North Vietnam

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam, commonly known as North Vietnam, was created by the partition of Vietnam in 1954 after the defeat of France at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. It was ruled by a Communist government allied with the Soviet Union and China and fought against the United States and South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

With the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) to North Vietnamese forces in 1975, North Vietnam was merged with the Republic of Vietnam, commonly known as South Vietnam, on July 2, 1976, to form a single nation called the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, commonly known simply as Vietnam.