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Ideas of communism first appeared in Vietnam in 1941 when Ho Chi Minh led the Việt Minh movement to gain independence from France. Ho Chi Minh turned to communists to help in his struggle for nationalist independence. He declared independence from France in 1945 establishing the Communist-ruled Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and declaring "all men are created equal."

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Land reform in Vietnam began in the political turmoil following World War II in which a civil war blemished the communist Viet Minh against the French colonists and their supporters. Vietnam was separated into two lands, North(Republic of Vietnam) and South(Democratic of Vietnam).

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Vietnam was split into two different nations, both following two very different styles of politics. North Vietnam was supported by Communist forces and South Vietnam was an anti communist government set up by the United States and France. The war started in 1955, and ended in 1975. In the war as a whole, 444,000 Communist soldiers and 225,000 American-allied soldiers were killed.

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The war resulted in over a million deaths. Since the U.S dropped 3 times as many tons of bombs on them which also affected the environment, climate, wildlife and terrain. Vietnam also struggled with logistical problems and there were strategic issues.

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Nguyễn Sinh Cung -
Leader of North Vietnam during the war. He is better known as Ho Chi Minh - meaning "He Who Enlightens." Ho Chi Minh ruled Northern Vietnam by crushing all opposition and put any of his original democratic ideas into place. He died 6 years before the end of the war in 1969.

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Ngo Dinh Diem -
Created the first republic of Vietnam and made himself president. He was a catholic and anti communist, but his republic was very corrupt. Diem was assassinated by a CIA backed coup in 1963.

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John F. Kennedy -
35th American president that heavily backed and supported Diem and south Vietnam. Kennedy believed communism was a threat, and decided to draw a line in the sand by involving the U.S in Vietnams issues.

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-France was defeated by the Viet Minh in 1954, suffering 10 times the casualties as its rival and also resulted in North Vietnam independence.

-Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated by a government backed CIA coup on November 2nd 1963.

-In 1967 the U.S launched Operation Rolling Thunder which lasted 18 days and resulted in over a thousand deaths.

-On March 16th, 1968 the U.S committed one of the worst civilian atrocities in the Mai Lai Massacre. Soldiers killed 300 innocent men, women, and children.

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-In 1969 the leader of the North, Ho Chi Minh, died due to congestive heart failure.

-On January 27th, 1975, Viet Cong, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the United States decided to end the war at the Paris Peace Accords.

-In January of 1975 president Ford ruled out any further U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

-The War continued between the North and South until April of 1975, when the South saw a fall to its capital city Saigon. The North captured the city of Saigon, later renaming it to Ho Chi Minh City.

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Northern Vietnam won the war and soon had tight controls over the south. Ho Chi Minh's communist oppression had caused around 15 million people to flee Vietnam. As many as 70,000 immigrated to the U.S. and Canada. Vietnam to this day is still a communist country but has adopted ideas of capitalism to its economy since the end of the Vietnam war.

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Vietnam: What does communism mean today ?