ated, with the total death toll standing at between 1 million and 4 million.
Reunification and reforms
In the aftermath of the war, under Lê Duẩn's administration, the government embarked on a mass campaign of collectivization of farms and factories. This caused an economic collapse and resulted in triple-digit inflation. Reconstruction of the war-ravaged country was slow, and serious humanitarian and economic problems confronted the communist regime. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, millions of people fled the country in crudely built boats, creating an international humanitarian crisis.
In 1978, the Vietnamese military invaded Cambodia to remove from power the Khmer Rouge, who had been razing Vietnamese border villages and massacring the inhabitants. Vietnam was victorious, installing a regime in Cambodia whose leaders ruled until 1989. This action worsened relations with the Chinese, who launched a brief incursion into northern Vietnam in 1979. This conflict caused Vietnam to rely even more heavily on Soviet economic and military aid.
At the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in December 1986, reformist politicians upset by the country's lack of economic progress replaced the "old guard" government with new leadership. The reformers were led by 71-year-old Nguyen Van Linh, who became the party's new general secretary. Linh was a native of northern Vietnam who had served in the south both during and after the Vietnam War. In a historic shift, Linh and the reformers implemented a series of free-market reforms – known as Đổi Mới (Renovation) – which carefully managed the transition from a planned economy to a "socialist-oriented market economy".
Though the authority of the state remained unchallenged, the government encouraged private ownership of farms and factories, economic deregulation and foreign investment, while maintaining control over strategic industries. The economy subsequently
