with withdrawal of US + surrender of SV govt → NV forces declared victory in Saigon → subsequently renamed Ho Chi Minh City
after 30 years of constant conflict → struggle for control of Vietnam settled. communists had won, and Vietnam reunified as a communist state
After seizing power → communist govt in Vietnam → sought to establish iron fisted rule
- rounded up 100s of SV and put them in supposed re education camps
- these camps → were in reality prison camps where former supporters and collaborators of SV govt were subjected to indoctrination, torture, forced labour
1976 → Vietnam became known as Socialist Republic of Vietnam → under leadership of communist party Chairman Le Duan. communist state aligned itself closely with USSR → from which it continued to receive aid in order to secure + control new nation