Colonisation of Indochina Flashcards
Before colonisation of Indochina- Government Power
The Emperor was bound by the same ethical norms as common people. Only in religious and military matters did the central government exercise strong control over the peasantry. A man’s rights and duties were determined by his place in the social system, and individual rights didn’t exist
Before colonisation of Indochina- villages
The imperial government had no direct contact with the individual but only his village, which paid taxes and provided men to labour on public works and army. There was never any question of challenging supreme and overriding authority of Central Government. The villages were surrounded by a thick stand of bamboo and were self-sufficient units
The peasant raised enough food for himself and his family with some spare. The peasant was rooted in his village and had little interest in what went on outside of it.
Before colonisation of Indochina- social structure and wealth
Didn’t allow for extremes of poverty or riches, and title of nobility weren’t hereditary. Ownership of land was spread and there was a strong cooperative tradition that existed with communal land set aside to support vulnerable. If the Emperor is proved to be unfit to rule/corrupt, the people were religiously mandated to rise against him and depose him even at the cost of civil war. Built on effective checks and balances.
nationalism
the desire of a group of people for separate political identity or self-determination. Nationalist believe that they are united by factors that inspire them.
Rise of nationalism in Indochina in respsonse to colonialism timeline up to 1925
1860s-1890s: old mandarin ruling class rejected foreign influence and tried to restore the traditional monarchical system and Confucian values which was shut down by French. Lead by Phan Chu Trinh who advocated for non-violent reform of legal and education systems.
1908: Modernisation Society of Vietnamese exiles in Japan. Began to advocate for a republic lead by Phan Boi Chau and turned to terrorism. Attempted to assassinate GG of Indochina in 1912 and inspired by Karl Marx.
1917: Constitutional Party in Saigon worked for legal reofrm so that the Vietnamese people wouldn’t be excluded from political/adminstrative roles. They realised that the French were assimilating literate Vietnamese into French positions in the colonial system.
Rise of nationalism in Indochina in response to colonialism timeline 1925-1939
1925: Cao Dai in Cochin China was a religious sect that blended Buddhism, Catholicism, Taoism, and Confucanism and cooperated with whichever political force was more dominant. Favoured independence and gathered power in the South whilst opposing communism
1927: VNQDD in Hanoi formed when nationalists came to power, secret society of intellectuals that lacked funding. Repressed brutally by the French, based on teachings of Chinese Nationalist Sun Yat-Sen, worked from Vietnam through armed uprising
1930: Indochinese Communist Party originally Vietnamse Revolutionary Youth League where groups were trained at bases in southern China to infiltrate Vietnam to spread propaganda.
1939: Hao Hao was a religious sect that favoured independence, but opposed communism
Ho Chi Minh
Born in Nghe An Province (1890-19690 as the most significant personality in modern Vietnamese history known as ‘Uncle Ho’, found the ICP.
Ho Chi Minh Russian influence
He travelled throughout Europe widely, read revolutionary theories, and studied ‘class struggle’. He read about the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and saw parallels:
- his people and Russia’s proletariat
- French investors/government and Russia’s Romanovs
He studed in Russia, joined the Russian and French Communist Parties.
Indochinese Communist Party (ICP)
The political platform of the ICP was a clear blend of Vietnamese history, patriotism, and Marxist-Lennist communist principles. It was anti-colonialist and based entirely on the success of the Bolshevik revolution.
How the ‘Bolshevik Sickness’ entered Vietnam
- repatriated soldiers
- conscripted labourers
- Indochinese ‘Intelligensia’ who had studied in France in the 1920s
Japanese occupation iin
