The Vietnam War began shortly after, between the communist North, supported by the Soviet Union and China, and the anti-communist South, supported by the United States. As a result of the treaties signed between the Viet Minh and France, Vietnam was also separated into two parts. After World War II, France returned to reclaim colonial power in the First Indochina War, from which Vietnam emerged victorious in 1954. Vietnam went through prolonged warfare in the 20th century.

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the nationalist coalition Viet Minh, led by the communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, launched the August Revolution and declared Vietnam's independence in 1945.

In 1887, its territory was integrated into French Indochina as three separate regions. The Nguyễn-the last imperial dynasty-surrendered to France in 1883. During most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnam was effectively divided into two domains of Đàng Trong and Đàng Ngoài. Successive monarchical dynasties absorbed Chinese influences through Confucianism and Buddhism, and expanded southward to the Mekong Delta, conquering Champa. The Han dynasty annexed Northern and Central Vietnam under Chinese rule from 111 BC, until the first dynasty emerged in 939. Vietnam was inhabited by the Paleolithic age, with states established in the first millennium BC on the Red River Delta in modern-day northern Vietnam. Its capital is Hanoi and its largest city is Ho Chi Minh City (commonly referred to by its former name, Saigon). It shares maritime borders with Thailand through the Gulf of Thailand, and the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia through the South China Sea. Vietnam shares land borders with China to the north, and Laos and Cambodia to the west. Vietnam ( Vietnamese: Việt Nam, ( listen)), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam ( SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of 331,212 square kilometres (127,882 sq mi) and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's fifteenth-most populous country. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of chữ Nôm, chữ Hán and chữ Quốc ngữ.

What was the vietnam war also called?