Quoted message said:Who is not exactly clear on when the influence of the French in Vietnam became negligible
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The French in Vietnam
Background Information Perhaps the most important fact about Vietnamese history has been the
consistency of organized resistance to foreign domination. When the French, in the mid-19th century,
established tentative control over the southernmost provinces of Vietnam (which they called Cochin
China), Vietnamese government officials ("mandarins"😉 withdrew and refused to serve them. When the
French expanded to central and northern Vietnam (Annam and Tonkin), they were met by a forceful
resistance movement led by the educated elite of the country, who mobilized peasants to fight the
French in pitched battles and guerrilla raids. Even after Emperor Ham Nghi -- in whose name the
Vietnamese struggled -- was captured and exiled to Algeria in 1888, the movement continued.
Ultimately, sheer military force enabled the French to subdue the land, if not the people.
By the turn of the century, Vietnam was "secure" enough for the French to begin to exploit its
resources. Politically, the country was administered by French nationals, with the assistance of
Vietnamese at low-level, low-paying jobs. State monopolies on the production and sale of alcohol and
salt were imposed, raising the price of both beyond what many Vietnamese could afford. A state
monopoly on opium was also established, ensuring large profits for foreign distributors.
Huge tracts of land in southern Vietnam were turned over to French settlers and Vietnamese
collaborators. The resulting plantation system of agriculture transformed southern Vietnam into a
rice exporting area, while per capita rice consumption in Vietnam itself declined. Taxes of every
kind multiplied.
Mines and rubber plantations were opened with the help of contract workers who could be fined and
jailed if they tried to leave their jobs. Educational opportunities for the population actually
declined during the period of French rule (except briefly during World War II), and legal political
participation by Vietnamese was limited and strictly controlled. Protest movements were re- pressed
by force, driving many Vietnamese -- including the future president of the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh -- into hiding and exile.
Known for a long time as Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the Patriot), Ho organized nationalistic young women
and men into a League for Vietnamese Independence (abbreviated in Vietnamese as Viet Minh) in 1941.
Although Ho was himself a Communist, indeed a founding member of the French Communist Party, he
insisted that independence could only be achieved through the united efforts of Vietnamese of all
classes and political persuasions.
During World War II, Vietnam was governed by not one but two foreign powers -- Japan, which
exercised overall control, and the Vichy French government, which had surrendered to Germany in
1940. The Viet Minh worked behind Japanese lines, supplying information on Japanese troop movements
to America's O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services), helping downed American flyers escape to China,
and -- having received some arms and supplies from the 0. S. S. -- building a small guerrilla force.
In March 1945, Japan ousted the Vichy French and assumed direct rule over Vietnam; the Viet Minh
stepped up their anti-Japanese activities. By the time Japan surrendered to the United States, in
August 1945, it represented the strongest political force in Vietnam. On September 2, 1945, using
the words of the American Declaration of Independence, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnam a free and
independent country. His hope was that his wartime allies would restrain the French from attempting
to dominate Vietnam ever again. Instead, the British, in the south, and the Nationalist Chinese, in
the north, enabled the French to return. Within a year, the Viet Minh was once more fighting for the
independence of Vietnam against the French.
Although the United States disapproved of French tactics, the desire to support its European ally,
combined with a growing concern over Communist power in Asia, led first President Truman and then
President Eisenhower into close cooperation with the French war effort. By 1954, when the Geneva
Conference brought a temporary end to fighting in Vietnam, the United States was paying over 75
percent of the French war costs.
Despite the Viet Minh's massive victory over the French at Dien Bien Phu, the United States tried to
persuade the French to keep fighting. The Eisenhower administration even considered the direct use
of U.S. military force, including combat troops and nuclear weapons. Neither the British nor the
U.S. Congress was enthusiastic, however. Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles ultimately
acknowledged the Geneva Agreements, which divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel, a temporary
demarcation line meant to separate French and Viet Minh forces until elections scheduled for 1956.
Ho Chi Minh firmly controlled the area north of the line, while the area south of the 17th parallel
was put in the hands of the conservative nationalist Ngo Dinh Diem. It was hoped that the nationwide
elections scheduled for 1956 would lead to national reunification.
