Role of Religion in Vietnam

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The Role of Religion in Vietnam Tammy Johnson Strayer University The Role of Religion in Vietnam History and War Related Issues Vietnamese history dates back more than four thousand years, when the ancient Vietnamese people founded their first nation under the name “Van Lang.” Recent history of Vietnam has been best characterized as one long, continuous struggle for freedom and independence. The country was ruled by the Chinese feudalists for almost a thousand years and was then colonized by France for nearly a century, from 1859 to 1945. (Asiarooms, 2012) During the Second World War, Vietnam was occupied by Japanese troops, and also by the French administration until it was toppled by the Japanese. Vietnam regained its power from the Japanese in fall of 1945 and declared its independence on September 2 of the same year, giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.(Vietnam-ustrade.org) Soon after, the country plunged into another war against the French attempting to re-colonize, which lasted for another nine years. That war ended in 1954, leaving the country divided at the 17th parallel. The north remained as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, led by the communists, while the south fell under the influence of the West, namely the United States. (Vietnam-ustrade.org) The United States involvement in Vietnam grew in the 1950s and escalated into a full-fledged war in March 1965 when the first U.S. troops landed in Vietnam. Although U.S. troops were completely withdrawn by the end of March 1973 as a result of the Paris Peace Accords, the war continued until the spring of 1975, when the south was liberated. Vietnam was reunified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the winter of 1976. However, the legacy that the war left did not end until 1979. (Vietnam-ustrade.org) Principal Group- Belief System The religions of Vietnam are varied and

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