Republic of Vietnam Military Forces

The **Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces** or **ARVN** (/QLVNCH), were the official armed defence forces of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), popularly known as South Vietnam, a state that existed from 1955 to 1975 that control half of Vietnam what is now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.  The QLVNCH was responsible for the defence of the Republic of Vietnam since its independence from France in October 1955.

## Branches

The QLVNCH was formally established on December 30, 1955 by the Strongman and republican first President of the Republic of Vietnam (known simply as ‘South Vietnam’) Ngo Dinh Diem, which he declared on October 26 that year after winning a rigged referendum for either making South Vietnam a constitutional monarchy, or a presidential republic.  Created out from ex-French Union Army colonial Indochinese auxiliary units (French: _Supplétifs_), gathered earlier on July 1951 into the French-led **Vietnamese National Army – VNA** (Vietnamese: _Quân Đội Quốc Gia Việt Nam_ – QĐQGVN), **Armée Nationale Vietnamiènne (ANV)** in French, the armed forces of the new state consisted in the mid-1950s of ground, air, and naval branches of service, respectively:
- Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)
- Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF)
- Republic of Vietnam Navy (VNN)
Their roles were defined as follows: to protect the sovereignty of the free Vietnamese nation and that of the Republic; to maintain the political and social order and the rule of law by providing internal security; to defend the newly independent Republic of Vietnam from external (and internal) threats; and ultimately, to help reunify Vietnam – divided since the Geneva Accords in July 1955 into two transitional states, one at the north ruled by Ho Chi Minh’s  Marxist Lao Dong Party regime and the other in the south under Diem’s anti-communist regime.

## Related pages

- Cambodian Civil War
- First Indochina War
- Khmer National Armed Forces
- Laotian Civil War
- Royal Lao Armed Forces
- Republic of Vietnam Air Force
- Republic of Vietnam Navy
- Republic of Vietnam National Police
- Republic of Vietnam Marine Division
- Vietnam People's Army (NVA)
- Vietnamese National Army (ANV)
- Vietnam War
- Weapons of the Vietnam War

## References

- Gordon L. Rottman and Ron Volstad, _US Army Special Forces 1952-84_, Elite series 4, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1985.
- Gordon L. Rottman and Ron Volstad, _Vietnam Airborne_, Elite Series 29, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1990.
- Gordon L. Rottman and Ramiro Bujeiro, _Army of the Republic of Vietnam 1955-75_, Men-at-arms series 458, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 2010.
- Kenneth Conboy and Simon McCouaig, _South-East Asian Special Forces_, Elite series 33, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1991.
- Lee E. Russell and Mike Chappell, _Armies of the Vietnam War 2_, Men-at-arms series 143, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1983. .
- Leroy Thompson, Michael Chappell, Malcolm McGregor and Ken MacSwan, _Uniforms of the Indo-China and Vietnam Wars_, Blandford Press, London 1984. ASIN: B001VO7QSI
- Martin Windrow and Mike Chappell, _The French Indochina War 1946-54_, Men-at-arms series 322, Osprey Publishing Ltd, Oxford 1998.
- Phillip Katcher and Mike Chappell, _Armies of the Vietnam War 1962-1975_, Men-at-arms series 104, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1980.

### Further reading

- Jade Ngoc Quang Huynh, _South Wind Changing_, Graywolf Press, Minnesota 1994. ASIN: B01FIW8BJG
- Mark Moyar, _Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965_, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. 2009. , 0521757630
- Neil L. Jamieson, _Understanding Vietnam_, The Regents of the University of California press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California 1995. ASIN: B00749ZBRC
- Nguyen Cao Ky, _How we lost the Vietnam War_, Stein & Day Pub 1979. , 0812860160
- Tran Van Don, _Our Endless War: Inside Vietnam_, Presidio Press, Novato, California 1978. , 0891410198

## Infobox (national military)

- **country**: Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces
Quân-lực Việt-nam Cộng-hòa
- **name**: Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces
- **native name**: _Quân lực Việt Nam Cộng hòa_
- **image**:
- **caption**: War Flag.
- **image2**:
- **caption2**: Flag of the ARVN
- **founded**: 30 December 1955
- **disbanded**: 30 April 1975
- **branches**: Army of the Republic of Vietnam
 Republic of Vietnam Air Force
 Republic of Vietnam Navy
- **headquarters**: Saigon
- **commander-in-chief**: Ngo Dinh Diem (1955 - 1963), Nguyen Van Thieu (1967 - 1975)
- **commander**: Unknown
- **commander title**: Chief of Joint General Staff (South Vietnam), Chief of Joint General Staff
- **active**: 586,838
- **deployed**: 1,000,000 in 1972
- **foreign suppliers**:

- **history**: Military history of Vietnam
- **ranks**: South Vietnamese military ranks and insignia, Ranks and insignia of the Republic of Vietnam