...Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, were part of the French colony of Indochina, since the 1800’s. After World War I, Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh, Ho was an equal admirer of both the American and Russian revolutions. He hoped to lead Vietnam to similar success in overthrowing its unjust rulers. By 1945 he had held many of the key cities in Vietnam that were once Japan’s. Ho then proclaimed the new nation of Vietnam. Many of the Western Allies refused to recognize the independent Vietnam which was led by Ho Chi Minh. France wanted their land back and the US was already pressuring the allies to give up their colonies but by giving up Vietnam this would support the Marxist Viet Minh, as the US trying to contain communism. The US leader developed the domino theory which describes Vietnam. They believed the future of a free Asia rested on halting Communism. Due to the prevention of communism U.S. president Harry Truman decided to support France in reclaiming Indochina. The...
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...Decolonisation in Indo-China Assessment “You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours. But even at these odds, you will lose and I will win.” – Ho Chi Minh • Assess France’s attempts to restore its colonial rule in Indo-China between 1945-1954. Between 1945 and 1954 France’s attempts to restore its colonial rule in Indo-China, through both negotiation and military conflict, were largely unsuccessful. This lack of success on the part of a major European power in putting down the resistance of a (relatively) small guerilla force of rebels within its own colony is a cause for much debate. There are many opinions as to where France’s biggest short comings fell or what their biggest mistake was. Some argue it was their treatment of the Vietnamese villagers, while others believe the environment posed an insurmountable barrier for the French. Still others argue that France’s biggest short coming was its lack of adaptability or its limited understanding of Vietnamese society. It is undeniable that these factors could all be explanations to the problems France faced in its attempts to restore its colonial rule in Indo-China, however, it was the combination of all these factors (and more) within the volatile environment which was world politics at the time which resulted in France’s ultimate lack of success. One thing which was certainly a contributing factor to France’s lack of success was that the French underestimated the resistance they were faced with...
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...The Legacy of Ho Chi Minh Vietnam is a country which has suffered a lot of turmoil, both political and regional, over the years. After gaining independence from the Chinese in 938 AD, successive Vietnamese dynasties ruled the nation while expanding geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the French colonized the nation into of a federation of states called Indochina, which consisted of North, Central and South Vietnam, along with Cambodia in the 19th century. During such turmoil, Ho Chi Minh was born in Hoang Tru village of French Indochina on May 19, 1890. His birth name was Nguyen Sinh Cung, but he was more popular with other names. After completing his primary education, Ho travelled to the city of Hue and attended the Franco – Vietnamese academy. Post-graduation, at the age of 21, Ho obtained a job as a cook aboard a French steam ship, and travelled to France. He later travelled through various parts of Europe, US and other countries. While in France, he was introduced to Communism, and became involved in leftist and anticolonial activism. Influenced by the communism ideas, he started the Association for Annamite Patriots, an organization composed of Vietnamese nationals living in France who opposed the French colonial occupation, and later became part of the French Communist party in 1920. He also started a journal to serve as a platform for anti-colonial activists to express and disseminate their views about the French colonial regime. Later...
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...independence started in 1946 and eventually terminated with the reunification of the country’s desire years later, which constituted the most important phase of modern colonial history resulting in the loss of French power by the end of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Indochina suffered subjugation from the Chinese, the French, and the Japanese. The events of World War II, including the defeat, humiliation, and compromise of the French, galvanized the revolutionary movements. Two worlds collided, a European colonial power and an Indo-Chinese traditional society....
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...During the 1950s America became more and more drawn in to the conflict in Vietnam. Eisenhower was immediately put under pressure not to lose Vietnam to communism in the same way that Truman was perceived to have lost China before him - the American fear of a communist conspiracy was a major factor in the country’s continual support for the containment of it in Asia, regardless of the costs. Other factors that lead to an increase in American involvement in South East Asia included their support of the French in Indo-China until 1954, their response to the Geneva Accords 1954 and the formation of SEATO also in 1954. Arguably the most important reason for the US becoming increasingly involved in South-East Asia during the ‘50s was the perceived threat that communism posed. There was a widespread fear in America that there was a global threat of communism, which would destroy capitalist American values, being orchestrated from Moscow. This fear was worsened by the 12 year long conflict in Malaya between Britain and communist forces which started in 1948. This anti-communist sentiment was collated into the “Domino Theory” which suggested if one nation fell to communism, others would follow – Vice President Nixon visited Vietnam in 1953 and announced in a national TV broadcast upon his return that “If Indo-China goes under communist domination the whole of South East Asia will be threatened”, thus confirming the public’s fears and compelling greater US involvement in South East...
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...Countries such as South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and the Philippines provided troops to South Vietnam. The US didn’t get involved with the war until 1950. President Harry Truman placed the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949. This act provided aid to French forces in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. 500,000 U.S. personnel were placed in Vietnam in 1969. During this time the Soviet Union and China put tons of weapons and supplies into the North. By 1973 the combat units in the U.S. were isolated. South Vietnam fell because an invasion was made by the north in 1975. Vietnam War also came about from the Indochina wars through the 1940s and the 1950s. In 1946, the French Indochina War came about and lasted for 8...
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...dissolved, and was replaced with the Association for the study of Karl Marx, which was later renamed as the Vietnam Dag Lao Dong Party in 1951. The Viet Minh was an organization that led the struggle against French oppression in Vietnam. Although the movement was primarily led by the communists, the Viet Minh operated as a national front, an organization was opened to people of various political persuasion. The Viet Minh forces liberated a considerable portion of the northern half of Vietnam, and at first the French promised to recognize the new government as a free state, but it was a lie as the French naval attacked, and killed over six-thousand Vietnamese civilians on the 23rd of November 1946. This attack resulted in the start of the First Indochina War. Th French appeared to strengthen their support in the urban areas, but the Viet Minh gained popular support on the...
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...French colonial war: The French colonial war was a series was a clash associated with France and its total colonies and other surrounding nations. U.S. support of Diem and opposition of Ho Chi Minh: Ho Chi Minh, had spent his life following Vietnamese independence from France. The U.S support had been given to the French and Indochina was exchanged to a state of French colonial rule much to the disquiet of the Vietnamese people. When this occurred the French installed even more restrictive control in Vietnam, and millions died of starvation while Vietnamese rice was transported to France. In 1940 Ho Chi Minh and other Vietnamese leaders made continuously claims to Truman and other American officials to help them receive independence from french colonial rule. These rules had been ignored though. Ho tried every possible...
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...States due to the Cold War, the Domino Theory, approaches of the different presidents involved, and the anti-war movement. The Cold War had been raging for years now. This would be the tension between the Communist-led Soviet Union and the Capitalist West, specifically the United States. These two superpowers flexed their mettle day in and day out, proving their power to each other without losing countless lives. Some instances were more peaceful and progressive, such as the Space Race, whereas others could have changed history entirely with the Bay of Pigs Invasion where Communism was attemptedly overthrown in South America and the Cuban Missile Crisis nearly leading to a third World War. The head of the United States at the end of the Indochina War, Dwight D. Eisenhower, had acknowledged the fact that most of the Vietnamese people had taken a liking to Communism and if they had a chance to vote, there would probably be no South Vietnam. As with the Yalta Conference which divided Europe into Communist and Capitalist between the Berlin Wall, the same was practiced in Korea the previous year, leading to a North and South Korea. Due to the Geneva Conference in 1954, they had separated the two ideologies into North and South Vietnam, just as had been done before. With mass destruction from World War II, the European countries were struggling to ensure security as well as rebuild their economies. In 1949, a military peace treaty called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was...
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...probably be wrong. Upon achieving favorable circumstances following World War II, Ho Chi Minh revolutionized and secured his own authority in North Vietnam. Minh noted that complete independence throughout the whole country of Vietnam would not be attained easily. The French marched right back into the Vietnamese lives to reclaim the land they had ruled over, for nearly half a century (Herring 6). The French took advantage of the Vietminh’s lack of influence in “south” Vietnam by kicking the Vietminh out of Saigon and reestablishing their own power. However, it is safe to say that France under estimated North Vietnam’s determination to create a unified government throughout all of Vietnam. The United States viewed the escalating war in Indochina with apprehension. In fact, as stated by Herring, “By early...
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...and they held the family’s interests above their own. Vietnam as a whole, extends south from China, in a long narrow S-shape and bound on “the West by Laos and Cambodia, or Kampuchea” (Compton’s 317). Before 1976, Vietnam consisted of two nations: North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam). They were approximately the same size in both area and population. The capital of South Vietnam and its chief city was Saigon whereas North Vietnam’s capital and largest city was Hanoi, which means between two rivers. Hanoi was an important administrative centre because of how close it was to China, as well as its rich mineral resource. Therefore, while under French command, it became capital of the French Indochina. When the Japanese took over during the World War II (1940-1945), Hanoi remained the administrative centre. The Japanese surrendered sometime around August of 1945 to the Vietminh, who took power in Hanoi as a proclaimed republic. The French tried to negotiate, but civil war broke out instead. The reason for this twenty-one year war, lasting from 1954 to 1975, was North Vietnam wanting to unify both hemispheres of Vietnam under a single communist government. “In December of 1954, the French transferred full control to the southern zone. Elections to unify the nation, scheduled for 1956, were never held, and Vietnam remained a divided land. […] North Vietnam took control of the South on April 30, 1975” (Compton’s 319). As a result of...
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...Representatives from the world’s powers meet in Geneva in an effort to resolve several problems in Asia, the conference marked a turning point in the United States’ involvement in Vietnam, including the war between the French and Vietnamese nationalists in Indochina. Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, France, and the People’s Republic of China came together to try to resolve several problems related to Asia in April 1954. One of the most troubling concerns, under communist Ho Chi Minh and the leadership of the French, who’s intent was to continue control over Vietnam, the bloody and long battle between the Vietnamese nationalist forces. “Since 1946 the two sides had been hammering away at each other. By 1954, however, the French were tiring of the long and inclusive war that was draining both the national treasury and public patience.” (www.history.com) “The United States had been supporting the French out of concern that a victory for Ho’s forces would be first step in communist expansion throughout Southeast Asia. When America refused France’s requests for more direct intervention in the war, the French announced that they were including the Vietnam question in the agenda for the Geneva Conference.” (www.history.com) Dien Bien Phu is where and when the Vietnamese forces captured the French base and discussions on the Vietnam issue started at the conference just as the worst military defeat of war suffered was France. The Geneva Agreements were...
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...From 1946 until 1954 the Viet Minh, founded by Ho Chi Minh, fought France for its independence in what is known as the “First Vietnam War”. France was supported by the United States, who paid 80% of their war costs in hopes of containing communism. France wanted all of Vietnam to be democratic but Ho Chi Minh wanted a communist country. The eight year war ended with the signing of the Geneva Accords of 1954, stating that Vietnam would be split into a northern communist country and a southern democratic country. The new leader of South Vietnam was Ngo Dinh Diem. Nearly 600 american advisors were sent by President Dwight Eisenhower, to South Vietnam to help patrol the land and train the South vietnamese military. John F. Kennedy sent 16,500 advisors or Green Beret by 1963. He witnessed 200 of his men killed in action. Under the control of Lyndon Johnson, the United States sent ground forces to help aid the southern vietnamese army in the battle against communism. All men between ages 18 and 21 were eligible to be drafted into the war, because the US didn’t have enough volunteers. Many Americans didn’t sign up to fight in the war because they felt like it wasn’t the United States’ place to be in Vietnam, the South never asked for their help. This caused many protests to the war, not only were men being forced to go fight, but the death tolls were high and there was no end to the war insight. The anti-war protests during the Vietnam War were effective in putting an end to the conflict...
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...Just as Americans have the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln as symbols for their transformation, so the Vietnamese are proud of the Vietnam War and Ho Chi Minh for their freedom. The “only war that Americans lost” lasted from 1945 to 1975, and included the people from the South and the North of Vietnam, especially, the major figure of the war. The Vietnamese politician, a Communist leader and Confucian Humanist who led the people of North Vietnam to escape the domination of the French, was a steady, militarily brilliant person who was motivated by the love for his country (“Ho Chi Minh essays,” n.d). The Vietnamese who are inside the country and all around the world hold a strong opinion that Ho Chi Minh is a great commander in Vietnam, though with a wrong belief in the type of Government: Communism. Because of Ho Chi Minh’s attributes and his positions in a divided country, he was well-loved by the North and despised by the South (Mr. Z, 2017). The North of Vietnam considered Ho Chi Minh as the savior for their freedom and the hero for unifying the country. However, the South criticized him as a devil who caused the loss of their happy family, property, life, and future (“Do Vietnamese people consider Ho Chi Minh to be a hero or evil,” n,d). Ho Chi Minh was born Nguyen Xuan Cung in Nghe An province where was the center of the movement against foreign invasion. Growing up the deep influence of anticolonial and the unlimited love for Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh decided to live his life with...
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...DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF VIET-NAM Ho Chi Minh's Speech, Ba Dinh Square, September 2, 1945 "All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free. The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights of Man and the citizen also states: "All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights." These are undeniable truths. Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice. In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic liberty. They have enforced inhuman laws; they have set up three distinct political regimes in the North, the Center, and the South of Viet-Nam in order to wreck our national unity and prevent our people from being united. They have built more prisons than schools. They have mercilessly slain our patriots; they have drowned our uprisings in rivers of blood. They have fettered public opinion;...
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