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Conquest of Cochinchina
On April 13, 1862, Vietnam was forced to cede Saigon and three Vietnamese provinces to the French: Bien Hoa, Gia Dinh, and Ding Tuong. With this, France essentially gained control of Cochinchina, or southern Vietnam. -
Sino-French War
This war was fought between France, who wanted to take Tonkin from China, and the Qing, who wanted to keep Tonkin. The French won and gained Tonkin (the northenmost part of Vietnam) and Annam (the central part of Vietnam). -
Can Vuoung
Can Vuoung, which literally means "aid the king," was a large-scale Vietnamemese insurgency between 1885 and 1889 against French colonial rule. The movement wanted to drive the French out of Vietnam and install the boy emperor Ham Nghi as the leader of an independent Vietnam. Although its leaders did not effectively coordinate with one another, there were initially successful owing to the few French troops stationed in Vietnam. However, once France sent more troops, it was crushed. -
Formation of the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang
The Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang (VNQDD) was formed at a meeting in Hanoi on December 25, 1927, with Nguyen Thai Hoc as its leader. It was Vietnam's first home-grown revolutionary party, formed three years before the Indochinese Communist Party. It was split between socialism and nationalism, as many party members wanted worldwide revoluton, but others feared that this would lead to accusations of communism and put off potential supporters who were primarily concerned with achieving independence. -
Bazin Assasination
The assasination of the French labor recruiter Bazin on February 9, 1929 marked the beginning of the end for the VNQDD, as the ensuing French retribution severly weakened the fledging Vietnamese revolutionary group and greatly hampered its ability to undermine French rule. The pressure under which the VNQDD was placed led it to engage in overt violent struggle, culminating in the Yen Bai mutiny of 1930, which resulted in a large section of the party being executed by the French. -
Yen Vai mutiny
The Yen Vai mutiny was an uprising by Vietnamense soldiers in the French colonial army. The rebels collaborated with civilian supporters who were members of the Viet Nam Quoc Dang Dong (VNQDD), the Vietnamese Nationalist Party. The uprising was crushed and the VNQDD was severly damaged by deaths, arrests, jailings, and executions by the French colonial authorities. -
Japanese Invasion of Vietnam
The Japanese invaded Vietnam on September 23, 1940. With this invasion, and with some pressure by Nazi Germany on Vichy France, the Japanese secured an agreement with Vichy France whereby they were allowed to station as many troops in Vietnam as they wanted to, but Vichy France would continue to administer Vietnam and thus bear the financial costs associated with said administration. -
Formation of the Viet Minh
The Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) was a communist national independence coalition formed on May 19, 1941. It initially sought to achieve the independence of Vietnam from the French, but once the Japanese occupatin began, it sought to drive out the Japanese with help from the Chinese and the Americans. After World War II, it would oppose the re-occupation of Vietnam by France and later South Vietnam and and the United States in the Vietnam War. -
Potsdam Conference
At the Potsdam Conference the Allies decided to divide Indochina at the 16th parallel, with Chiang Kai-shek receiving the Japanese surrender north of the parallel and the British receiving the Japanese surrender south of the parallel. The Allies agreed that France was the rightful owner of French Indochina, but because France was critically weakened owing to the fact that it had been occupied by Germany during the war, a British-Indian force should be installed to help France regain control. -
Proclamaton of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Viet Minh, announced the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, thus declaring Vietnam's independence from France.
