Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF), became head of a military junta in 1965, and then president after winning an election in 1967. He established rule over South Vietnam until he resigned and left the nation and relocated to Taipei, Taiwan a few days before the fall of Saigon and the ultimate North Vietnamese victory. Born in Phan Rang–Tháp Chàm, Phan Rang in the South Central Coast, south central coast of Vietnam, Thieu joined the communist-dominated Việt Minh of Hồ Chí Minh in 1945 but quit after a year and joined the Vietnamese National Army (VNA) of the French-backed State of Vietnam. He gradually rose up the ranks and, in 1954, led a battalion in expelling the communists from his native village. Following the withdrawal of France ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nguyễn Cao Kỳ
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (; 8 September 1930 – 23 July 2011) was a South Vietnamese military officer and politician who served as the chief of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister of South Vietnam in a military junta from 1965 to 1967. Then, until his retirement from politics in 1971, he served as vice president to bitter rival General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, in a nominally civilian administration. Born in northern Vietnam, Kỳ joined the Vietnamese National Army of the French-backed State of Vietnam and started as an infantry officer before the French sent him off for pilot training. After the French withdrew from Vietnam and the nation was partitioned, Kỳ moved up the ranks of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force to become its leader. In November 1963, Kỳ participated in the coup that deposed president Ngô Đình Diệm and resulted in Diệm's assassination. In 1964 Kỳ became prominent in junta politics, regarded ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vietnamese National Army
The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army ( vi, Quân đội Quốc gia Việt Nam, lit=Army of the State of Vietnam, french: Armée Nationale Vietnamienne, lit=Vietnamese National Army) was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after the Élysée Accords, where the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. It was commanded by Vietnamese people, Vietnamese Nguyễn Văn Hinh, General Hinh and was loyal to Bảo Đại. The VNA fought in joint operations with the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps (CEFEO) against the communist Việt Minh forces led by Ho Chi Minh. Different units within the VNA fought in a wide range of campaigns including the Battle of Nà Sản (1952), Operation Hautes Alpes (1953), Operation Atlas (1953) and the Battle of Dien Bien Phu (1954). With the departure of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps from Indochina in 1956, the VNA was reorganized ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Military Junta
A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808.Junta ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (last updated 1998). The term is now used to refer to an characterized by [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Republic Of Vietnam Military Forces
The Republic of Vietnam Military Forces (RVNMF; – QLVNCH), were the official armed defense forces of the defunct Republic of Vietnam and was responsible for the defense of the state since its independence from France in October 1955 to its demise in April 1975. Branches The QLVNCH was formally established on December 30, 1955, by the strongman and republican first South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem, which he declared on October 26 that year after winning a rigged referendumRottman and Bujeiro, ''Army of the Republic of Vietnam 1955-75'' (2010), p. 7. on the future of the State of Vietnam. Created out from ex-French Union Army colonial Indochinese auxiliary units (French: ''Supplétifs''), gathered earlier in 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 bra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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President Of South Vietnam
This is a list of leaders of South Vietnam, since the establishment of the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina in 1946, and the division of Vietnam in 1954 until the fall of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975, and the reunification of Vietnam in 1976. Legends Heads of state Chiefs of the State of Vietnam (1949–1955) Presidents of the First Republic of Vietnam (1955–1963) Vice president of the First Republic of Vietnam (1956–1963) Military junta (1963–1967) Heads of state During the military junta period, the heads of state of South Vietnam did not always hold real power, the heads of military were de facto leaders of the nation. Sometimes the heads of state and heads of military were held by the same person, for example: Duong Van Minh from 2 November 1963 to 30 January 1964 or Nguyen Khanh from 16 August 1964 to 27 August 1964. Heads of military During the military junta period, heads of military held the real power in governing the nation. Someti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1963 South Vietnamese Coup
In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm and the Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of both the Buddhist crisis and the Viet Cong threat to the regime. In South Vietnam, the coup was referred to as ''Cách mạng 1-11-63'' ("1 November 1963 Revolution"). The Kennedy administration had been aware of the coup planning, but Cable 243 from the United States Department of State to U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., stated that it was U.S. policy not to try to stop it. Lucien Conein, the Central Intelligence Agency's liaison between the U.S. Embassy and the coup planners, told them that the U.S. would not intervene to stop it. Conein also provided funds to the coup leaders. The coup was led by General Dương Văn Minh and started on 1 November 1963. It proceeded smoothly as many loyalist leaders were captured after being caught off-guard a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1960 South Vietnamese Coup Attempt
On November 11, 1960, a failed coup attempt against President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was led by Lieutenant Colonel Vương Văn Đông and Colonel Nguyễn Chánh Thi of the Airborne Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). The rebels launched the coup in response to Diệm's autocratic rule and the negative political influence of his brother Ngô Đình Nhu and sister-in-law Madame Nhu. They also bemoaned the politicisation of the military, whereby regime loyalists who were members of the Ngô family's covert Cần Lao Party were readily promoted ahead of more competent officers who were not insiders. Đông was supported in the conspiracy by his brother-in-law Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trieu Hong, whose uncle was a prominent official in a minor opposition party. The main link in the coup was Đông's commanding officer Thi, whom he persuaded to join the plot. The coup caught the Ngô family completely off-guard, but was also chaotically execu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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IV Corps (South Vietnam)
The IV Corps () was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975. It was one of four corps in the ARVN, and it oversaw the Mekong Delta region of the country. The Mekong Delta was the heartland of agricultural South Vietnam, it encompassed the fertile alluvial plains formed by the Mekong River and its main tributary, the Bassac River. With its sixteen provinces, the Delta contained about two-thirds of the nation's population and yielded the same proportion in rice production. The terrain of IV Corps differed radically from other regions. Flat and mostly uncovered, it consisted of mangrove swamps and ricefields crisscrossed by an interlocking system of canals, natural and artificial. Except for some isolated mountains to the west near the Cambodian border, few areas in the Delta had an elevation of more than above sea level. During the monsoon season, most of the swampy land north of Route QL-4 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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5th Division (South Vietnam)
The Fifth Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)—the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975—was part of the III Corps that oversaw the region of the country surrounding the capital, Saigon. The Fifth Division was based in Biên Hòa, a town on the northern outskirts of Saigon, and due to the Division's close proximity to the capital Saigon was a key factor in the success or failure of the various coup attempts in the nation's history. As a result, the loyalty of the commanding officer of the Division was crucial in maintaining power. History The Division was originally established as the 3rd Field Division and redesignated as the 5th Infantry Division in 1960. In the 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt, the loyalist Colonel Nguyễn Văn Thiệu used the Division to storm into Saigon to save President Ngô Đình Diệm. However, in the successful coup attempt of 1963, Thiệu rebelled and the Division along with t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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1st Division (South Vietnam)
The 1st Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)—the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975—was part of the I Corps that oversaw the northernmost region of South Vietnam, the centre of Vietnam. The 1st Division was based in Huế, the old imperial city and one of two major cities in the region, which was also the corps headquarters. Until late 1971 the division was also tasked with the defence of Quảng Trị, the closest town to the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and among the first to be hit by the Tet Offensive. History In 1960 the 1st Field Division was redesignated the 1st Infantry Division. In late 1965 Maj. Gen. Lewis William Walt, the commander of the US III Marine Amphibious Force and the I Corps' senior adviser, assessed the division under General Nguyễn Văn Chuân as "waging a skillful campaign" and "consistently destroying the VC in all significant encounters." On 12 March 1966 following the dism ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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7th Division (South Vietnam)
The Seventh Division was part of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975. It was part of the IV Corps (South Vietnam), IV Corps, which oversaw the Mekong Delta region of the country. History The Division was originally established as the 4th Field Division and redesignated as the 7th Infantry Division in 1959. On 8 July 1959 a Viet Cong (VC) attack on a Division camp at Bien Hoa killed two U.S. advisers, Major Dale R. Buis and Master Sergeant Chester M. Ovnand, among the first Americans killed in the Vietnam War. The Division was based in Mỹ Tho, and due to the division's close proximity to the capital Saigon was a key factor in the success or failure of the various coup attempts in the nation's history. As a result, the loyalty of the commanding officer of the division was crucial in maintaining power. In the 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt, coup attempt of 1960, the loyalist Colonel Huỳnh V ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vietnamese National Military Academy
The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army ( vi, Quân đội Quốc gia Việt Nam, lit=Army of the State of Vietnam, french: Armée Nationale Vietnamienne, lit=Vietnamese National Army) was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after the Élysée Accords, where the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. It was commanded by Vietnamese General Hinh and was loyal to Bảo Đại. The VNA fought in joint operations with the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps (CEFEO) against the communist Việt Minh forces led by Ho Chi Minh. Different units within the VNA fought in a wide range of campaigns including the Battle of Nà Sản (1952), Operation Hautes Alpes (1953), Operation Atlas (1953) and the Battle of Dien Bien Phu (1954). With the departure of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps from Indochina in 1956, the VNA was reorganized as the Republic of Vietnam Military ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |