When one reads the authors who have studied the subject (Nguyen Khac Vien 1999), one finds out that Vietnam has a long, long history. This is definitely not exhaustive, but highlights include...

The traditional Vietnam:

- Vietnamese history begins from the Stone Age and transitions into the Bronze Age under the reign of Au Lac
- After a long march towards independence from its bigger neighbour, Hanoi is preparing celebrations for it's first millennium of freedom in 2010. It is said that one will be able to travel in a métro at the very beginning of the second millennium of freedom!
- The feudal, centralised State, or the dynasties Ly and Tran allow an unprecedented cultural upheaval during the11th – 14th centuries A.D., bringing with it a preponderance of Buddhism, the birth of national literature, and the influence of Confucianism in all art forms
- This is followed by the new stage of feudal monarchy under Le (15th – 16th centuries)
- the Tay Son eras (18th century), and the restoration of the Nguyen dynasty
- The cultural evolution of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century with the literary accomplishements of Nguyen Du and his well-known Kieu is a reference still present in Vietnamese culture to this day.

The contemporary Vietnam :

- The loss of independence (the fall of Hanoi)
- Establishment of the colonial regime (1897 – 1918). A lot has been written about this period and a lot more remains to be written.
- The numerous social and economic changes which affected the country till 1929, the establishment of the Communist party
- The economic crisis and the Second World War. The literary movement from 1930 to 1945 when the August revolution took place.
- The establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945-1946) and the first resistance movements.  The events of September 2004 remembered and honoured Dien Bien Phu remembered and honoured after 50 years had passed.
- The war against the Americans and the deterioration of relations between Vietnam and China
- The battle of Saigon in 1975
- The reunification of the North and the South after a 20-year long separation

According to Philippe Papin (Ecole Française d’extrême orient, CNRS), if Vietnam did not lose it's peace, it has not gained it either. Set in motion in 1979 and launched in 1986, the change in economic orientation did not cause any major disturbances in the productivity and political domains. The country attained agricultural self-sufficiency , re-oriented its commercial flux after 1989 and began to become more involved in the regional arena. These relative economic successes did not however lead to a political liberalisation or avoid the development of newer social inequalities. As in China, the issue of the stability of the State is still the central preoccupation.

Biblio : Nguyen Khac Vien (1999). Le Vietnam, une longue histoire. Second edition. Paris, L'Harmattan.
 

"La montagne a été pour nous une arène naturelle, où, jouant aux frontières de la vie et de la mort, nous avons trouvé notre liberté qu'obscurément nous recherchions, et dont nous avions besoin comme de pain."
Maurice Herzog