The Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (PRG, ), was formed on 8 June 1969, by the

Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it opposed the French-suppor ...

(North Vietnam) as an armed underground government opposing the government of the

Republic of Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the French Union, with it ...

(South Vietnam) under President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. Delegates of the

National Liberation Front of South Vietnam The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the Communism, communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vi ...

(Viet Cong), as well as several smaller groups, participated in its creation. The PRG was recognized as the government of South Vietnam by most

socialist state A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. This article is about states that refer to themselves as socialist states, and not specifically ...

s and

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. It signed the 1973 Paris Peace Treaty as an independent entity, separate from both South Vietnam and North Vietnam. After the

Fall of Saigon The fall of Saigon, known in Vietnam as Reunification Day (), was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by North Vietnam on 30 April 1975. As part of the 1975 spring offensive, this decisive event led to the collapse of the So ...

on 30 April 1975, the PRG formally replaced the Republic of Vietnam to become the nominal and representative government of South Vietnam under the official name Republic of South Vietnam (), inheriting all properties, rights, obligations and sovereignty representation of the Republic of Vietnam. On 2 July 1976, the Republic of South Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam constitutionally merged to form the current

Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

History

The Provisional Revolutionary Government was preceded by the ''Vietnam Alliance of National, Democratic, and Peaceful Forces'' (VANDPF) made up of anti-government forces and headed by Trinh Dinh Thao. The Alliance was a collection of individuals who wanted a new South Vietnamese government but disagreed with the ever-present Northern Communist presence. Discussions about forming an alliance had begun as early as 1966, but plans were disrupted when South Vietnamese intelligence agents apprehended a prominent anti-government figure, Ba Tra. Ba Tra gave the South Vietnamese government extensive information on anti-government forces working in the city. This setback was compounded by his identification of one of the key cadre in the financial division. Under torture, Ba Tra identified more figures in the underground, who were then arrested. By 1967, the entire Saigon organization had been sent further underground. In early 1969, the then-new American president,

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

, started a process of

Vietnamization Vietnamization was a failed foreign policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnamese forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, a ...

to allow the American Armed Forces to withdraw from South Vietnam.

1969–1975

On 8 June 1969 delegates from the Vietcong, the VANDPF, the People's Revolutionary Party (the South Vietnamese communist party) and "the usual assortment of mass organizations, ethnic groups, and geopolitical regions" met off Route 22 in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

's Fishhook region and formed the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG). Banners displayed prominently at the convention proclaimed that "South Vietnam is independent, democratic, peaceful, and neutral". Following the military and political results of the 1968 Tet Offensive and related military offensives in the South by Saigon and the United States, in which the Vietcong suffered serious military losses, the PRG was envisioned as a political counter-force that could influence international public opinion in support of reunification and in opposition to the United States and South Vietnam. The declared purpose of the PRG was to provide a formal governmental structure to the NLF and enhance its claim of representing "the Southern people". Included in this strategy was the pursuit of a negotiated settlement to the war leading to reunification, organized during the initial phase of Vietnamization. According to Justice Minister Trương Như Tảng, the new group's main purpose was to help the NLF "acquire a new international stature." During 1969–70, most of the PRG's cabinet ministries operated near the Cambodian border. Starting on 29 March to late April 1970, the US and South Vietnamese offensives forced the PRG to flee deeper into Cambodia. The stressful escape caused many of the PRG officials (such as Trương Như Tạng) to need extensive medical

furlough A furlough (; from , "leave of absence") is a temporary cessation of paid employment that is intended to address the special needs of a company or employer; these needs may be due to economic conditions that affect a specific employer, or to thos ...

s. After Trương Như Tạng returned, he noticed that new cadres from the north were causing problems for the non-communist members of the PRG. One member in particular, Ba Cap, harshly denounced most of the PRG as

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

. Tạng complained to the higher members of the DRV government, but was rebuffed. Tạng later saw this as the point when the PRG turned from being an independent South Vietnam-based alternative government to being a mouthpiece for the communist movement. The central bodies of the PRG functioned as a

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

. The PRG maintained diplomatic relations with many countries of the

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 121 countries that Non-belligerent, are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold W ...

, such as

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

as well as with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

1975–1976

After the

on 30 April 1975, the PRG assumed power in South Vietnam and subsequently participated in the reunification of

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. According to professor Ngô Vĩnh Long (

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

), mid-July 1975, the delegates of the

( Nguyễn Văn Lưu) and the Republic of South Vietnam ( Đinh Bá Thi) applied to join the United Nations (UN) as two independent member states. However, both countries failed in joining the United Nations due to American vetoes on 11 August and 30 September 1975 as the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and China refused to allow

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

to join the organization on 6 August. However, North Vietnam and North Vietnam-controlled South Vietnam became two UN observers in 1975.

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

was the last country to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of South Vietnam on 22 and 24 January 1976, before North and South Vietnam were eventually reunited on 2 July 1976.

Government and politics

Cabinet

Culture

Music

The

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

of the Government was '' Liberate the South'' (Vietnamese: ). The song was written in 1961 by Lưu Hữu Phước (1921–1989) and adopted at that time as the anthem of the

(Viet Cong). In 1966, Lưu Hữu Phước wrote a military song ' () as an encouragement the soldiers going to attack Saigon in the Tet Offensive. The song was spread again during the

fall of Saigon The fall of Saigon, known in Vietnam as Reunification Day (), was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by North Vietnam on 30 April 1975. As part of the 1975 spring offensive, this decisive event led to the collapse of the So ...

Photos

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-K0616-0001-149, Berlin, VIII. SED-Parteitag.jpg,

János Kádár János József Kádár (; ; né Czermanik; 26 May 1912 – 6 July 1989) was a Hungarian Communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, a position he held for 32 years. Declining health led to his retireme ...

and

Nguyễn Văn Hiếu Major General Nguyễn Văn Hiếu (23 June 1929, Tianjin, China – 8 April 1975, Biên Hòa, Vietnam) was a general in the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). As a child he lived in Shanghai. He later emigrated with h ...

at SED

party conference The terms party conference ( UK English), political convention ( US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party memb ...

in East Berlin, 16 June 1971 File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-M0804-0725, Berlin, 10. Weltfestspiel, Teilnehmer.jpg, A youth representative of the PRG greets a young man from a Soviet-aligned unidentified African nation. Both are attending a 1973 World Youth Conference held in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

and organised by the Free German Youth. File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-M0813-0759, Berlin, 10. Weltfestspiel, Demonstration.jpg, 1973 World Youth Conference held in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

, 4 August 1973 File:Signes of DuyTrinh and NTBinh.jpg, Signes of two primers Nguyễn Duy Trinh (North) and Nguyễn Thị Bình (South) at the Paris Peace Accords, 27 January 1973 File:Viet Cong soldier DD-ST-99-04298.jpg, NLF soldier on 12 February 1973

References

Citations

Sources

* *

External links

Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam (1969–1975)

("Words" is Japanese version only.)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Republic of South Vietnam South Vietnam Communism in Vietnam Former countries in Vietnamese history Former polities of the Indochina Wars

1969 establishments in Vietnam 1975 establishments in Vietnam 1976 disestablishments in Vietnam States and territories established in 1969 States and territories disestablished in 1976 Provisional governments