South Vietnam, with the support of the…
1956 CE
South Vietnam, with the support of the US, refuses to honor the UN-mandated agreement to reunify Vietnam by holding elections within two years.
The CIA allegedly crafts a constitution for US puppet premier Diem, who proclaims South Vietnam a republic on October 26, 1956 with himself as its first president.
The US, fresh from the bloody stalemate of the UN police action known as the Korean War, fill the shoes of the routed French by supporting the pro-capitalist southern citadels of Hue and Saigon against the popular liberation movement.
Some 700 Americans advise Diem’s Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) organized along US military lines but led by hand-picked Diem loyalists.
The dicatatorial Diem, hostile to Buddhism, incurs increasing opposition from the Buddhist majority and from the peasants, many of whom have lost the land redistributed under Viet Minh rule.
In North Vietnam, harsh land reforms lead to collectivized agriculture and the deaths or deportation of thousands of landlords.
Former Viet Minh organize armed resistance to Diem and become known as Viet Cong.
Souvanna Phouma, the politically like-minded half-brother of prince Souphanouvong, becomes premier of Laos in 1956 and makes his half-brother a cabinet member.
Souphanouvong’s leftist Pathet Lao movement becomes the legal United Lao Patriotic Front political party; rightist leaders object.
Meanwhile, the US has replaced France as the provider to Laos of Western economic and military aid.