Montagnard troops of South Vietnam revolt against the rule of Nguyễn Khánh, killing 70 ethnic Vietnamese soldiers.
Nguyn Khnh ([wi kan]; 8 November 1927 11 January 2013) was a South Vietnamese military officer and Army of the Republic of Vietnam general who served in various capacities as head of state and prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a military junta from January 1964 until February 1965. He was involved in or against many coup attempts, failed and successful, from 1960 until his defeat and exile from South Vietnam in 1965. Khnh lived out his later years with his family in exile in the United States. He died in 2013 in San Jose, California, at age 85.
Montagnard () is an umbrella term for the various indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The French term Montagnard ([mɔ̃.ta.ɲaʁ] (listen)) signifies a mountain dweller, and is a carryover from the French colonial period in Vietnam. In Vietnamese, they are known by the term người Thượng (lit. 'highlanders'), although this term can also be applied to other minority ethnic groups in Vietnam. In modern Vietnam, both terms are archaic, and indigenous ethnic groups are referred to as Đồng bào (lit. 'compatriot') or Người dân tộc thiểu số (lit. 'minority people'). Earlier they were referred to pejoratively as the mọi. Sometimes the term Degar is used for the group as well. Most of those living in America refer to themselves as Montagnards, while those living in Vietnam refer to themselves by their individual ethnic group.
The Montagnards are most covered in English-language scholarship for their participation in the Vietnam War, where they were heavily recruited by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and its American and Australian allies. The Montagnards tended to be Christian at a higher proportion than that of the Viet people, and the North Vietnamese were seen as propounding a heavily centralized state that would not value Montagnard local priorities or religious practices.