They have built more prisons than schools. They have mercilessly slain our patriots; they have drowned our uprisings in rivers of blood. They have … forced us to use opium and alcohol. In the field of economics, they have fleeced us to the backbone, impoverished our people and devastated our land. They have robbed us of our rice fields, our mines, our forests, and our raw materials. … They have mercilessly exploited our workers. … -Ho Chi Minh (at the gathering for the declaration of independence on September 2, 1945)
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The first instance of colonization in Vietnam was by the Chinese. Beginning in 111 BC, the Chinese occupied Vietnam for a large part of the next 1000 years. The long period of Chinese domination introduced Chinese techniques of dike construction, rice cultivation.
From 1887-1954, the French colonized Vietnam using an excuse similar to the English’s w White Man’s Burden. Calling it “mission civilisatrice” [civilizing mission], they justified their colonization by spreading Christianity and helping civilize them. However, their main goal was money and economic exploitation through cheap labour and land resources. Millions of vietnamese had to work to benefit the french: traditional farmers were relocated to work in the cities at factories by being tricked for high wages, or often being forced, and their individual farm lands were taken away and divided into bigger regions by the French. Resulted in changes of diet from homegrown rice and fruits to canned foods lacking freshness provided by the French. For those that farmed for the French and worked in the factories received inhumane treatments at plantations such as abuse, malnourishment, long/overnight hours, and little to no wage. Loss of Vietnamese language: Vietnamese names of cities, towns, and streets were renamed into French. Also, even though the French provided education for Vietnamese children (French public schools, and establishment of University of Hanoi), they taught French language, culture, superiority, and catholicism. All important and official administrations were conducted only in French, causing people to have to learn French. Also, alt, alcohol and opium were a monopoly, which meant that the French were allowed to take all the economic and resource benefits while the Vietnamese rarely received any. Burdened the Vietnamese by an extensive taxation system, where they taxed them extremely heavily on food, income, polling (grown men), and property. The French mentally and physically controlled them by selling opium which was addictive and made the function less mentally in order to make them easier to control and manipulate. Francophile=someone who loves the French. Francophile groups made up of Vietnamese were rewarded for being propagandists for the French colonialism and were rewarded for helping the colonization, for example, they sold information about any possible resistance forming. The French destroyed Vietnamese buildings including traditional temples, monuments, and houses, and built French style buildings as replacements. Vietnamese were not allowed to be official government members, creating a limit to the extent of power and authority that they can own. The official government members were appointed and elected in Paris, and they had a lot of power and authority; this resulted in corruption in the Vietnamese government. In order to reduce resistance to the French, they split up Vietnam into three parts. These regions were joined with Laos, and Cambodia, and became known as French Indochina. The Vietnamese were not allowed to be official government members, limiting their power. The official government members, who had a lot of authority, were appointed and elected in Paris. As a result, Vietnam was governed by a corrupt government. Coming from a family who all shared the same views as him, Ho Chi Minh, born in Vietnam in 1890, rebelled against the French’s control of Vietnam. He traveled around the world and discovered that places under the French’s rule were all in poverty. In Paris, he attempted to persuade the Americans into speaking out on behalf of Vietnam but was unsuccessful. There, he became a communist and thought it was the best form of government for Vietnam to become a successful independent and free country. When he returned to Vietnam, he formed the Vietminh just as Japan took Vietnam from the French. After the Japanese left at the end of World War Two, the French returned only to be defeated in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The French left in 1954. North Vietnam, ruled by Ho Chi Minh wanted to be communist but South Vietnam did not. This lead to the Vietnam war where North Vietnam aimed to unify the country under one communist government modeled after the Soviet Union and China. However, anti-communist South Vietnam with its international allies such as U.S.A, Canada, and Australia fought against. The Americans sent a large amount of soldiers over to help South Vietnam but eventually, North Vietnam won the war and became a communist country, as it still is today. |