under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of cochinchina and later of the independent state of south Vietnam from 1955-75.south Vietnam,as an anticommunist state,fought against the communist north Vietnamese and viet cong during the Vietnam war,with aid from the united states of America and countries including Australia, new Zealand and south korea.saigon fell when il was captured by the communists on april 30,1975,bringing an end to the war.vietnam was then turned into a communist state with the south overtaken. on july 2, 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding gia dinh province and was officially renamed ho chi minh city after ho chi minh although the name sai gon is still commonly used.