner. History Its lyrics and title were based on Văn Cao's previous works, "Thăng Long" (lit. "Rising Dragon", a former name of Hanoi). Part of the lyrics were also different during its early stages, as it went through numerous changes starting in the early 1940s. Lyric changes and completion "Tiến Quân Ca" went through many changes shortly after it was composed. For instance, the first sentence "" ("The Vietnamese army marches") was originally "" ("The Viet Minh army marches""). The sixth part of the lyrics was also originally "" (We swear to tear apart the enemy and drink their blood), expressing his anger at the colonials administration for letting two million Vietnamese people perish. After many suggestions, Văn Cao changed it to "" ("For the people let's fight until the end"). The last sentence "" ("Together we shout onwards, our spirit is here") was changed to "" ("Vietnam's mountains and rivers shall be us forever"), but when it was published it was changed to "", which had the same meaning but a slightly different tone, which Văn Cao commented, "With a song that requires solemn, '' seemed too weak while being sung with '' would be more reasonable." After completion of work, Văn Cao met and let Vũ Quý try the song. Vũ Quý was very happy at his work, and "Tiến Quân Ca" was published in papers on November 1944 with lithographs by Văn Cao. On 17 August 1945, the song was sung for the first time at a rally of civil servants in Hanoi by a Ph.D under the flag of the Việt Minh, and "robbed the loudspeakers". Văn Cao quoted, "That quiet man was an attraction to thousands of people listening that day". The poet and musician Nguyễn Đình Thi was touched after hearing Văn