Michael Do

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum[1]

The history of Vietnam is the history of a ceaseless struggle over four thousand years to survive harsh conditions and threats from foreign invasions. Vietnamese are peace-loving people but were pushed to a dangerous situation of extinction. They had to fight and became the finest and most experienced combatants in the South East Asia region in order to maintain their independence and conserve their distinguished culture.   

Looking at the map of South Asia, anybody would realize that Vietnam – in the 20th century – is the most important location in terms of strategy and geopolitics. According to the old concepts of strategy, Vietnam is the door opened to the vast region of South East Asia that is rich in natural resources. Vietnam could provide any kind of economy with a big army of hardworking laborers and also a huge number of consumers. Vietnam was the target of dozens of invasions from many Chinese dynasties over four thousand years; then, the French in the late 19th Century and the Communists in the second half of the 20th century.