Ninh Bình
Ninh Bình city is a small city in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. Ninh Bình Province is located in northern Vietnam comprising 48 square kilometres, it takes 2 hours by coach from Hanoi - the capital to Ninh Bình. During the period of undeclared hostilities in Tonkin that preceded the outbreak of the Sino-French War in August 1884, the allegiance of Ninh Bình was of considerable importance to the French, as artillery mounted in its lofty citadel controlled river traffic to the Gulf of Tonkin. Although the Vietnamese authorities in Ninh Bình made no attempt to hinder the passage of an expedition launched by Henri Rivière in March 1883 to capture Nam Dinh, they were known to be hostile towards the French. In November 1883, on the eve of the Sơn Tây Campaign, the French occupied the citadel of Ninh Bình without resistance and installed a garrison. Ninh Binh travel guide from Wikivoyage
Hanoi
Hanoi is Vietnam's capital and second largest city by population. The city lies on the right bank of the Red River. Hanoi is 105 km west of Haiphong. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam, it was eclipsed by the imperial capital of Vietnam during the Nguyễn Dynasty. In 1873 Hanoi was conquered by the French. From 1883 to 1945, the city was the administrative center of the colony of French Indochina; the French built a modern administrative city south of Old Hanoi, creating broad, perpendicular tree-lined avenues of opera, public buildings, luxury villas, but they destroyed large parts of the city, shedding or reducing the size of lakes and canals, while clearing out various imperial palaces and citadels. From 1940 to 1945 Hanoi, as well as most of French Indochina and Southeast Asia, was occupied by the Japanese empire. On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam; the Vietnamese National Assembly under Ho Chi Minh decided on January 6, 1946, to make Hanoi the capital of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
From 1954 to 1976, it was the capital of North Vietnam, it became the capital of a reunified Vietnam in 1976, after the North's victory in the Vietnam War. October 2010 marked 1,000 years since the establishment of the city; the Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural is a 6.5 km ceramic mosaic mural created to mark the occasion. On July 16, 1999, the United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization presented the title “City for Peace” to Hanoi. Hanoi had many unofficial names throughout history. During the Chinese occupation of Vietnam, it was known first as Long Biên Tống Bình and Long Đỗ. Long Biên gave its name to the famed Long Biên Bridge, built during French colonial times, more to a new district to the east of the Red River. Several older names of Hanoi feature long, linked to the curved formation of the Red River around the city, symbolized as a dragon. In 866, it was named Đại La.. This gave it the nickname La Thành. Both Đại La and La Thành are names of major streets in modern Hanoi; when Lý Thái Tổ established the capital in the area in 1010, it was named Thăng Long.
Thăng Long became the name of a major bridge on the highway linking the city center to Noi Bai Airport, the Thăng Long Boulevard expressway in the southwest of the city center. In modern time, the city is referred to as Thăng Long – Hà Nội, when its long history is discussed. During the Hồ dynasty, it was called Đông Đô. During the Minh dynasty, it was called Đông Quan. During the Lê dynasty, Hanoi was known as Đông Kinh; this gave the name to Gulf of Tonkin. A square adjacent to the Hoàn Kiếm lake was named Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục after the reformist Tonkin Free School under French colonization. After the end of the Tây Sơn had expanded further south, the city was named Bắc Thành. Minh Mạng renamed the city Hà Nội in 1831; this has remained its official name until modern times. Several unofficial names of Hanoi include: Kẻ Chợ, Tràng An, Hà Thành, Thủ Đô. Hanoi has been inhabited since at least 3000 BC; the Cổ Loa Citadel in Dong Anh district served as the capital of the Âu Lạc kingdom founded by the Thục emigrant Thục Phán after his 258 BC conquest of the native Văn Lang.
In 197 BC, Âu Lạc Kingdom was annexed by Nanyue, which ushered in more than a millennium of Chinese domination. By the middle of the 5th century, in the center of ancient Hanoi, the Liu Song Dynasty set up a new district called Songping, which became a commandery, including two districts Yihuai and Suining in the south of the Red River with a metropolis in the present inner Hanoi. By the year 679, the Tang dynasty changed the region's name into Annan, with Songping as its capital. In order to defeat the people's uprisings, in the half of the 8th century, Zhang Boyi, a Tang dynasty viceroy, built Luocheng. In the earlier half of the 9th century, it was further called Jincheng. In 866, Gao Pian, the Chinese Jiedushi and named it Daluocheng, the largest citadel of ancient Hanoi at the time. In 1010, Lý Thái Tổ, the first ruler of the Lý Dynasty, moved the capital of Đại Việt to the site of the Đại La Citadel. Claiming to have seen a dragon ascending the Red River, he renamed the site Thăng Long – a name still used poetically to this day.
Thăng Long remained the capital of Đại Việt until 1397, when it was moved to Thanh Hóa known as Tây Đô, the "Western Capital". Thăng Long became Đông Đô, the "Eastern Capital." In 1408, the Chinese Minh Dynasty attacked and occupied Vietnam, changing Đông Đô's name to Dongguan, or Đông Quan in Sino-Vietnamese. In 1428, the Vietnamese overthrew the Chinese under the leadership of Lê Lợi, who founded the Lê Dynasty and renamed Đông Quan Đông Kinh or Tonkin. Right after the end of the Tây Sơn Dynasty, it was named Bắc Thành (北城
Minister of Defence (Vietnam)
The Minister of Defence is the Government of Vietnam member in charge of the Ministry of Defence. The Minister of Defence directs the management functions of state for defense. Moreover, the Minister of Defence is the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, a Member of the Politburo and Member of Council for National Defense and Security; the current Vietnamese Minister of Defence is 4 star Army General Ngô Xuân Lịch, since 9 April 2016. President Prime Minister Minister of Defence Chief of the General Political Department Chief of the General Staff Prime Minister of Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam Van, Canh Nguyen. Vietnam under Communism, 1975–1982. Hoover Press. ISBN 9780817978518
Secretary of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam
The Secretary of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam is the highest party officials on military affairs in Vietnam. 1.^ These numbers are not official. 2.^ The Central Committee when it convenes for its first session after being elected by a National Party Congress elects the Politburo. According to David Koh, in interviews with several high-standing Vietnamese officials, the Politburo ranking is based upon the number of approval votes by the Central Committee. Lê Hồng Anh, the Minister of Public Security, was ranked 2nd in the 10th Politburo because he received the second-highest number of approval votes. Another example being Tô Huy Rứa of the 10th Politburo, he was ranked lowest because he received the lowest approval vote of the 10th Central Committee when he standing for election for a seat in the Politburo; this system was implemented at the 1st plenum of the 10th Central Committee. The Politburo ranking functioned as an official order of precedence before the 10th Party Congress, some believe it still does
Easter Offensive
The Easter Offensive known as The 1972 Spring - Summer Offensive by North Vietnam, or Red fiery summer as romanticized in South Vietnamese literature, was a military campaign conducted by the People's Army of Vietnam against the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and the United States military between 30 March and 22 October 1972, during the Vietnam War. This conventional invasion was a radical departure from previous North Vietnamese offensives; the offensive was not designed to win the war outright but to gain as much territory and destroy as many units of the ARVN as possible, to improve the North's negotiating position as the Paris Peace Accords drew towards a conclusion. The U. S. high command had been expecting an attack in 1972 but the size and ferocity of the assault caught the defenders off balance, because the attackers struck on three fronts with the bulk of the North Vietnamese army. This first attempt by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to invade the south since the Tet Offensive of 1968, became characterized by conventional infantry–armor assaults backed by heavy artillery, with both sides fielding the latest in technological advances in weapons systems.
In the I Corps Tactical Zone, North Vietnamese forces overran South Vietnamese defensive positions in a month-long battle and captured Quảng Trị city, before moving south in an attempt to seize Huế. PAVN eliminated frontier defense forces in the II Corps Tactical Zone and advanced to seize the provincial capital of Kon Tum, which would have opened the way to the sea, splitting South Vietnam in two. North-east of Saigon, in the III Corps Tactical Zone, PAVN forces overran Lộc Ninh and advanced to assault the capital of Bình Long Province at An Lộc; the campaign can be divided into three phases: April was a month of PAVN advances. On all three fronts, initial North Vietnamese successes were hampered by high casualties, inept tactics and the increasing application of U. S. and South Vietnamese air power. One result of the offensive was the launching of Operation Linebacker, the first sustained bombing of North Vietnam by the U. S. since November 1968. Although South Vietnamese forces withstood their greatest trial thus far in the conflict, the North Vietnamese accomplished two important goals: they had gained valuable territory within South Vietnam from which to launch future offensives and they had obtained a better bargaining position at the peace negotiations being conducted in Paris.
In the wake of the failed South Vietnamese Operation Lam Son 719, the Hanoi leadership began discussing a possible offensive during the 19th Plenum of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Workers' Party in early 1971. By December, the Politburo had decided to launch a major offensive early in the following year. 1972 would be a U. S. presidential election year, the possibility of affecting the outcome was enticing and there was increasing anti-war sentiment among the population and government of the U. S. With American troop withdrawals, South Vietnamese forces were stretched to breaking point along a border of more than 600 miles and the poor performance of ARVN troops in the offensive into Laos promised an easy victory; this decision marked the end of three years of political infighting between two factions within the Politburo: those members grouped around Trường Chinh, who favored following the Chinese model of continued low-intensity guerrilla warfare and rebuilding the north and the "southern firsters" around Defense Minister Võ Nguyên Giáp, supported by First Party Secretary Lê Duẩn.
The failure of the Tet Offensive of 1968, had led to a downgrading of Giap's influence but the victory achieved over South Vietnamese forces during the Laotian incursion, brought Giap's strategy back into the ascendant. Lê Duẩn was given responsibility for planning the operation but Giap never rose to his former prominence, dealing chiefly with logistical matters and the approval of operational planning; the officer entrusted with the conduct of the offensive was the PAVN chief of staff, General Văn Tiến Dũng. The central questions became where and with what forces the offensive would be launched and what its goals were to be. North Vietnam had used the border regions of Laos and Cambodia as supply and manpower conduits for a decade and a demilitarized zone that separated the two Vietnams. There, the line of communication would be shortest and forces could be concentrated where "the enemy is weakest...violent attacks will disintegrate enemy forces...making it impossible for him to have enough troops to deploy elsewhere."
This was an important consideration, since the northern thrust would serve to divert South Vietnamese attention and resources, while two other attacks were to be launched: one into the central highlands, to cut the country in two and another eastwards from Cambodia to threaten Saigon. The offensive was given a title steeped in Vietnamese history. In 1773, the three Tây Sơn brothers united a Vietnam divided by social unrest; the youngest brother, Nguyễn Huệ defeated an invading Chinese army on the outskirts of Hanoi in 1788. The campaign employed the equivalent of 14 divisions but decisive victory was not part of the North Vietnamese strategy; the goals were much more limited. There was the distinct possibili
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War began in French Indochina on December 19, 1946, lasted until July 20, 1954. Fighting between French forces and their Việt Minh opponents in the south dated from September 1945; the conflict pitted a range of forces, including the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps, led by France and supported by Bảo Đại's Vietnamese National Army against the Việt Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh and the People's Army of Vietnam led by Võ Nguyên Giáp. Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in northern Vietnam, although the conflict engulfed the entire country and extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia. At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the Combined Chiefs of Staff decided that Indochina south of latitude 16° north was to be included in the Southeast Asia Command under British Admiral Mountbatten. Japanese forces located south of that line surrendered to him and those to the north surrendered to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. In September 1945, Chinese forces entered Tonkin, a small British task force landed at Saigon.
The Chinese accepted the Vietnamese government under Ho Chi Minh in power in Hanoi. The British refused to do in Saigon, deferred to the French there from the outset, against the ostensible support of the Việt Minh authorities by American OSS representatives. On V-J Day, September 2, Ho Chi Minh had proclaimed in Hanoi the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam; the DRV ruled as the only civil government in all of Vietnam for a period of about 20 days, after the abdication of Emperor Bảo Đại, who had governed under Japanese rule. On 23 September 1945, with the knowledge of the British commander in Saigon, French forces overthrew the local DRV government, declared French authority restored in Cochinchina. Guerrilla warfare began around Saigon but the French retook control of the South and North of Indochina. Hô Chi Minh agreed to negotiate the future status of Vietnam, but the talks, held in France, failed to produce a solution. After over one year of latent conflict, all-out war broke out in December 1946 between French and Việt Minh forces as Hô and his government went underground.
The French tried to stabilize Indochina by reorganizing it as a Federation of Associated States. In 1949, they put former Emperor Bảo Đại back in power, as the ruler of a newly established State of Vietnam; the first few years of the war involved a low-level rural insurgency against the French. In 1949 the conflict turned into a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons supplied by the United States and the Soviet Union. French Union forces included colonial troops from the whole former empire, French professional troops and units of the French Foreign Legion; the use of metropolitan recruits was forbidden by the government to prevent the war from becoming more unpopular at home. It was called the "dirty war" by leftists in France; the strategy of pushing the Việt Minh into attacking well-defended bases in remote parts of the country at the end of their logistical trails was validated at the Battle of Nà Sản. However, this base was weak because of a lack of concrete and steel.
French efforts were made more difficult due to the limited usefulness of armored tanks in a jungle environment, lack of strong air forces for air cover and carpet bombing, use of foreign recruits from other French colonies. Võ Nguyên Giáp, used efficient and novel tactics of direct fire artillery, convoy ambushes and massed anti-aircraft guns to impede land and air supply deliveries together with a strategy based on recruiting a sizable regular army facilitated by wide popular support, a guerrilla warfare doctrine and instruction developed in China, the use of simple and reliable war material provided by the Soviet Union; this combination proved fatal for the bases' defenses, culminating in a decisive French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. At the International Geneva Conference on July 21, 1954, the new socialist French government and the Việt Minh made an agreement which gave the Việt Minh control of North Vietnam above the 17th parallel; the south continued under Bảo Đại. The agreement was denounced by the United States.
A year Bảo Đại would be deposed by his prime minister, Ngô Đình Diệm, creating the Republic of Vietnam. Soon an insurgency, backed by the north, developed against Diệm's government; the conflict escalated into the Vietnam War. Vietnam was absorbed into French Indochina in stages between 1858 and 1887. Nationalism grew. Early Vietnamese resistance centered on the intellectual Phan Bội Châu. Châu looked to Japan, which had modernized and was one of the few Asian nations to resist European colonization. With Prince Cường Để, Châu started two organizations in Japan, the Duy Tân hội and Vietnam Cong Hien Hoi. Due to French pressure, Japan deported Phan Bội Châu to China. Witnessing Sun Yat-sen's Xinhai Revolution, Châu was inspired to commence the Viet Nam Quang Phục Hội movement in Guangzhou. From 1914 to 1917, he was imprisoned by Yuan Shikai's counterrevolutionary government. In 1925, he was captured by French agents in spirited to Vietnam. Due to his popularity, Châu was spared from execution and placed under house arrest until his death in 1940.
In September 1940, shortly after Phan Bội Châu's death, Japan launched its invasion of French Indochina, mirroring its ally Germany's co
Thanh Hóa
Thanh Hóa is the capital of Thanh Hóa Province. The city is situated in the east of the province on the Ma River, about 150 kilometers south of Hanoi and 1560 kilometers north of Ho Chi Minh City. Thanh Hoa became one of the most populous cities in North Central Coast after expanding in 2012, with a population of 400,000. Thanh Hoa township was upgraded to Thanh Hoa City in 1994 and has been center of politics, culture and entertainment of Thanh Hóa Province for a long time. Thanh Hoa is a new developing city. Nowadays, provincial administrators are trying to build and gentrification the city so that emphasis important role for the whole province and North Central Coast; the Thanh Hóa town and region were an area of popular support for Lê Lợi and the Lê dynasty in the 1580s, leading to the reestablishment of the southern court near the town following the withdrawal of Ming dynasty armies. After 1945 the city was a stronghold of the Viet Minh. In January 1946 the Viet Minh transported all local cells of the VNQDD to the city.
During the Vietnam War, US strategic bombing destroyed much of the buildings and infrastructure, the whole city has been rebuilt since then. Thanh Hoa city is located in centre of Thanh Hoa's plain with many scattered rocky mountains surround. There are two main mountains along the city: Mật Sơn. Hàm Rồng mountain begins from Thiệu Dương commune, about 8 km from city centre, along the right bank of the Ma River to Hàm Rồng Thanh Hóa Bridge pier. Ham Rong mountain has 99 peaks and had become an entrench for air defensive in Operation Rolling Thunder. Ma River is the longest river flow through the city, meandering around Ham Rong mountain before flowing to South East Asian sea. In addition, there are 5 canals were dug in order to support for watering and flooding. In region of tropical monsoon climate, Thanh Hoa city has four seasons with two distinctive hot and cold atmospheres in a year; the hot season: Beginning in late spring to mid-autumn, weather is extreme heat with sunny and sometime Foehn wind.
The highest temperature may reach over 40 degrees Celsius. In this period and drought occur frequently; the cold season: Beginning in November to the end of March the following year. The atmosphere is cloudy and dried with cold monsoon from Northeast direction; the lowest temperature may down to 5 degrees CelsiusAnnual temperature is between 23.3 °C and 23.6 °C. Thanh Hoa city is located in coast region so it is affected by three seasonal winds, which are referred to distinctive wind directions. Northeast direction wind: Blowing from Siberia, comes in January; the winds causes the coldest period of winter. Foehn wind: Blowing from Bengal passing on Laos to North Central Coast Vietnam. Thus, it's called "Gió Lào" in Vietnamese referred to the wind from Laos direction; the wind occurs in summer July or August and causes the hottest atmosphere in a year. Southeast direction wind: Blowing from sea and occurring in Summer. At the heat of hot season, the winds brings fresh atmosphere to land and cool down temperature Annual rainfall average is 1730 – 1980 mm.
By the time 2012, Thanh Hoa city had 6 outer communes. After expansion in February 2012, the city merged some subdivisions from other nearby districts and that extended total of urban subdivisions up to 37. Thanh Hoa city has 20 inner wards and 17 outer communes. Note: Area: km2. According to urban development plan in 2012, the estimated population will be approximate 1 million in 2030 with 800,000 urban people. According statistic in 2013, GDP sector composition of the city's economy: Agricultural sector: 7.6% Industrial sector: 46% Service sector: 46.4%Annual economic growth rate is 15%. Total of capital development fund estimated 12,665 thousand billion VND, export volume estimated 504 million USD. State budgets revenue is 1,436 thousand billion VND. GDP per capital is 3,930 USD. There are three industrial regions locally: Le Mon industrial region: Is situated in the east and 5 km from city centre; the industrial hub was established in 2005 with planned scale 87 hectare. Main industries concentrate on high-tech applications and processing raw materials within province, agricultural and fishery, mechanical assembly and telecommunication devices...
Some FDI organizations invested and operate are Sunjade company, Sakura company, Yotsuba Dress company, Vinamilk... Dinh Huong industrial region: Is located 2 km from north city centre; as central position of province, Thanh Hoa city is the heart of transport network, where every essential transportation modes are aggregated such as North–South Railway, National Route 1A, National Route 47, buses system and many other provincial routes. Le Mon port is situated beside 4 km from city centre east; this river port provides transportation for Le Mon industrial region. In February 2013, Tho Xuan Airport, located 45 km to the east from city, was implemented and upgrade to turn into a mixed civilian/military airport; this airport became the place provide air transport services for Thanh Hoa city
Communist Party of Vietnam
Việt Minh
People's Army of Vietnam
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