Title: Vietnam After the War | Asia Pacific Curriculum
Headings: Vietnam After the War
Vietnam After the War
Overview
Prologue: The End of the “American War”
Introduction: The Challenges of Reconciliation
Background: The Road to War and Partition
Consolidating Political Control
Building a Socialist Economy
Resistance and Escape
Putting Post-War Vietnam in Context
Doi Moi and the “New” New Vietnam
Vietnamese Youth: Writing the Next Chapter
Acknowledgement

Content: Vietnam After the War | Asia Pacific Curriculum
Vietnam After the War
source: HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images
Overview
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Prologue: The End of the “American War”
On April 30, 1975, the last of America’s wartime personnel in South Vietnam boarded crowded boats and helicopters in a frantic attempt to flee the country. That same day, North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon. The palace was the seat of the South Vietnamese government, which the Americans had supported and the North Vietnamese had fought against. When North Vietnamese officers entered the palace, South Vietnam’s president told them he was ready to hand over power. They reportedly replied, “You cannot give up what you do not have.” 1
The Vietnam War, or what is known in Vietnam as the Resistance War against the Americans, was over. Image 1: North Vietnamese tanks crashing the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon, 1975.