known as "Vietnamization," were undermined largely by political corruption in which the Vietnamese government bureaucracy pocketed much of the aid for itself.
South Vietnam was neither democratic nor western in nature. It was part of a colonial empire that served western interests in containing the expansion of communism. As such, popular support for the "western" South Vietnamese regime was scant. The Vietminh forces of the north were significantly complemented in their efforts by the growing communist Viet Cong forces of the south. The only thing maintaining the partition was the presence
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