Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Việt Nam Shoukan)

### Location

Earth, Eastern mainland Southeast Asia (formerly)New World, Outside Civilization Area east of Rodenius Continent (currently)

### Government

Unitary Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist republic

### Leader

* General Secretary Vũ Đức Đam
* Prime Minister Phạm Mạnh Trường

### Status

Active

*"Nước Việt Nam có quyền hưởng tự do và độc lập, và sự thật đã thành một nước tự do, độc lập. Toàn thể dân tộc Việt Nam quyết đem tất cả tinh thần và lực lượng, tính mạng và của cải để giữ vững quyền tự do, độc lập ấy.

Translation: “Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country—and in fact it is so already. And thus the entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty."*
―Declaration of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (the predecessor to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam), 1945[src]
The **Socialist Republic of Vietnam** (Vietnamese: *Cộng Hòa Xã Hội Chủ Nghĩa Việt Nam*) is a country originally located at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia and the protagonist of MilitaryPro1's fanfiction, Việt Nam Shoukan. Currently, the country is located east of Rodenius Continent in the Outside Civilization Area.

## History

The concept of the modern Socialist Republic of Vietnam was coined by the famous Vietnamese nationalist/communist Hồ Chí Minh. His ideas ushered in Vietnamese nationalists to rise up to retake their country. At the time, France was in charge of Vietnam, known then as French Indochina, which consisted of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The French invaded Vietnam in the 19th Century, when the country got out of a civil war between the rival Tây Sơn dynasty and the eventual winners, the Nguyễn Dynasty, led by Emperor Nguyễn Anh (*Gia Long*). Sweeping through the technologically inferior Nguyễn army, they eventually seized the capital of Thăng Long (Hà Nội) and split Vietnam into three regions: Annam (*Trung Kỳ*, central Vietnam), Tonkin (*Bắc Kỳ,* northern Vietnam), Cochinchina (*Nam Kỳ*, southern Vietnam, and Cambodia, with Laos added in 1893). The French Governor General ruled from the now known Presidental Palace in Hà Nội. Eventually however, the Vietnamese grew discontent with French rule, which seeped their sense of identity, leading to the Xô Việt Nghệ-Tĩnh revolts, which, although failed, gave the answer to the French colonizers that their time colonizing Vietnam was about to end.

What helped Hồ Chí Minh return to Vietnam lied in the answer of World War II. The rapidly expanding Empire of Japan eventually entered French Indochina through bicycles in the Sài Gòn area. Moving north, the French government of Indochina was forced to relinquish control to the Japanese, who sought to legitimatize their control over Vietnam with puppet Emperor Bảo Đại and establishing the Empire of Vietnam (the predecessor to the eventual Republic of Vietnam, VNCH, more commonly as South Vietnam). This further angered the Vietnamese people, who originally saw the Japanese as saviors, along with a manmade famine caused by Japanese troops hoarding rice, resulting in the deaths of millions. Hồ Chí Minh's return led to the rise of the Việt Nam Độc Lập Đồng Minh, or simply, the Việt Minh. With the help of the American Office of Strategic Office's Dear Team, what would become the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) staged small ambushes throughout 1944 and 1945 against Japanese truck and motorcycle convoys, with great success. On the same day Japanese surrender on September 2nd, 1945, Hồ Chí Minh would read the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence in Ba Đình Square (which today houses Hồ Chí Minh's remains), proclaiming the establishment of a new nation made for Vietnamese: The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (VNDCCH, later known in the Vietnam War as North Vietnam).

With the Japanese gone however, the French returned, this time occupying Sài Gòn with the help of British forces, and bombing the port city of Hải Phòng, killing thousands of civilians. The Việt Minh desperately fought back in both Sài Gòn and Hà Nội, with the famous picture of Việt Minh soldier Nguyễn Văn Thiềng holding a Japanese lunge mine on what is today House 18, Nguyễn Du street, to assault French tanks that entered Hà Nội. They were pushed back into the countryside, where the guerilla insurgency movement led by Hồ Chí Minh started in the Pác Bó cave. From 1945 to 1954, in what is known as the First Indochina War, the French and their Vietnamese collaborators would be met by fierce resistance of the Việt Minh at every step. Eventually the French decided to settle down at Điện Biên Phủ, hoping to bait the Việt Minh into a suicidal attack and destroy them all there. This would culminate into a French defeat, utterly humiliating the country and forcing the French into negotiations to withdraw from Vietnam.

Hồ Chí Minh was appointed as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam's first General Secretary and President, and set out with land reforms and education to help the peasants. Vietnamese Catholics on the other hand, saw this as a threat and left in waves on US ships in a US dubbed operation known as Operation Passage to Freedom. They would set up the Republic of Vietnam, with Catholic and anti-Communist Ngô Đình Diệm as the first President. Elections to determine whether the South should reunite with the North under the VNDCCH's or VNCH's rule. This was shunned by President Diệm, who rigged the elections with a 99.7% vote for the Republic of Vietnam to remain independent from the North. Seeing this, President Hồ Chí Minh ordered the general mobilization of the PAVN and sent southern former Việt Minh to form the *Mặt Trận Dân Tộc Giải Phóng Miền Nam Việt Nam* (National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, more commonly known to western sources as the Việt Cộng, a shortening of the South Vietnamese words "*Việt Gian Cộng Sản* (Communist Traitor)"). This civil war escalated as US troops were sent into Vietnam in 1965, with US Marines landing in the coastal city of Đà Nẵng. The VNDCCH, with the support of the Soviet Union and China, engaged in war against the US-backed VNCH, with their SEATO allies, in what is known as the Vietnam War.

Growing discontent at home in the US by anti-war protestors forced US troops to withdraw in 1973, along with their SEATO allies, opening up the VNCH, who's military were now weak without US troop support, leading to the Hồ Chí Minh Offensive of 1975, which liberated the VNCH capital of Sài Gòn in April 30th, 1975, putting an end to the Southern government and ending the Vietnam War, renaming the country to the current name of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In the years to follow with conflicts against geocidal dictator Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in 1976 and the Chinese in 1979, Vietnam was increasing becoming more isolated. This worsened after the fall of the Soviet Union, Vietnam's biggest supplier at the time, in 1991, which left Vietnam completely cut from the world. The government immediately implemented the Đổi Mới Policy to rapidly turn the country around. Vietnam rejoined the world in 1997 and till 2028, the economy was one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, turning the isolated communist country into a bustling state capitalist society, with repaired relations with the US being a highlight and all US embargos, including small arms, lifted in President Obama's visit in 2015.

On June 28th, 2028, at 13:00 Hà Nội time, Vietnam suddenly disappeared from Southeast Asia and transferred to the New World on the continent of Rodenius, in what would be named "The Summoning" (*Xuyên Không*).

## Military

The People's Army of Vietnam (Quân Đội Nhân Dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), is the unified Armed Forces of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which was established in 1944, with the first unit consisting of 31 men and three women. It is split into seven branches: Lục Quân (Ground Forces), Phòng Không-Không Quân (Air Defense-Air Force), Hải Quân (Navy), Biên Phòng (Border Defense), Cảnh Sát Biển (Coast Guard), Tác Chiến Không Gian Mạng (Cyberspace Forces), and the Bảo Vệ Lăng Chủ Tịch Hồ Chí Minh (President Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum Defense Force). In cases of war, the Dân Quân Tự Vệ (Self-Defense Militia) and the police forces of the Công An Nhân Dân (Public Security) are also included. The Commander-in-Chief of the QĐNDVN is currently General Secretary Vũ Đức Đam, and the Bộ Tổng Tham Mưu (General Staff) led by the Minister of Defense, Army General Phạm Duy Minh and General Staff Commander Colonel General Bùi Hoảng Việt Minh.

In the wake of Chinese aggression in the South China Sea, the QĐNDVN begin to rapidly modernize, making them one of the strongest militaries in Southeast Asia. The Navy bought several new Russian ships, most notable of which is the two Udaloy II-class anti submarine destroyers, as well as three of the newer Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates (to replace the initial purchase of two Geperd 3.9s) meant as a stronger way to counter Chinese ships in Vietnamese waters. The Air Force received newer fighters in the form of the Su-35S, with newer avionics and access to better weaponry, which eventually outnumbered the older Su-27SKs and Su-30MK2s. They are currently planning on producing Su-35Ss in the New World locally, with the materials gathered from the Qulian Kingdom. The Ground Force has received newer equipment, such as a locally produced version of the American CIRAS (Combat Integrated Releasable Armor System) that was previously issued to only the Naval Infantry, and the AK-12SP, an improved version of the AK-12. The AK-12SP (Vietnamese designation: STV-410), replaces the older STV-380 in that the concerns for a better round following border clashes with the People's Liberation Army, arising from Chinese body armor stopping 7.62x39mmR, led to the decision to adopt the AK-12SP with the smaller 5.45x39mmR. the newer round was able to travel faster and farther, as well with more penetration, providing a solution for ground troops.

These modernizations provide a leap in technology in the New World, making Vietnam, as of currently, the strongest technological military power.