Postwar Vietnam

The Situation in 1975

By 1975, Vietnam had suffered 45 years of unceasing economic, ecological, political and psychological devastation - beginning with the world depression in 1930 and ending with reunification in 1975

Approximately 2,000,000 Vietnamese died as a result of the various wars

The economy of the south was totally dependent on the U.S.

Millions of refugees had left the land

Millions were now unemployed, including over one million former ARVN

South Vietnam was now a major importer of rice - due to refugees and to defoliation of
countryside - creating "blank zones"

Much of the economic infrastructure of the North had been destroyed by bombing - somewhat rebuilt between 1973-1975

The government in Hanoi faced competing ideological pressures:

From revolutionary cadres who had fought during the war wanted immediate move to socialism throughout the country
From pragmatists who believed some accommodation to market commerce was essential
Pressures also came from deciding how to govern and integrate the south