Without access to international capital and technology, the Vietnamese had to reconstruct in isolation, with only the Soviets to help them.

Their leaders were the same men who had guided the country to success in war. They had no experience of managing a peacetime economy, had made no plans to reconstruct the economy of the South and were faced with the difficult task of marrying two alien economies.

The North's economy, centrally directed and heavily subsidised, had been shaped more by the demands of war than by Marxist theory. Since it had been successful in wartime, this model was now introduced in the South.

Capitalism was virtually abolished in favour of state planning, public ownership and centralised control.

Initially, impressive progress was made. In Saigon, renamed Ho Chi Minh City, slums were cleared and thousands of unemployed ex-ARVN troops were set to work.

Beggars disappeared and prostitutes were packed off to re-education camps. Hundreds of thousands of refugees returned to their land.

They rebuilt their villages and reclaimed the land, reconstructing irrigation ditches, filling bomb craters and planting rubber trees to replace the plantations destroyed by defoliants.

In the South alone, leftover mines and unexploded bombs killed another 10,000 Vietnamese in the post-war decade.

There were major achievements in education and health care. Free nurseries and schools for children up to the age of 16 were established.

A network of primary health care clinics, which ensured no one had to travel far for medical attention, produced a rapid improvement in health.

Infant mortality was reduced to around 30 per 1000 - a rate which compares favourably with many richer countries - and the incidence of diseases such as malaria and typhoid was greatly reduced.

The government aimed to transform the country into a true socialist society where no one would go hungry and everyone would have access to education and free health care.

However, a baby boom at the end of the war resulted in rapid population growth.

Combined with the dislocation of war, this doubled the population in the more fertile areas of the countryside. Though irrigation ditches were reconstructed, the age-old system could not be restored and the land was less fertile. Poisons had weakened the soil.

Rice harvests failed in 1976 and 1977.

In 1978, typhoons ruined the rice crop and struck down many of the newly planted trees. An elaborate system of cultivation had been destroyed and it would take years to recover.

Typhoons struck Vietnam several times in the 1980s. Agricultural areas sustained serious damage, resulting in even greater food shortages.

To punish Vietnam for invading Cambodia, the European Community banned the export of powdered milk.

This made the price of powdered milk prohibitively expensive in Vietnam and the children suffered the worst effects of the shortages.

A World Health Organisation survey found that 30% of children under five were suffering from malnutrition.

Many people concluded that they had no future in Vietnam and, in 1978, the boat people's exodus began.  

It is estimated that 700,000 people left Vietnam by the mid-eighties. Many failed to find homes abroad and ended up spending years in detention camps because no country was prepared to accept them.

By the mid-eighties, the economy was in crisis. The government's reserves were insufficient, so it resorted to printing money. With inflation rising to 700%, the currency was becoming worthless.

With an estimated per capita income of around $150, Vietnam was one of the poorest countries in the world. Denied access to world capital, export markets and modern technology, the Vietnamese economy faced a slow death.