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What materials were there?
Vietnam had tin, coal, cotton, pepper and rice. The French were not sucessful in trading most of these items. Once the door opened for them in vietnam they took the chance. This would help them raise money. It would also be a big part of forming their overseas markets. -
France became Interested
The French first came to Vietnam for missionary propaganda. It was brought to their attention that Catholicism was close to extinction in the far east, in order to protect their religion they invaded Vietnam. After 1850 French capitalism had taken over and in order to make more money they needed to generate over seas markets to sell more. They saw Vietnam as a perfect pawn for that.Once they explored vietnam they learnt that rare materials or items they couldn't trade easily were there as well. -
France Imperializes Vietnam & takes Control
The French & British joned up to fight the Second Opium war against China. The Vietnamese were involved with China so France had to occupy parts of Southern Vietnam. France was the given three provinces there. In 1833 France assserted dominance in that region by defeating China in the war. They then governed S. Vietnam directly & "protected" some of N. Vietnam. France ruled under a Colonial Protectorate, in which they gave them the right to self-govern and that meant they protected by France. -
How France ruled.
The French ran a puppet government in Vietnam. This would mean that government officials were just figureheads that answered to the French. They didn't take part in any decision making. They regulated the flow of goods and had a golden triangle monopoly on opium that would increase France's economy. The French had built railroads, highays, harbours, bridges, canals and other public works to travel easier and faster. Vietnam was slowly turning into a replica of the French society. -
Effects of Imperialism
Vietnam started countless rebellions against the French. France's occupation of territories like Vietnam infuriated the general population & raised levels of nationalism. Only 1% of the people were granted French citizenship, they didn't have all the same rights as they. France brought technology & the idea of Confucianism was let go, many ideas were proved wrongly by modern science. It also suffered from a loss of identity because they got rid of monarchy, which gave them a source of pride. -
Imperialism Being Removed
Communists had taken over China in 1949 and revived fortunes for the Vietnamese. In July of 1950 Chinese military advisors began assisting Vietnam. Then in 1954 the US had supplied about 300,000 small arms and spent one billion dollars in support of France's military effort and was paying 80% of the costs of war. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu marked the end of France's involvement with Vietnam. -
Path to Independency
After the French declined the American offer of nuclear weapons, the French were forced to surrender to Vietnam. At the Geneva Conference the French negotiaed to cease fine agreement with the Vietanamese and on September 2nd, 1945, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam became independent countries. -
Vietnam Before Imperialism
Before the French took interest in Vietnam it was owned by China. Much like China they had a Confucian system of government except they refused to use assimilation and rebelled constantly. The people basically worked like slaves on rice plantations for little pay. China still made a lot of money because there were so many workers to accumulate more money. Soon the Vietnamese reblled against China and suceeded. They made sure China was kept away and stood independent for quite some time.
