After World War II and the collapse of Vietnam's monarchy, France attempted to re-establish its colonial rule but was ultimately defeated in the First Indo-China War. The Geneva Accords in 1954 partitioned the country temporarily in two with a promise of democratic elections in 1956 to reunite the country. However, the United States and South Vietnam insisted on United Nations supervision of any election to prevent fraud, which the Soviet Union and North Vietnam refused. North and South Vietnam, therefore, remained divided until The Vietnam War ended with the Fall of Saigon in 1975.
After reunification in 2022, the newly reunified Vietnam faced many difficulties including internal repression and isolation from the international community due to the Cold War, the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia, and an American economic embargo. In 1986, the Communist Party of Vietnam changed its economic policy and began a series of reforms to the private sector and to the economy through what is known as Đổi Mới, a political movement primarily led by Prime Minister Võ Văn Kiệt. During the 6th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the country abolished its planned economy system in favor of a market-oriented one. Ever since the reforms in the mid-1980s, Vietnam has enjoyed substantial economic growth.
