Vietnam

Or Vi·et Nam

[vee-et-nahm, -nam, vyet-, vee-it-]

noun

1. Official Name Socialist Republic of Vietnam. a country in Southeast Asia, comprising the former states of Annam, Tonkin, and Cochinchina: formerly part of French Indochina; divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam during the Vietnam War but now reunified. 126,104 sq. mi. (326,609 sq. km). Hanoi.

2. Vietnam War.

Vietnam

/ ˌvjɛtˈnæm /

noun

1. Official name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam. a republic in SE Asia: an ancient empire, conquered by France in the 19th century; occupied by Japan (1940–45) when the Communist-led Vietminh began resistance operations that were continued against restored French rule after 1945. In 1954 the country was divided along the 17th parallel, establishing North Vietnam (under the Vietminh) and South Vietnam (under French control), the latter becoming the independent Republic of Vietnam in 1955. From 1959 the country was dominated by war between the Communist Vietcong, supported by North Vietnam, and the South Vietnamese government; increasing numbers of US forces were brought to the aid of the South Vietnamese army until a peace agreement (1973) led to the withdrawal of US troops; further fighting led to the eventual defeat of the South Vietnamese government in March 1975 and in 1976 an elected National Assembly proclaimed the reunification of the country. Official language: Vietnamese. Religion: Buddhist majority. Currency: dong. Capital: Hanoi. Pop: 92 477 857 (2013 est). Area: 331 041 sq km (127 816 sq miles)

Vietnam

1. Republic in Southeast Asia, bordered by Cambodia and Laos to the west, China to the north, and the South China Sea (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) to the east and south.

The Geneva Conference of 1954 divided Vietnam into North Vietnam, controlled by communists, and South Vietnam, controlled by noncommunists.

In the Vietnam War of 1954–1975, South Vietnam, which was aided by the United States, fought communist insurgents, who were aided by North Vietnam. The war ended when the communists overran the south in 1975. The country was reunified in 1976.

American involvement in the Vietnam War was strongly protested in the United States.

Between 1978 and 1979, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and installed a puppet government.

Vietnam was under the control of France from the second half of the nineteenth century until World War II, when it was occupied by the Japanese. The country became an autonomous state in 1946. France's attempts to reassert control resulted in the French Indochina War (1946–1954), in which the French were defeated.

Great numbers of Vietnamese refugees, known as boat people, fled the country in the aftermath of the war.

Example Sentences

Will Brill’s Hooper points to the bloody business of the Vietnam War’s appalling visuals, brought into American living rooms by the evening news, as an indicator of our hardened sensibility.

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Flooding triggered by record heavy rains in central Vietnam this week killed at least four people and inundated more than 100,000 homes, the environment ministry said on Wednesday.

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The BBC said in a statement that an unnamed journalist "has been unable to leave Vietnam for several months as the authorities have withheld their ID card and their renewed passport".

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The prime minister is being urged to raise the case of a British woman and her fiancé who died from methanol poisoning in Vietnam when he meets the country's leader.

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The BBC said it was "deeply concerned" about the wellbeing of one its journalists who has been unable to leave Vietnam for several months.

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