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France Imperializes French Indochina
In 1884 France took complete control over French Indochina after gaining control of south Vietnam in 1867. This land was obtained after France defeated China in Sino-French war. French Indochina was made up of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. The interest all started off in the 17th century when missionaries were sent to the region to convert the people to Christianity. These missionaries came back and France, England, Portugal, and the Netherlands all gained interest in the region. -
France's Interest in Indochina
The French found Indochina to be economically profitable, from the beginning in the 17th century the French saw Indochina's commercial value. This commercial value came form Indochina's many valuable resources such as rice, rubber, corn, fish, tea, tin, zinc, iron, and cement. Another aspect was that Vietnam was a perfect area for invading other countries who were rich in rice.This shows the French were just using Indochina for it's profit not giving a care for the needs of the people. -
Colonial Rule
France ruled over Indochina with the most controlling method. Colonial rule occured when there was French citizens and government officials ruled over and greatly influenced the people of Indochina.The French showed no consideration for the natives the only aspect they cared for was the land they lived on. Soon the natives were deprived of there freedom and idependence which would then spark many many events in this fight for freedom. -
Ho Chi Minh
In 1919 Ho Chi Minh leader of nationalist movement, sent a letter to the US Secretary of State addressing how the United States and France treated the people of Vietnam. This letter was a cry for independence from French rule because they didn't want battle to take place so they used petition. This was also a way to heal those who were deprived of independence by France's rule. This petition specifacally asked for full freedom throughout society and restoration of the old politicial systems. -
French-Indochina War
The French-Indochina War was a war fought in Vietnam from 1946-1954. It started after the French attacked Vietnam's resistence group called Viet Namh. Comparing the two sides, the had better weapons and soldiers who were more well trained, but the Viet Namh had more men and were hard to find because it was very difficult to tell a civilian apart from a soldier. The war ended in 1954 after the Viet Namh defeated the French in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, when France lost it's final outpost. -
The Genava Accords
On July 20th and 21st the Genava Conference took place, and the outcome was it ended the war between Indochina and France and declared Vietnam an independent nation. It also stated that in July, 1956 there would be an election to choose a government for Vietnam. During the time between the conference and the election Vietnam was split into north for the Viet Namh and south for the French. The elections came up in 1956 and decided that the Vietnam forces called Viet Namh would control. -
Vietnam War
In August, 1964 the U.S. declared war with Vietnam after signing the declaration called the Tokin Gulf Resolution. In the years before the war started the U.S. had taken over France's position in South Vietnam and already had 12,000 troops. But, this number quickly grew to 500,000 by 1966. After losing 58,000 the U.S. left Vietnam in 1973. This resulted in the people of South Vietnam to be massacered by the North. The war ended in April, 1975 and as a result Vietnam was reunited. -
The Beginning
Vietnam was first established in 208 BC as a kingdom called Nam-Vet. In 111 BC China took over Vietnam and ruled over Vietnam until 939 AD when they began a successful rebellion against China. For the next 600 years until the 15th century the Le Dynasty showed to be successful by keeping Vietnam an independent country. During this time Vietnam invaded and controlled the Champa Kingdom, and the Mekong Delta of the Khemer Empire. They also prevented many invasions by China during this time.
