By July 1976, Vietnam was reunified for the first time since the French colonization in the 1850s. Initially, the new leadership took a cautious approach, aiming to gain favor with the international community. However, many Southerners viewed the future with deep trepidation. Their concerns were justified, as Hanoi showed little inclination to grant autonomy to Saigon. The Council of National Reconciliation, as outlined in the Paris Accords, was never established, and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF) operated under the influence of the Military Management Committee and, by extension, Hanoi, until the formal establishment of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in July 1976. The influx of Northern cadres, known as the cán bộ, to fill all official positions further reinforced the perception of a conquering force.

The new republic faced significant challenges. For years, the two halves of Vietnam had adhered to vastly different political and economic systems. The North struggled with a lack of industry, relying on cooperative farms for agriculture, much of which had been devastated during the war. In contrast, the South had developed an economy supported by American involvement, described by journalist John Pilger as reliant on “an ‘economy’ based upon the services of maids, pimps, whores, beggars, and black-marketeers,” bolstered by American financial aid that evaporated with the last helicopter evacuation from the Saigon embassy.

The transformative changes sweeping the nation were not confined to economics. Resentment in Hanoi toward its former adversaries was inevitable, yet rather than pursue national reconciliation—especially given the familial ties across both regions—recriminations further divided the North and South. Individuals with any ties to the United States were sent to re-education camps, along with Buddhist monks, priests, intellectuals, and anyone else deemed undesirable by the government. Hundreds of thousands of Southerners were detained without trial, with some remaining imprisoned for over a decade. The dire situation following reunification prompted many to flee the country in unseaworthy vessels, giving rise to the humanitarian crisis known as the “boat people.”

Amidst these challenges, just three weeks before the fall of Saigon in 1975, Pol Pot’s brutal regime came to power in Cambodia. Within a year, his forces began launching incursions into Vietnamese territory, particularly in areas around the Mekong Delta and north of Ho Chi Minh City (the new name for Saigon). One such incursion resulted in the Ba Chuc massacre, claiming nearly two thousand lives. Though reprisals were initially delayed, by 1978, Vietnam could no longer remain passive. On Christmas Day of that year, 120,000 Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia and toppled Pol Pot’s regime.

Despite ending the reign of terror in Cambodia, Vietnam faced increased isolation from the international community. In February 1979, China retaliated with a punitive invasion of Vietnam’s northeastern provinces. Chinese forces suffered heavy casualties, retreating after sixteen days of conflict. Meanwhile, Pol Pot had relocated across the Thai border, continuing to direct attacks on the occupying Vietnamese forces. Vietnam maintained its presence in Cambodia until September 1989, ultimately defeating the Khmer Rouge at a significant cost of fifty thousand soldiers, the majority of whom were Southern conscripts.

This period in Vietnam’s history highlights the complex aftermath of reunification, as the nation grappled with the repercussions of war, internal strife, and external threats.