Army of the Republic of Vietnam

The Army of the Republic of Vietnam, abbreviated ARVN, formed the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground force of the Vietnamese National Army, set up in December 1950 to fight the communist Viet Minh in the First Indochina War. At its peak an estimated one in nine citizens of South Vietnam was enlisted, in Regular Forces and the more voluntary Regional Forces and Popular Force militias. It began as a post-colonial army trained by and closely tied to the United States, and it was reshaped through the Vietnam War from a blocking force into a more modern conventional force using helicopter deployment. After the American withdrawal under Vietnamization it depended on United States equipment, and it also carried political weight and suffered from loyalty appointments and corruption in its leadership. It is estimated to have suffered about 1,394,000 casualties killed and wounded.