The **Buddhist Crisis** was a period of political and religious tension in South Vietnam. The crisis was characterized by a series of discriminating acts by the South Vietnamese government and a campaign of civil resistance mainly led by Buddhist monks.

The crisis was started when the President Ngô Đình Diệm banned the flying of the Buddhist flag. That led to the shooting of nine unarmed civilians who were protesting a ban of the Buddhist flag on May 8 and suicide by burning of Thích Quảng Đức on June 11. The crisis ended when Ngô Đình Diệm was assassinated on November 2, 1963.

Background
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A survey said that about 70-90 percent of South Vietnamese people were Buddhist. The President called it biased. A member of the Catholic minority, his government was biased towards Catholics in public service and military promotions, as well as in the allocation of land, business favors and tax concessions etc. Diem once told a high-ranking officer, forgetting that he was a Buddhist, "Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places. They can be trusted." Many officers in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) converted to Catholicism believing that their career prospects depended on it. Many were also refused promotion if they did not convert. Also, the distribution of firearms to village self-defense militias intended to repel Viet Cong guerrillas was done so that weapons were only given to Catholics. Some Catholic priests ran private armies, and in some areas forced conversion and looting, shelling and demolition of pagodas. Some Buddhist villages converted to receive aid or avoid being forcibly resettled by Diem's regime. The Catholic Church enjoyed special exemptions. In 1959, Ngô Đình Diệm dedicated the country to the Virgin Mary. The Vatican flag was usually flown in public services and events while the Buddhist flag was not allowed to be flown in public services and/or events.

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* t
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Vietnam War |
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| Participants | 
* North Vietnam (Việt Minh / PAVN, PRG, Viet Cong)
* South Vietnam (ARVN)
* International participants
	+ United States
	+ Thailand
	+ Australia
	+ China
	+ Republic of China
	+ South Korea
	+ New Zealand

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| Related conflicts | 
* First Indochina War
* Laotian Civil War (related page: /Laotian Civil War)
* Cambodian Civil War
* Cold War

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| Background | 
* French Indochina
* Japanese occupation
* State of Vietnam (1949–1955)
* First Indochina War (Việt Minh, Battle of Dien Bien Phu)
* 1954 Geneva Conference
* Vietnamese migration of 1954–55
* 1955 referendum
* North Vietnamese invasion of Laos
* 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt

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| Events | 
* **1962**: Strategic Hamlet Program
* Independence Palace bombing
* **1963**: Buddhist crisis
* Coup against Diem
* **1964**: Coup against Minh
* Gulf of Tonkin incident / Resolution
* December coup
* **1965**: U.S. escalation / "Americanization"
* 1965 South Vietnamese coup
* Bombing of North Vietnam
* **1966**: Buddhist Uprising
* **1968**: Tet Offensive (Khe Sanh, Hue)
* **1970**: Cambodian campaign
* **1971**: Vietnamization policy, ARVN campaign in Laos
* **1972**: Easter Offensive
* Christmas bombings
* **1973**: Paris Peace Accords
* **1974**: Battle of Phước Long
* **1975**: 1975 spring offensive
* Fall of Saigon

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| Other topics | 
* Agent Orange
* Củ Chi tunnels
* Ho Chi Minh trail
* Opposition to United States involvement
* *Pentagon Papers*
* War crimes (Huế, Mỹ Lai, Đắk Sơn)
* Weapons of the Vietnam War
* Body count
* Canada and the Vietnam War
* POW/MIA issue
* Rape during the Vietnam War
* SEATO
* Sihanouk Trail
* United States news media and Vietnam
* Vietnam War in film
* Vietnam War in games

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| Aftermath | 
* Cambodian–Vietnamese War
* Sino-Vietnamese War
* Vietnamese boat people
* Vietnam Veterans Memorial
* Normalization of US–Vietnam relations

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