Trinh & Nguyen Lords
With the decline and collapse of the Le Dynasty, throughout the 17th to 18th centuries, Vietnam was divided into two separated zones between the power of Trinh Lords who ruled in the north and Nguyen Lords who controlled the south. The Trinh Lords repeatedly failed in attempting to take over the area under the Nguyen control, in part because of the Portuguese weaponry used by Nguyen was far superior to the Dutch armaments supplied to the Trinh.

Tay Son Rebellion (1771-1802)
In 1765, a rebellion against misgovernment broke out in Tay Son Town near Qui Khon, leaded by the three brothers from wealthy merchant family: Nguyen Nhac, Nguyen Hue and Nguyen Lu. By 1783 they took control of the whole central Vietnam including Saigon and the rest of the South. Nguyen Lu became King of the South, while Nguyen Nhac was crowned king of central Vietnam. While in the North, the Tay Son rebels had overthrown the Trinh Lords and Nguyen Hue proclaimed himself Emperor Quang Trung in 1788. The overwhelming defeat against Chinese army in 1789 was one of the most celebrated military achievements in Vietnamese history. However, his victory was short-lived as he died soon after in 1792. In 1802, Nguyen Anh, a rare surviving Nguyen Lord, who had the military assistance from France, gradually pushed back the Tay Son from the south. Nguyen Anh proclaimed himself Emperor Gia Long which was the beginning of Nguyen Dynasty. Later when he captured Hanoi, his victory was completed and for the first time in two centuries, and Vietnam was reunited with Hue as its new capital city.

Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945)
The emperors of Nguyen Dynasty, Gia Long, his son and his grandson who were the following emperors, appeared to be conservative of Confucianism. Especially Emperor Minh Mang - Gia Long's son - as a background of Confucian scholar, he was profoundly hostile to Catholicism and suspecting France's influence which was then resulting in execution of seven missionaries and an unknown number of Vietnamese Catholics in 1830s. In addition, all following emperors continued to rule according to the conservative Confucianism precepts and imitation of Qing practices in China which were responded to rural unrest with repression.

In the period of Gia Long, large-scale program of public works were set up. Most dikes, canals, ports, bridges, land reclamation and road such as the Mandarin Road that links Hue to both Hanoi and Saigon were constructed in this period. However these vast projects imposed a heavy burden on the population in the form of taxation and military conscription and forced labor. Serious uprising broke out in both the North and the South and growing more aggressive in 1840s and 50s.

French Rule (1859-1954)
Execution of Catholicism in 1830s resulting in actions taken by religious groups in France forced French government to launch a naval expedition to Vietnam in 1858. First attack at Danang Harbor in 1847 was failed but after repeatedly attacks Vietnamese finally accepted a French protectorate and become one of its colonies in 1880s.

Vietnamese Anticolonialism
Even though French occupation had brought Vietnam improvements in transportation, communications, and contributions to the growth of commerce and manufacturing but as the proposition of colonialism is profitability, French investments for quick returns such as coal, tin, tungsten and zinc mines and tea, coffee and rubber plantations had resulted in deaths of Vietnamese, caused by disease and malnutrition, and brought Vietnamese to retain a strong desire to have their national independence restored.

In 1941 the most successful revolutionary in the Vietnam's history, Ho Chi Minh, formed an Indochina Communist Party called Viet Nam Doc Menh Lap Dong Minh Hoi (means League for the Independence of Vietnam), which much better known as Vietminh. Vietminh gained power over the North and the South and was able to declare Vietnam as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi on 2 September 1945. The French, however, were unwilling to concede independence so, in October, drove the Vietminh and other nationalist groups out of the south. For more than a year, the French and the Vietminh sought a negotiated solution, but the talks, held in France, failed to resolve differences, and war broke out in December 1946.

After eight years of war, the Geneva Accords were signed to terminate it. A significant condition was the temporary division of Vietnam into two zones, with Vietminh in the North and the French and their Vietnamese supporters in the South. To avoid permanent partition, a political protocol was drawn up, calling for national elections to reunify the country two years after the signing of the treaty.      

Uprising in the South
After the signing the South was ruled by a government led by Ngo Dinh Diem, in 1955, who later refused to implement the Geneva Accords, refused to call an election, as he convinced that Ho Chi Minh would win. As time went on, Diem became increasingly tyrannical and running government became a family affair. The favoritism he showed to Catholics alienated many Buddhists. In the early 1960s, the South was rocked by anti-Diem unrest led by university students and Buddhist clergy including several high-published self-immolations by monks that shocked the world. Diem's dictatorial rule also angered communists in the South who was supported with weapons and training by the North. Soon after, the North announced the formation of the National Liberation Front (NLF), later known as Vietcong. In November 1963, Diem was overthrown and killed by Vietcong. However he was followed by a military successor who still continued his repressive policies.

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