Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia, bordered by China to the north, Cambodia and Laos to the west, and the sea everywhere else. Its name alludes to the original settlement of the ethnic Viets, which extended as far north as China. After centuries of occupation by the Chinese and then the French, Vietnam achieved its independence from French rule in 1954, when the First Indochinese War ended.

The Vietnamese communist movement called Viet Minh, under leadership of Ho Chi Minh, had defeated the French and taken control of a large part of the country. Vietnam was divided along the so-called Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into Viet Nam Cong Hoa,the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), and Viet Nam Dan Chu Cong Hoa,the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).