THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COLONIAL REGIME

The later Emperors, Thieu Tri and Tu Duc, became more and more entrenched in their Confucian doctrine and the country experienced an era of stagnancy. The court mandarins were increasingly blinded to the development of the outside world and worse still, implemented a policy of isolation that forbade any contact with foreigners.

Seeing the danger of such a policy, the progressive mandarins in Emperor Tu Duc's court launched a movement to modernize the country. Among these were: Bui Vien, the first Vietnamese envoy to Washington D.C. who presented his credentials to President Ulysses Grant; Nguyen Lo Trach, who wrote a discourse on the changing world; and Nguyen Truong To, a Catholic and strong advocate of progressive change. During the persecution under Thieu Tri, Nguyen Truong To had been taken overseas by French missionaries and educated in France and Malacca. On his return to Vietnam a sympathetic mandarin secured him a minor position in the Royal Court where he spent most of his time writing Emperor Tu Duc a proposal on how to modernize the country. However his proposal was rejected by the dogmatic mandarins after a very heated and lengthy debate in the court.

The failure to implement Nguyen Truong To's proposals led the Vietnamese leadership progressively deeper into the dogma of Confucianism. Consequently, when the French navy opened fire in DaNang the Court of Hue was totally unequipped to defend the country against the modern and powerful enemy.

In 1861 the French took Saigon. Six years later the entire southern part of the country, rechristened Cochinchina, was annexed as a French colony. Vietnam lost its independence in 1883 with the extension of French control to the North. The Center of Vietnam , renamed Annam, and the North, Tonkin, became French protectorates. The three regions were each governed somewhat differently. Cochinchina at first came under a military government, then later a civil governor with a civic council elected by civil servants and naturalized French. The colony sent a representative to the French Parliament. Tonkin was governed in a similar way. In Annam, the Emperor kept his title to power under strong, but more indirect French control.

In 1887, in compliance with the decree of the French King, Indochina, consisting of Vietnam , Cambodia and Laos, was established. At that time, French social and economic policies were expedited on a small scale, and a policy on the exploitation of colonies was imposed on a larger scale at the beginning of the 20th century. French economic and social activities boosted the country in many ways. The French concentrated investments in the mining industry, as well as several other industries. A number of large plantations, apart from rice, appeared and economical crops, such as tea, coffee, and rubber, were developed. Agricultural products were being considered as commodities. These changes in the economy resulted in a division between the Vietnamese bourgeoisie and the working class.

The education system was also modified. Three levels of general education, infant, primary, and secondary, were established. The old examination system was abolished in 1915, and schools for training administrative officers in the French style were officially launched in 1917.

The Vietnamese were no happier living under French domination than they had been under the Chinese. In 1893, Emperor Ham Nghi and Phan Dinh Phung organized a royalist movement "Can Vuong" and staged an unsuccessful uprising at Ha Tinh. The Can Vuong movement survived until one of its leaders was killed by a Vietnamese traitor. Dogmatic Confucian thought was once again the order of the day.

Vietnam  DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR

The scholars' movement had declined while new social forces were not yet strong enough to promote large-scale campaigns.

By the beginning of the 20th century, various nationalist resistance movements had formed. Among this was one composed almost entirely of aristocrats, intellectuals and young people led by more radical Confucian scholars such as Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chau Trinh and Prince Cuong De - Prince Canh's great grandson. In an effort to break away from the traditional royalist thinking they embraced the new idea of democracy. The new resistance was greatly influenced by the Japanese victory over Russia in 1904. Convinced that Western power was no longer invincible, Phan Boi Chau and Cuong De sought help in Japan. They established the Eastward Movement in 1907 and Vietnamese students were secretly sent to study at institutions in Japan. When the French authorities discovered this they negotiated with the Japanese government for the extradition of all Vietnamese students from Japan. Some Japanese officials, however, helped Vietnamese revolutionaries and students escape to China.
 

When the exiled Vietnamese in China witnessed the 1911 Kuomingtang Revolution led by Sun Yat Sen, some young revolutionaries were convinced that the same revolution could take place in Vietnam . They formed the Vietnam Quoc Dan Dang Party, which later became one of the main parties in the struggle against the French.

Meanwhile, a new debate caused a rift between the Westernized reformist Phan Chu Trinh and the nationalist Phan Boi Chau. Phan Chu Trinh opposed Phan Boi Chau's appeal for foreign help to resolve the French occupation. He believed Vietnam could regain independence through the democratic process as purported by the French constitution. In 1915 Phan Chu Trinh went to Paris to rally Vietnamese exiles and radical French politicians to support the Vietnamese struggle.

The Quang Phuc movement had planned to seize Hanoi through the combined action of patriots within the country and a revolutionary army trained abroad. The secret operation was betrayed, however, and many members of the movement were arrested. Other members joined different organizations, armed themselves with rudimentary weapons, and sought to bring soldiers from the local militia over to their side. On January 6, 1919, 150 armed patriots attacked the garrison at Phu Tho. Meanwhile, enemy posts in other provinces, such as Nho Quan in Ninh Binh and Mong Cai near the Chinese border, were besieged. However, the attacks failed. The Quang Phuc had the intention of launching a series of attacks against many military and administrative centers in Tonkin, but the plan was not implemented.

Again in Tonkin, on August 31, 1917, soldiers of the Thai Nguyen garrison held a mutiny under the leadership of Sergeant Trinh Van Can, a former partisan of Hoang Hoa Tham, and Luong Ngoc Quyen, a member of the Quang Phuc movement. Joined by many soldiers, the insurgents killed the French commander, seized a large load of arms and munitions, and liberated many political prisoners who then joined the ranks of the combatants. The town of Thai Nguyen was liberated. The insurgents, after a series of discussions, gave up their plans for extending their activities to other provinces. Instead, they dug in at Thai Nguyen in the hope of consolidating their strength. On September 4, the French retook the town, forcing the insurgents to leave. Scattered in the mountainous region around Thai Nguyen, the rebels continued their struggle against 2,000 French troops for another six months.

In Annam, the most important event was the call for an uprising made by King Duy Tan, who was enthroned in 1907, at the age of seven, by the instigation of patriotic mandarins and scholars, particularly Thai Phien and Tran Cao Van. The principal forces on which King Duy relied were the soldiers who were gathered in the thousands in Hue and about to leave for France. The signal for the start of the revolt should have been given on May 3, 1916. Unfortunately, the secret was leaked and the French disarmed the soldiers before the day of their departure. Duy Tan attempted to flee the capital but was captured and exiled to the Island of Reunion. Scattered armed groups were rapidly eliminated by the French, and the patriots Thai Phien and Tran Cao Van were executed.

In Cochinchina, patriotic activity manifested itself in the early years of the century by the creation of underground societies. The most important of which was the Thien Dia Hoi (Heaven and Earth Association) whose branches covered many provinces around Saigon. These associations often took the form of political-religious organizations, and one of their main activities was to punish traitors in the pay of the French.

Connected to these secret societies, a movement led by a former bonze, Phan Xich Long, was organized in 1913. Its members, wearing white clothes and turbans, attacked the cities with primitive weapons. Phan Xich Long was eventually captured and executed by the French. In 1916, underground societies in Cochinchina tried to attack several administrative centers, including the central prison in Saigon and the residence of the local French governor. On the night of February14, 1916, thousands of people armed with knives and wearing amulets infiltrated Saigon and fought French police and troops who succeeded in defeating them.

The colonial administration, while harshly suppressing the national movement, sought to appease the elite by introducing a few paltry reforms, with promises of important postwar reforms from the more generous "liberal" governors. These promises were never fulfilled. The fact that France succeeded in holding on to Vietnam during the war years was mainly due to the weakness of the national movement. There were of' course patriots to carry on the fight for national independence, but the new and still embryonic social forces failed to give the movement the necessary vigor and direction. Not until these forces had further developed over subsequent decades was the national movement able to be revitalized.

Vietnam IN THE TIME OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Nguyen Tat Thanh, alias Nguyen Ai Quoc, better known under his later alias of Ho Chi Minh, a young Vietnamese revolutionary working with Phan Chu Trinh on an anti-colonial petition put forward at the Versailles Conference in 1919 by a group of Vietnamese patriots, was greatly impressed with the Russian Revolution. He became involved with French intellectuals who formed the French Communist Party in 1921.

In 1922 Nguyen Tat Thanh went to Moscow to be trained as an agent of the Communist International. 

In 1924 Nguyen Ai Quoc was sent to China as a delegate in Borodine's advisory team to the Communist Party of China. During this time, he contacted many young Vietnamese revolutionaries, and founded the Association of Vietnamese Youth, which competed with other radical organizations for the liberation of the country. For training purposes, some Vietnamese communist recruits were sent to Moscow and others became affiliated with the Chinese communist party. In the same year, 1924, Emperor Khai Dinh died and his son Bao Dal, then aged 12, mounted the throne. Bao Dai was sent to France for his education and returned to Vietnam in 1932. At this time the Vietnamese were waiting to see the French persuaded to adopt more liberal politics, but it soon became clear that the French had no intention of making any real concessions.

In February 1930, Nguyen Ai Quoc successfully rallied several communist groups and founded the Indochinese Communist Party. For the first time in history, a revolutionary party was systematically formed. 

Also in 1930, under the leadership of Nguyen Thai Hoc, the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang - a replica of the Chinese Kuomintang, launched a military revolt in Yen Bay. Later, communist groups following the same path of armed revolt, known as the Nghe Tinh Soviets movement, staged a series of peasant uprisings. The French retaliated by taking severe measures against every one of these political movements.

The apparent calm which reigned after the reprisals towards the end of the 1930s shattered with the first battles of World War II in Europe. In Asia, most of the coastal cities of China fell under the advancing Japanese forces, and likewise in Vietnam where the Japanese rapidly occupied the key regions during 1940.

The Sequels to the Second World War: For Vietnam , the explosion of the World War II in September 1939 was an event as decisive as the French taking of Danang in 1858. When France was invaded the following year, the Vichy Government was formed to govern the country. Vichy accepted the Japanese occupation of Indochina, but as compensation, was allowed to continue administering Vietnam . In March 1945, realizing the allied victory was inevitable, Japan overthrew the French authorities in Indochina, imprisoned their civil servants and rendered Vietnam "independent" under Japanese "protection", with Bao Dai as Chief of State. The Japanese surrender some months later was an event Nguyen Ai Quoc had been waiting for since the French defeat in 1940.

In May 1941, the Central Committee of the Indochinese Communist Party met in Southern China and announced the formation of the Revolutionary League for the Independence of Vietnam , which later became known as the Viet Minh. In its creation he finally achieved "the union of diverse Vietnamese nationalist groups under communist direction", a goal that he had been working towards since 1924. 

At first the Chinese Nationalist authorities supported the new Vietnamese nationalist Front, but they later disagreed with Nguyen Ai Quoc's political view. They imprisoned him and created a rival organization. However, they soon realized that Nguyen Ai Quoc's influence and organization were much needed and released him in 1943. Nguyen Ai Quoc became the chief of the Viet Minh Front and soon adopted the new name of Ho Chi Minh.

During this time, Vo Nguyen Giap, one of Ho Chi Minh's principal collaborators, later became one famous general of Vietnam , set up some guerilla units and created an intelligence network in several regions of North Vietnam , which was the initial form of Vietnam People's Army. Communist cells were organized throughout the country under the supervision of Truong Chinh, the young secretary general of the Indochinese Communist Party. These later became of inestimable value after Japan's sudden surrender on August 13, 1945.  Ho Chi Minh was waiting for the Thoi Co - the opportune moment when all the conditions were met at the end of the war - to launch the general insurrection. His resolute certainty of victory is reflected in the "prophetic" conclusion of one of his poems: "In 1945, the work will be accomplished."

THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF Vietnam 

 

By the end of World War II, Vietnam had become a political void. Bao Dai's Japanese installed Government existed in name only. By the middle of August 1945, chaos and uncertainty reigned once again in Vietnam . 

The August Revolution began on the August 16, 1945, when the Viet Minh announced the formation of a "National Committee of Liberation for Vietnam ". Three days later, Viet Minh forces took Hanoi. Hue's turn came four days later on August 23, when Bao Dai's government was besieged and asked to hand over the royal seal. Bao Dai abdicated and became citizen Vinh Thuy. Viet Minh controlled Saigon and practically all the surrounding rural areas. On August 29, a provisional government was formed in Hanoi. On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh announced the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to all Vietnamese people, and to the entire world, with these words:

"We hold truths that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among these are life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. This immortal statement is extracted from the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. Understood in the broader sense, this means: All have the right to live to be happy and free.
These are undeniable truths. * * * We, the members of the Provisional Government representing the entire people of Vietnam , declare that we shall from now on have no connections with imperialist France; we consider null and void all the treaties France has signed concerning Vietnam , and we hereby cancel all the privileges that the French arrogated to themselves on our territory."

After eighty years of French rule, Vietnam was again independent and again united. That unity, more than just political, expressed the deepest wishes of the Vietnamese people for national independence. History of Vietnam from this time turns to a new page.