The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China

Emerging from the Shadow of China:

• The modern countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia constitute Indo-China.
• Many different groups of people lived in this area under the powerful Chinese empire.
• An independent country constituting northern and central Vietnam was established.

Colonial Domination and Resistance:

• When Vietnam was colonised by the French, the people of the country ran into conflict with the colonisers in all areas of life.
• French troops invaded Vietnam in 1858.
• Subsequently, in 1887, French Indo-China was formed.

Why the French thought Colonies Necessary:

• Colonies were considered essential to supply essential goods like natural resources.
• Like other colonial powers, France too considered it their mission to bring the benefits of civilisation to backward people.

Should Colonies be developed?

• Writers like Paul Bernard strongly believed that the economy of the colonies needed to be developed.
• On the contrary to what Bernard suggested, in the rural areas landlordism spread and the standard of living declined.

The Dilemma of Colonial Education

• Under the pretext of modernisation, the French destroyed local cultures, religions and traditions, which were seen as out-dated and prevented modern development.
• Education was seen as one way to civilise the ‘native’.

Talking Modern

• Another problem was that the elites in Vietnam were powerfully influenced by Chinese culture.
• The French systematically dismantled the traditional educational system and established French schools for the Vietnamese.

Looking Modern

• The Tonkin Free School was started in 1907 to provide a Western style education.
• The school encouraged the adoption of Western styles such as having a short haircut.

Resistance in Schools:

• The increased number of Vietnamese teachers, made it difficult to control what was actually taught.
• Students fought against the colonial government’s efforts to prevent the Vietnamese from qualifying for white-collar jobs.
• The battle against French colonial education became part of the larger battle against colonialism and for independence.

Hygiene, Disease and Everyday Resistance:

Plague Strikes Hanoi:

• The French part of Hanoi was built as a beautiful and clean city with wide avenues and a well-laid-out sewer system.
• On the contrary, the ‘native quarter’ was not provided with any modern facilities.
• Thus the efforts of the French to install a hygienic environment became the cause of bubonic plague.

The Rat Hunt:

• In 1902, the French hired Vietnamese workers to hunt down the rats.
• Those who did the dirty work of entering sewers found that if they were united they could negotiate a higher amount.
• They also discovered innovative ways to gain profit from the situation.

Religion and Anti-colonialism:

• The French missionaries aimed at correcting the Vietnamese tendency to revere the supernatural by imposing Christianity.
• The Scholars Revolt in 1868 was one of the early movements against French control and the spread of Christianity.
• Among the peasantry, religious beliefs were shaped by a variety of syncretic traditions that combined Buddhism and local beliefs.

The Vision of Modernisation:

• Some intellectuals felt that Vietnamese traditions had to be strengthened to resist the domination of the West.
• Some others felt that Vietnam had to learn from the West even while opposing foreign domination.
• These differing visions led to complex debates, which could not be easily resolved.

Other Ways of Becoming Modern: Japan and China

• Early Vietnamese nationalists looked up to Japan and China as models for change.
• Japan and China were a refuge for those who were escaping French police.
• These were also locations where a wider Asian network of revolutionaries could be established.

The Communist Movement and Vietnamese Nationalism:

• In February 1930, Ho Chi Minh brought together nationalist groups and established the Vietnamese Communist called ‘Vietnam Cong San Dang’ Party’.
• In 1940 Japan occupied Vietnam, as part of its imperial drive to control Southeast Asia.
• The League for the Independence of Vietnam, the Vietminh fought the Japanese and recaptured Hanoi in September 1945.
• The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was formed under the chairmanship of Ho Chi Minh.

The New Republic of Vietnam

• The French tried to regain control by using the emperor, Bao Dai, as their puppet.
• The Vietminh were forced to retreat to the hills.
• On 7 May 1954, the Vietminh annihilated and captured more than 16,000 soldiers of the French Expeditionary Corps.
• After a long fight of eight years, the French were defeated in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu.
• Peace negotiations were held in Geneva after the French defeat.
• The Vietnamese were persuaded to accept the division of the country.
• The Bao Dai regime was soon overthrown by a coup led by Ngo Dinh Diem.

The Entry of the US into the War

• The war grew out of a fear among US policy-planners that the victory of the Ho Chi Minh government would start a domino effect.
• They underestimated the power of a small country to fight the most technologically advanced country in the world.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail

• The Ho Chi Minh trail symbolises how the Vietnamese used their limited resources to great advantage.

The Nation and Its Heroes:

Women as Rebels

• As the nationalist movement grew, the status of women came to be questioned and a new image of womanhood emerged.

Heroes of Past Times

• In 39-43 CE the Trung sisters had fought against Chinese domination.
• Other women rebels like Trieu Au who lived in the third century CE became a sacred figure.

Women as Warriors:

• In the 1960s, photographs in magazines and journals showed women as brave fighters.
• Women were also represented as workers.
• As casualties in the war increased in the 1960s, women were urged to join the struggle in larger numbers.

Women in Times of Peace:

• By the 1970s, peace talks were held and the end of the war seemed near.
• Women were shown working in agricultural cooperatives, factories and production units.

The End of the War:

• The US had failed to achieve its objectives.
• Thousands of young US soldiers had lost their lives, and countless Vietnamese civilians had been killed.
• A peace settlement ended conflict with the US but fighting between the Saigon regime and the NLF continued.
• The NLF occupied the presidential palace in Saigon on 30 April 1975 and unified Vietnam.