ARVN South Vietnam (Vietnam War) 1/32 Scale Plastic Model Kit Mars Figures 32009

The Republic of Vietnam, or more commonly known by the unofficial name of South Vietnam, is a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975 (formally de jure until 1976) in the part of modern Vietnam south of the 17th parallel (the Benhai River), when the southern part of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during the Cold War after the division of Vietnam in 1954. It first gained international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the French Union, with its capital at Saigon (renamed Ho Chi Minh City in 1976), before becoming a republic in 1955. South Vietnam bordered North Vietnam to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and Thailand across the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. Its sovereignty was recognized by the United States and 87 other countries, although it failed to become a member of the United Nations as a result of a Soviet veto in 1957. In 1975, it was replaced by the Republic of South Vietnam.