In The Late 1800s A French Missionary Had Raised A... Essay - 1,268 words

In the late 1800s a French missionary had raised a missionary force to help Nguyen Anh become Vietnams emperor in hope that the new emperor would look favorably upon France as a trading partner. After this new bond was formed France fought for possession of Vietnamese land so they granted the French land in the Mekong Delta. France grew greedy and proceeded to fight for North Vietnam as well, but the North created the Vietminh to fight off the French and their influence (Karnow). The imposition of French colonial rule had met with little organized resistance. The national sense of identity, however, had not been crushed, and anticolonial sentiment soon began to emerge. Poor economic conditions contributed to native hostility to French rule. Although French occupation brought improvements in transportation and communications, and contributed to the growth of commerce and manufacturing, colonialism brought little improvement in livelihood to the mass of the population.


In the countryside, peasants struggled under heavy taxes and high rents. Workers in factories, coal mines, and on rubber plantations worked in harsh conditions for low wages. By the early 1920s, nationalist parties began to demand reform and independence. In 1930 Ho Chi Minh formed an Indochinese Communist party. Until World War II started in 1939, such groups labored without success. In 1940, however, Japan demanded and received the right to place Vietnam under military occupation, restr! icting the local French administration to figurehead authority. Seizing the opportunity, the Communists organized the broad Vietminh Front and prepared to launch an uprising at the war's end.


The Vietminh (short for Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh, or League for the Independence of Vietnam) emphasized moderate reform and national independence rather than specifically Communist aims. Ho Chi Minh even had asked for United States assistance against the French, but was declined. The Vietminh were fighting for freedom, not communism. When the Japanese surrendered to the Allies in August 1945, Vietminh forces arose throughout Vietnam and declared the establishment of an independent republic in Hanoi. The French, however, were unwilling to concede independence and in October drove the Vietminh and other nationalist groups out of the south. For more than a year the French and the Vietminh sought a negotiated solution, but the talks, held in France, failed to resolve differences, and war broke out in December 1946 (Karnow).


The conflict lasted for nearly eight years. The Vietminh retreated into the hills to build up their forces while the French formed a rival Vietnamese government under Emperor Bao Dai, the last ruler of the Nguyen dynasty, in populated areas along the coast. Vietminh forces lacked the strength to defeat the French and generally restricted their activities to guerrilla warfare. In 1953-1954 the French fortified a base at Dien Bien Phu. After months of siege and heavy casualties, the Vietminh overran the fortress in a decisive battle. As a consequence, the French government could no longer resist pressure from a war-weary populace at home and in June 1954 agreed to negotiations to end the war. At a conference held in Geneva, the two sides accepted a compromise to end the war.


. In the southern capital, Saigon, Bao Dai soon gave way to a new regime under the staunch anti-Communist president Ngo Dinh Diem. With diplomatic support from the United States, Diem refused to hold elections and attempted to destroy Communist influence in the South. By 1959, however, Diem was in trouble. Diem had strong support from the US, but could not please his supporters in Vietnam. His unwillingness to tolerate domestic opposition, his alleged favoritism of fellow Roman Catholics, and the failure of his social and economic programs seriously alienated key group ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

...................You are reading a preview................... Visit our Blog and Unlock Full Access to this essay

Continue READING the FULL Essay by clicking HERE

Essay Tags: united state, united states, vietnam, late 1800s, communist

This is an Essay sample / Research paper, you can use it for your research of: In The Late 1800s A French Missionary Had Raised A