The special exhibition "Dat nuoc tron niem vui" (The Nation's Complete Joy), organized by the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi to mark the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and national reunification (April 30, 1975), runs from April 23 to August 10.
More than 300 photographs, documents, and artifacts summarize the 21-year resistance (1954–1975) and the period of rebuilding and development after peace was achieved. The above image shows the plenary session of the Geneva Accords on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam on May 8, 1954.
The "Aspiration for Peace" section showcases materials from 1954 when Vietnam was temporarily divided after the Geneva Accords. The 17th parallel along the Ben Hai River in Quang Tri Province became the temporary military demarcation line, with a general election scheduled after two years. However, the U.S. gradually replaced France, aiming to turn South Vietnam into a stronghold against communism in Southeast Asia.
"The United States is not a party to the decisions of the Geneva Conference and is not bound by them," declared Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th U.S. President, warning that a victory by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam would trigger the collapse of the rest of Southeast Asia like a domino effect.
As shown in the left photo, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles flew to Paris in July 1954 to meet British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and French Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France to discuss U.S. intentions.
Twenty days after the Geneva Accords were signed, U.S. Admiral Sabin and intelligence officer Edward Lansdale arrived in Hanoi to implement a plan urging over a million people to migrate from North to South Vietnam (photo on the right).
In February 1955, the U.S. directly provided financial and military aid to the South Vietnamese government, aiming to "build a South Vietnamese army with 90% of its equipment supplied by the U.S."
With the firm belief that "the Fatherland cannot be divided," people in both regions staged rallies and protests against Ngo Dinh Diem's separate elections in early 1956. At this stage, the struggle was mainly peaceful, demanding the implementation of the Accords. By 1959, the Party’s Second Central Resolution identified that “the socialist North is the solid foundation for the revolutionary movement in the South.”
To maintain communication and transport troops and officials between North and South, a special route across the Truong Son mountain range (Annamite Range) was created in 1959. Special Military Mission Group 559 was tasked with opening the trail, which became a vast network of 26 vertical and horizontal routes crossing three Indochinese countries, transporting over two million troops. The trail endured heavy bombardment, receiving four million tons of American bombs. The above image shows a section of the trail.
An aerial photo shows one of 16,000 "strategic hamlets" in the South, where the U.S. advised the Ngo Dinh Diem government to set up fortified villages to suppress uprisings and guerrilla warfare.
The USS Maddox (DD 731), one of two destroyers involved in the Gulf of Tonkin incident (Aug. 2–4, 1964), which was part of an event orchestrated by the U.S. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, passed by the U.S. Congress on Aug. 10, 1964, authorized President Johnson to conduct military actions in Southeast Asia without an official declaration of war, which led to U.S. direct military involvement in South Vietnam and aerial bombardment of the North.
On March 8, 1965, 3,500 U.S. Marines landed at Xuan Thieu Beach, Da Nang, marking the start of direct U.S. combat involvement. Under various strategies, U.S. troops continuously poured into the South.
Archival footage shows U.S. planes bombing North Vietnam in an attempt to sever support lines for the Southern battlefield. North Vietnamese forces and civilians achieved a decisive victory during the 12-day-and-night aerial battle over Hanoi (Dec. 18–29, 1972), known as the "Dien Bien Phu in the air," leading to a turning point in the Paris peace talks.
The Paris Peace Accords to end the war and restore peace in Vietnam were signed on Jan. 27, 1973, by four parties: the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the United States, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam, and the Republic of Vietnam. The agreement followed years of negotiations, lasting four years, eight months, and 16 days, across 201 public meetings, 45 private senior-level meetings, and 24 secret meetings. The U.S. was required to withdraw all troops from the South, paving the way for liberation and reunification two years later.
In the photo: Provisional Revolutionary Government Foreign Minister Nguyen Thi Binh (L) and Democratic Republic of Vietnam Foreign Minister Nguyen Duy Trinh at the Paris Peace Accords signing ceremony in 1973.
Political struggle in South Vietnamese cities demanding that U.S. and South Vietnamese forces implement the democratic freedoms stipulated in the Paris Peace Accords, 1973.
In early 1975, the Politburo decided to launch the Spring General Offensive and Uprising over 55 days. With a pace described as "one day equaling 20 years," the offensive included a series of campaigns, beginning with the Central Highlands campaign (March 4–April 3), capturing the region and expanding to the South Central Coast; followed by the Tri-Thien–Hue–Da Nang campaign (March 5–29), liberating key areas.
In the photo, General Vo Nguyen Giap chairs a Central Military Commission meeting to decide on launching the campaign in South Central Highlands, targeting Buon Ma Thuot, January 1975.
Xuan Loc—the gateway to Saigon from the northeast—was breached on April 21, 1975 (left photo). On the same day, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu resigned (right photo).
The historic moment captures Saigon in the final days of April 1975. During the Ho Chi Minh Campaign (April 26–30), liberation forces tightened the encirclement, isolating Saigon and seizing key targets like the South Vietnamese Ministry of Defense and the Saigon Lower House.
At 11:30 a.m. on April 30, 1975, liberation forces captured the Independence Palace, arrested the cabinet, and received the unconditional surrender of President Duong Van Minh.
While ground forces advanced on Saigon, naval commandos were ordered to liberate the Spratly Islands, fearing that foreign troops might seize them first.
Through the lens of French photographer Jacques Pavlovskky: Saigon’s streets filled with young people waving the flag of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam.
The reunion day was filled with both smiles and tears. In the left photo, General Vo Nguyen Giap and General Van Tien Dung meet in Saigon after reunification, May 1975.
The right photo, taken by wartime journalist Lam Hong Long of Vietnam News Agency, captures revolutionary prisoner Le Van Thuc reuniting with his mother at the Rach Dua base in Vung Tau City after returning from a prison on Con Dao Island, May 5, 1975.
"That morning, around 9 or 10 a.m., someone called me to meet a family member. Stepping out, I froze, my eyes blurred at the sight of a frail woman in a black ao ba ba (Vietnamese traditional southern outfit) searching around anxiously. Mother! I could only run up and embrace her. After so many years apart, thinking we might never meet again, we just hugged each other and cried," recalled Thuc.
