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Valens (328-378) was the brother of Valentinian, and lived in his brother's shadow for many years. When his brother was appointed emperor in 364 CE, he chose Valens to serve as co-emperor, obtaining the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Valens made Constantinople his capital.<br/><br/> Valens was soon presented with a usurper named Procopius in 365, a surviving relative of Emperor Julian who proclaimed himself emperor in Constantinople while Valens was away. He managed to defeat Procopius in the spring of 366, executing the usurper. He then warred against the revolting Goths, before heading back east to face the Sassanid Empire. A resurgent Gothic presence, alongside Huns and Alans, led to the commencement of the Gothic War, after an attempted resettlement of Goths had resulted in them revolting in 377.<br/><br/> Rather than wait for his nephew and co-emperor Gratian to arrive with reinforcements as advised by many, Valens marched out on his own. Valens was struck down during the decisive but avoidable Battle of Adrianople. He was known by some as the 'Last True Roman', and the battle that resulted in his death was considered the beginning of the collapse of the decaying Western Roman Empire.
Septimius Severus (145-211 CE) was born in the Roman province of Africa, and advanced steadily through the customary succession of offices (the 'cursus honorum') during the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. He was governor of Pannonia Superior when word of Pertniax's murder and Didius Julianus' accession reached him in 193 CE.<br/><br/> In response to Julianus' controversial accession through buying the emperorship in an auction, many rivals rose up and declared themselves emperor, with Severus being one of them, beginning what was known as the Year of the Five Emperors. Hurrying to Rome, Severus executed Julianus, and then fought his rival claimants for control of the Empire. By 197 CE, he was the sole power in the Empire, and began once more waging war to expand the borders of the Empire.<br/><br/> Severus fell ill in late 210 CE, fatally so, and died in early 211 CE. He was succeeded by his sons Caracalla and Geta, founding the Severan dynasty, the last dynasty of the Roman Empire before the Crisis of the Third Century.
Hsipaw State was perhaps one of the most well known and powerful saopha Shan States. According to the biography of Sao Nang Hearn Hkam (the chief wife, Madhidevi of Sao Shwe Thaik, the first president of Myanmar and another saopha of Hsenwi), Hsipaw, along with Kengtung and Yawnghwe were the wealthiest and most powerful saopha states in Shan State.<br/><br/> The Saophas played fluctuating roles in regional Shan and national Burmese politics from the 11th century all the way until the 1962 military coup by General Ne Win.
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), was a Chinese communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, author, political theorist, and leader of the Chinese Revolution. Commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, he was the architect of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held authoritarian control over the nation until his death in 1976.<br/><br/> His theoretical contribution to Marxism-Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of political policies, are now collectively known as Maoism.
Pertinax (126-193 CE) was born the son of a freed slave, and worked as a teacher before becoming an officer in the army. Successful campaigns against the Parthians saw him rise in rank and prestige, with Pertinax eventually rising to become a member of the Senate.<br/><br/> Pertinax was declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard after the death of Commodus, where he immediately tried to institute several sweeping reforms. One of these reforms was the restoration of discipline amongst the pampered Praetorian Guard, making enemies that ultimately resulted in Pertinax's assassination by members of the Guard just under three months into his reign. After his death, the Praetorians acutioned off the imperial title, resulting in a brief civil war and the year 193 CE becoming known as the Year of the Five Emperors.<br/><br/> Pertinax was later deified by Septimius Severus, the emperor after Pertinax's successor, Didius Julianus. His reputation throughout history has largely been a positive one, though his short reign has made it difficult to dertermine what his rule would have truly been like.
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976.<br/><br/> Zhou was instrumental in the Communist Party's rise to power, and subsequently in the development of the Chinese economy and restructuring of Chinese society.
Khieu Samphan (born July 27, 1931) was the president of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) from 1976 until 1979. As such, he served as Cambodia's head of state and was one of the most powerful officials in the Khmer Rouge movement, though Pol Pot was the group's true political leader and held the most extensive power.<br/><br/> Ne Win (born on 24 May or 14 May 1911 or 10 July 1910 – 5 December 2002) was a politician and military commander. He was Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state from 1962 to 1981. He also was the founder and from 1963 to 1988 the chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, which from 1964 until 1988 was the sole political party in the Burmese nation state.
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937, Volkswagen is the top-selling and namesake marque of the Volkswagen Group, the holding company created in 1975 for the growing company, and is now the biggest automaker in both Germany and Europe.<br/><br/> Volkswagen has three cars in the top 10 list of best-selling cars of all time: the Volkswagen Golf, the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Volkswagen Passat. With these three cars, Volkswagen has the most cars of any automobile manufacturer in the list that are still being manufactured.
In 1858, France launched an attack on Đà Nẵng, starting its invasion of Vietnam. In 1867, France completed its conquest of southern Vietnam (Cochinchina), comprising the provinces of Biên Hoà, Gia Định, Định Tường, Vĩnh Long, An Giang, and Hà Tiên. To consolidate the newly established colony, on 23 February 1868, Lagrandière, Governor of Cochinchina, held a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of a new palace to replace the old wooden palace built in 1863.<br/><br/> The new palace was designed by Hermite, who was also the architect of the Hong Kong City Hall. The first cubic stone, measuring 50 cm along each edge, with indentations containing French gold and silver coins bearing Napoleon III's effigy, came from Biên Hòa. The complex covered an area of 12 hectares, including a palace with an 80-meter-wide façade, a guest-chamber capable of accommodating 800 people, with a spacious gardens covered by green trees and a lawn. Most of the building materials were imported from France. Owing to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, construction fell behind schedule and was not completed until 1873. The palace was named Norodom Palace after the then king of Cambodia, Norodom (1834–1904).<br/><br/> On 27 February 1962, two pilots of Ngo Dinh Diệm’s Vietnam Air Force rebelled and flew two A-1 Skyraider aircraft towards the palace and bombed it, instead of going on a raid against the Việt Cộng. As a result, almost the entire left wing was destroyed. However, Diệm and his family escaped the assassination attempt. As it was almost impossible to restore the palace, Diệm ordered it demolished and commissioned a new building - the current Reunification Palace - in its place.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as the 32nd President of the United States, from 1933 to 1945. A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and dominated his party after 1932 as a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic depression and total war.<br/><br/> His program for relief, recovery and reform, known as the New Deal, involved a great expansion of the role of the federal government in the economy. As a dominant leader of the Democratic Party, he built the New Deal Coalition that brought together and united labor unions, big city machines, ethnic whites, African Americans, and rural white Southerners in support of the party.<br/><br/> The Coalition significantly realigned American politics after 1932, creating the Fifth Party System and defining American liberalism throughout the middle third of the 20th century.
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years (1962–81).<br/><br/> He reported many events from 1937 to 1981, including bombings in World War II; the Nuremberg trials; combat in the Vietnam War; the Dawson's Field hijackings; Watergate; the Iran Hostage Crisis; and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King, Jr., and Beatles musician John Lennon.
Ne Win (born on 24 May or 14 May 1911 or 10 July 1910 – 5 December 2002) was a politician and military commander. He was Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state from 1962 to 1981. He also was the founder and from 1963 to 1988 the chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, which from 1964 until 1988 was the sole political party in the Burmese nation state.
Norodom Sihanouk (born 31 October 1922) was the King of Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 until his retirement and voluntary abdication on 7 October 2004 in favour of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni.<br/><br/> Following his abdication he was known as The King-Father of Cambodia, a position in which he retained many of his former responsibilities as constitutional monarch. He died of a heart attack in Beijing, China, on October 15, 2012.
The Second Indochina War, known in America as the Vietnam War, was a Cold War era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the U.S. and other anti-communist nations. The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and part of their wider strategy of containment.<br/><br/> The North Vietnamese government viewed the war as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state. U.S. military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive.<br/><br/> U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of the US-Vietnam War.
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 - 25 November 2016) was a Cuban political leader and former communist revolutionary.<br/><br/> As the primary leader of the Cuban Revolution, Castro served as the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then as the President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of Council of Ministers of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961.
The Second Indochina War, known in America as the Vietnam War, was a Cold War era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the U.S. and other anti-communist nations. The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and part of their wider strategy of containment.<br/><br/> The North Vietnamese government viewed the war as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state. U.S. military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive.<br/><br/> U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of the US-Vietnam War.
Hồ Chí Minh, born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc (19 May 1890 – 3 September 1969) was a Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader who was prime minister (1946–1955) and president (1945–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).<br/><br/> He formed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and led the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War until his death. Hồ led the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu.<br/><br/> He lost political power inside North Vietnam in the late 1950s, but remained as the highly visible figurehead president until his death.<br/><br/> Vo Nguyen Giap (Vietnamese: Võ Nguyên Giáp) born 25 August, 1911, died 4 October 2013, was a Vietnamese officer in the Vietnam People's Army and a politician. He was a principal commander in two wars: the First Indochina War (1946–1954) and the Second Indochina War (1960–1975). He participated in the following historically significant battles: Lạng Sơn (1950); Hòa Bình (1951–1952); Điện Biên Phủ (1954); the Tết Offensive (1968); the Nguyên Huế Offensive (known in the West as the Easter Offensive) (1972); and the final Hồ Chí Minh Campaign (1975).<br/><br/> He was also a journalist, an interior minister in President Hồ Chí Minh’s Việt Minh government, the military commander of the Việt Minh, the commander of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), and defense minister.<br/><br/> He also served as Politburo member of the Vietnamese Communist Party. He was the most prominent military commander together with Hồ Chí Minh during the war and was responsible for major operations and leadership until the war ended.
Ne Win (born on 24 May or 14 May 1911 or 10 July 1910 – 5 December 2002) was a politician and military commander. He was Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state from 1962 to 1981. He also was the founder and from 1963 to 1988 the chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, which from 1964 until 1988 was the sole political party in the Burmese nation state.
Ne Win (born on 24 May or 14 May 1911 or 10 July 1910 – 5 December 2002) was a politician and military commander. He was Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state from 1962 to 1981. He also was the founder and from 1963 to 1988 the chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, which from 1964 until 1988 was the sole political party in the Burmese nation state.
Ne Win (born on 24 May or 14 May 1911 or 10 July 1910 – 5 December 2002) was a politician and military commander. He was Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state from 1962 to 1981. He also was the founder and from 1963 to 1988 the chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, which from 1964 until 1988 was the sole political party in the Burmese nation state.
Khieu Samphan (born July 27, 1931) was the president of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) from 1976 until 1979. As such, he served as Cambodia's head of state and was one of the most powerful officials in the Khmer Rouge movement, though Pol Pot was the group's true political leader and held the most extensive power.<br/><br/> Ne Win (born on 24 May or 14 May 1911 or 10 July 1910 – 5 December 2002) was a politician and military commander. He was Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state from 1962 to 1981. He also was the founder and from 1963 to 1988 the chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, which from 1964 until 1988 was the sole political party in the Burmese nation state.
Phuket, formerly known as Thalang and, in Western sources, Junk Ceylon (a corruption of the Malay Tanjung Salang or 'Cape Salang'), is one of the southern provinces (changwat) of Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are Phang Nga and Krabi, but as Phuket is an island it has no land boundaries.<br/><br/> Phuket, which is approximately the size of Singapore, is Thailand’s largest island. The island is connected to mainland Thailand by two bridges. It is situated off the west coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. Phuket formerly derived its wealth from tin and rubber, and enjoyed a rich and colorful history. The island was on one of the major trading routes between India and China, and was frequently mentioned in foreign ship logs of Portuguese, French, Dutch and English traders. The region now derives much of its income from tourism.
Tou Samouth (c.1915-1962), also known as Achar Sok, was a Cambodian Communist politician. One of the founder members of the Party in Cambodia, and head of its more moderate faction, he is mainly remembered for mentoring Saloth Sar, the man who would later become Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge. Samouth disappeared in disputed circumstances in July 1962.<br/><br/> The Khmer Rouge, or Communist Party of Kampuchea, ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan. It is remembered primarily for its brutality and policy of social engineering which resulted in millions of deaths. Its attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the deaths of thousands from treatable diseases (such as malaria). Brutal and arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements, or during purges of its own ranks between 1976 and 1978, are considered to have constituted a genocide. Several former Khmer Rouge cadres are currently on trial for war crimes in Phnom Penh.
Bogyoke (General) Aung San (13 February 1915 – 19 July 1947) was a Burmese revolutionary, nationalist, and founder of the modern Burmese army, the Tatmadaw. He was a founder of Communist Party of Burma and was instrumental in bringing about Burma's independence from British colonial rule, but was assassinated six months before its final achievement. He is recognized as the leading architect of independence, and the founder of the Union of Burma. Aung San was the father of Nobel Peace laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.<br/><br/> Ne Win (born on 24 May or 14 May 1911 or 10 July 1910 – 5 December 2002) was a politician and military commander. He was Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state from 1962 to 1981. He also was the founder and from 1963 to 1988 the chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, which from 1964 until 1988 was the sole political party in the Burmese nation state.
The Dhofar Rebellion (Arabic: ثورة ظفار‎) was launched in the province of Dhofar against the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, which had British support, from 1962 to 1976. It ended with the defeat of the rebels, but the state of Oman had to be radically reformed and modernized to cope with the campaign.
Andre Roosevelt (c.1879—1962) was a US filmmaker. He was born in Paris, France to Cornelius Roosevelt (1847-1902), a cousin of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, who married a French actress.<br/><br/> Roosevelt was an adventurer, traveling to Bali in 1924. He envisioned making Bali a national or international park with laws to regulate it as such. In 1928 and 1929, he and Armand Denis shot Goona-Goona, An Authentic Melodrama (also called The Kris) with assistance from Walter Spies. It was released in the U.S. in 1930 and started an American craze for Bali. He was also well known for his 1938 film Beyond the Caribbean. He died in July 1962 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.<br/><br/> Bali is home to most of Indonesia's small Hindu minority with some 92% of the island’s 4 million population adhering to Balinese Hinduism, while most of the remainder follow Islam.<br/><br/> Bali is the largest tourist destination in Indonesia, and is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leatherwork, metalwork and music.
The Dhofar Rebellion (Arabic: ثورة ظفار‎) was launched in the province of Dhofar against the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, which had British support, from 1962 to 1976. It ended with the defeat of the rebels, but the state of Oman had to be radically reformed and modernized to cope with the campaign.
Prince Souvanna Phouma (Souvannaphouma) (1901-1984), leader of the neutralist faction in Laos during the Second Indochina War and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Laos 1951-52, 1956-58, 1960 and 1962-75.
Hu Shih (simplified Chinese: 胡适; traditional Chinese: 胡適; pinyin: Hú Shì, 17 December 1891 — 24 February 1962) was a Chinese philosopher, essayist and diplomat. Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese liberalism and language reform in his advocacy for the use of written vernacular Chinese. He was influential in the May Fourth Movement, one of the leaders of China's New Culture Movement, was a president of Peking University, and in 1939 was nominated for a Nobel Prize in literature. He had a wide range of interests such as literature, history, textual criticism, and pedagogy.
Beginning in the 1930s, Masirah was used as a British military base. A small stone building, a fuel store for flying boats, was at the midpoint of the island on the West side, and had a stone above the door inscribed 'RAF 1936'. Reputedly, the fuel store was locked and visiting aircrew used to bring a key, refuel from cans, lock the store and fly onwards.<br/><br/> During World War 2, the United States also had a base on the island. The base continued to expand into the 1970s supporting British and Oman forces fighting insurgents during The Dhofar Rebellion and providing transit facilities for long distance RAF flights.<br/><br/> The British military presence at RAF Masirah extended until 31 Mar 1977, when the base was handed over to the Sultan of Oman's Air Force (now the Royal Air Force of Oman), becoming first SOAF Masirah and then RAFO Masirah. The base included HF communications hub and a rear link to SAS units based in Oman in support of the actions against rebels in the south of the country (RAF Salalah).
Originally the French governor's palace, then Norodom Palace, then Independence Palace, the magnificent original French building was knocked down to make way for Reunification Palace, which was built on the same site between 1962 -66. It is today a famous landmark in Ho Chi Minh City and a popular museum and tourist attraction. The present building was designed by architect Ngo Viet Thu and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the US-Vietnam War. It was famously the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese army tank crashed through its gates and a soldier triumphantly hoisted a National Liberation Front flag on its roof.
James (Jim) Harrison Wilson Thompson (born March 21, 1906 in Greenville, Delaware - unknown) was an American businessman who helped revitalize the Thai silk industry in the 1950s and 1960s. A former U.S. military intelligence officer, Thompson mysteriously disappeared from Malaysia's Cameron Highlands while going for a walk on Easter Sunday, March 26, 1967.
Originally the French governor's palace, then Norodom Palace, then Independence Palace, the magnificent original French building was knocked down to make way for Reunification Palace, which was built on the same site between 1962 -66. It is today a famous landmark in Ho Chi Minh City and a popular museum and tourist attraction. The present building was designed by architect Ngo Viet Thu and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the US-Vietnam War. It was famously the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese army tank crashed through its gates and a soldier triumphantly hoisted a National Liberation Front flag on its roof.
Prince Souphanouvong (July 13, 1909 — January 9, 1995), along with his half-brother Prince Souvanna Phouma (October 7, 1901 — January 10, 1984) and Prince Boun Oum of Champasak (December 12, 1912 - March 17, 1980), were known as the 'Three Princes'. Each represented respectively the communist (pro-Vietnam), neutralist, and royalist political factions in Laos in the 1950s and 60s.
John Calvin Coolidge Jr. (July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933) was the 30th President of the United States (1923–29). A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state.<br/><br/> He was elected as the 29th vice president in 1920 and succeeded to the presidency upon the sudden death of Warren G. Harding in 1923. Elected in his own right in 1924, he gained a reputation as a small-government conservative.<br/><br/> Coolidge's retirement was relatively short, as he died at the age of 60 in January 1933, less than two months before his direct successor, Herbert Hoover, left office.
The Second Indochina War, known in America as the Vietnam War, was a Cold War era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the U.S. and other anti-communist nations. The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and part of their wider strategy of containment.<br/><br/> The North Vietnamese government viewed the war as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state. U.S. military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive.<br/><br/> U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of the US-Vietnam War.
In 1858, France launched an attack on Đà Nẵng, starting its invasion of Vietnam. In 1867, France completed its conquest of southern Vietnam (Cochinchina), comprising the provinces of Biên Hoà, Gia Định, Định Tường, Vĩnh Long, An Giang, and Hà Tiên. To consolidate the newly established colony, on 23 February 1868, Lagrandière, Governor of Cochinchina, held a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of a new palace to replace the old wooden palace built in 1863.<br/><br/> The new palace was designed by Hermite, who was also the architect of the Hong Kong City Hall. The first cubic stone, measuring 50 cm along each edge, with indentations containing French gold and silver coins bearing Napoleon III's effigy, came from Biên Hòa. The complex covered an area of 12 hectares, including a palace with an 80-meter-wide façade, a guest-chamber capable of accommodating 800 people, with a spacious gardens covered by green trees and a lawn. Most of the building materials were imported from France. Owing to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, construction fell behind schedule and was not completed until 1873. The palace was named Norodom Palace after the then king of Cambodia, Norodom (1834–1904).<br/><br/> On 27 February 1962, two pilots of Ngo Dinh Diệm’s Vietnam Air Force rebelled and flew two A-1 Skyraider aircraft towards the palace and bombed it, instead of going on a raid against the Việt Cộng. As a result, almost the entire left wing was destroyed. However, Diệm and his family escaped the assassination attempt. As it was almost impossible to restore the palace, Diệm ordered it demolished and commissioned a new building - the current Reunification Palace - in its place.