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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Vietnam
Index
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, created from the former
Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) and the Democratic Republic
of Vietnam (North Vietnam), was established as a new nation in
July 1976. Previous editions in this series discussed the North
and South separately under the respective titles Area Handbook
for North Vietnam, published in 1967 and reprinted in 1981 as
North Vietnam: A Country Study, and Area Handbook for
South Vietnam, published in 1967. Written at the height of
the Second Indochina War, these books described a divided Vietnam
that ceased to exist in 1975 when Saigon fell to communist
forces.
The current study focuses on the years between 1975 and the
mid-1980s, when a nascent and newly reunified nation struggled to
develop a postwar identity. It was a period marked by a change in
leadership, as Vietnam's first generation of communist leaders
began to retire in favor of younger technocrats; by the
introduction of significant economic reforms, including the
preservation of private enterprise in the South; and by major
foreign policy developments, particularly the Treaty of
Friendship and Cooperation signed with the Soviet Union, the
invasion and occupation of Cambodia, and the 1979 border war with
China.
A multidisciplinary team, assisted by a support staff,
researched and wrote this book. Information came from a variety
of sources, including scholarly studies, governmental and
international organization reports, and foreign and domestic
newspapers and periodicals.
For the reader's reference, a brief commentary on source
material is provided at the end of each chapter; complete
citations appear in the Bibliography. Foreign and technical terms
are defined when they first appear in the text, and other terms
that require further definition are included in the Glossary.
Appendixes provide tabular data
(see Appendix A) and
information on Vietnam's leaders in the 1980s (see Appendix B). Use of
contemporary place names is in accordance with the standards of
the United States Board of Geographic Names. When place names
vary historically, the name consistent with the historical period
under discussion is used. All measurements are metric
(see table 1, Appendix A).
Data as of December 1987
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