Good article. The last paragraph is particularly meaningful when one considers that had elections
been held, the Communists would have won (they enjoyed enormous popularity in Vietnam after Dien
Bien Phu).
The partition was made in the hopes that the South would remain non-Communist. The elections
were never held. Given the reasons why our Founding Fathers rebelled, it's not difficult to see
why they did.
"Carl Sundquist" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> > Who is not exactly clear on when the influence of the French in Vietnam became negligible
>
> Found it.
>
> www.askasia.org
>
> 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.
