Test: The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China - 2 - UPSC MCQ

The french indeed used the school textbooks in order to justify their colonial rule.
They actually represent the vietnamese as backward people and primitive. They show them that vietnamese are incapable of effective think but are good in the manual labor work.They also called them as "skilled copyists" in the book and illustrate that vietnamese neither can rule nor creative . The children at schools are ensured that the french will bring  peace through their rule.  They ensure at school  level that colonial rule of french are right .

Women helped in nursing the wounded, constructing underground rooms and tunnels and fighting the enemy. Along the Ho Chi Minh trail, young volunteers kept open 2,195 kms of strategic roads and guarded 2,500 key points.
They built six airstrips, neutralised tonnes of thousands of bombs, transported tonnes of thousands of kilograms of cargo, weapons and food and shot down about fifteen planes.
Between 1965 and 1975 out of the 17,000 youths who worked on the trail, 70 to 80 per cent were women. One military historian argues that there were 1.5 million women in the regular army, the militia, the local forces and professional teams

In January 1974, in Paris, a peace settlement was signed between both. This ended conflict with the US but fighting between the Saigon regime and the NLF continued.

Women in Vietnam traditionally enjoyed greater equality than in China, particularly among the lower classes. However, they had only limited freedom in social life and to determine their future.
As the nationalist movement grew, the status of women came to be questioned and a new image of womanhood emerged. There were many women who rebelled against injustice being done to them.
Writers and political thinkers began idealising these women. In the 1930s, a famous novel by Nhat Linh inspired many women as it showed a woman leaving a forced marriage and marrying someone of her choice, someone who was involved in nationalist politics. This rebellion against social conventions marked the arrival of the new woman in the Vietnamese society.

The reason behind the entry of US into the war in Vietnam was the fear of spread of communist governments around the world.

Vietnamese Women as warriors and as workers:

Women joined the army and fought bravely against the American troops.
They succeeded in shooting down war planes.

They were dedicated workers. They carried rifle on their back and worked in the field.

Whether young or old, women began to be depicted as selflessly working and fighting to save the country.

As casualties in the war increased in the 1960s, women were urged to join the struggle in larger numbers.

They were portrayed as young, brave and dedicated.

Stories were written to show how happy they felt when they joined the army and could carry a rifle.

Some stories spoke of their incredible bravery in single-handedly killing the enemy-Nguyen Thi Xuan, for instance, was reputed to have shot down a jet with just twenty bullets.

•  The prolongation of the war created strong reactions even within the US. It was clear that the US had failed to achieve its main objectives i.e. the Vietnamese resistance had not been crushed, the support of the Vietnamese people for the US action had not been won. This war was known as the First Television War. Battle scenes were shown on the daily news programmes.

•  Writers such as Mary McCarthy and actors like Jane Fonda even visited North Vietnam and praised their heroic defence of the countries. The renowned scholar Noam Chomsky called the war, “the greatest threat to peace to national self-determination and to international cooperation”.

•  The widespread opposition of government policy forced to negotiate an end of the war. A peace settlement was signed in Paris in January 1974, ending conflict with US.

•  But fighting between the Saigon regime and the NLF continued. The NLF occupied the presidential palace in Saigon on 30th April, 1975. On 2nd July, 1976, North and South Vietnam were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Do Sam was a colonel in the North Vietnamese artillery regiment. The letters show how, in the imagination of Do Sam, personal love mingles with love for the country and the desire for freedom. Sacrifice for the sake of the nation appears necessary for personal happiness. He says, 'I have promised myself that only when the South is liberated and peace and happiness return to the people, only then could I be free to focus on building our own happiness, only then I could be satisfied with our family life...' This shows the intensity of a nationalist's feelings. 
 

'Scholar's Revolt' of 1868 against the spread of Christianity in Vietnam :
Christianity introduced by French missionaries was intolerant. An early movement against French control and the spread of Christianity was the 'Scholar's Revolt' in 1868. This revolt was led by officials at the imperial court angered by the spread of Catholicism and French power. They led a general uprising in Ngu An and Ha Tien provinces where over 1000 Catholics were killed. The French crushed the movement but this uprising served to inspire other patriots to rise up against them.

The country currently called Thailand was known as Siam. After reforms which occurred in 1932 which transformed the country from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy, the name was changed in 1939 to Thailand. In 1945 the name reverted back to Siam and in 1949 it changed back again to Thailand. The word “Thai” refers to the name of the largest ethnic group in the country.

Dien Bien Phu became a very important symbol of struggle. It strengthened Vietminh conviction in their capacity to fight powerful imperial forces through determination and proper strategy. Stories of the battle were retold in villages and cities to inspire people.

The major protest erupted in Saigon Native School in 1926, in Vietnam, when a Vietnamese girl sitting in the front seat was asked to move to the back for a local French student to occupy the front bench to which she refused and was expelled by the Principal.

When angry students protested, they too were expelled, leading to a further spread of open protests. Seeing the situation getting out of control, the Government forced the school to take the students back. The Principal reluctantly agreed after warning the students.

Bao Dai was the ruler who was used as the puppet by the French. He was given control of the South Vietnam by the French after the splitting up of Vietnam during the Geneva peace session.
Ngo Dinh Diem was a revolutionary who overthrew the Bao Dai regime in the south Vietnam. He established an repressive and authoritarian government in south Vietnam. Anyone who opposed him was labelled as communist and sent to jail and killed. Diem retained Ordiance 10, a French law that permitted Christianity but outlawed Buddhism.

Scholars Revolt movements started in Vietnam in 1868 was against the spread of Christianity. This revolt was led by officials at the imperial court angered by the spread of Catholicism and French power.

 The European countries acquired colonies in the East Asian countries to exploit their natural resources. Like other European countries the French also propagated that it was their mission to bring the benefits of civilization to backward people. They posed that they were driven by the idea of the civilizing mission. Like the British in India, the French claimed they were bringing modern civilization to Vietnam. They considered that it was their duty to bring modern ideas into their colonies even at the cost of destroying the local culture, beliefs, etc.  

The Chinese Revolution of 1911, also called Xinhai Revolution after the year of the Chinese calendar in which it occurred, was an uprising that led to the fall of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and to the foundation of the Republic of China. 

In the mid-19thcentury, Siam had a unique and well-established political system called the “Mandala” system. The underlying philosophy of this system was very different from the European notion of nation-states. Instead, the “Mandala” system focused on spheres of influence in which weaker rulers had to pay tributes to the more powerful rulers. At the top of the pyramid was the Siamese King.   Siam was able to avoid colonization by European powers due to a combination of factors. 

As brave dedicated, fighters, shooting down planes and also as selfless workers with rifle in one hand and a hammer in the other.

(i) As a leader : Ho Chi Minh, real name Nguyen Tat Thanh, Vietnamese Communist leader and the principal force behind the Vietnamese struggle against French colonial rule .
(ii) Formation of Communist Party : In February 1930, Ho Chi Minh brought together competing nationalist groups to establish the Vietnamese Communist (Vietnam Cong San Dang) Party, later renamed the Indo-Chinese Communist Party. He was inspired by the militant demonstrations of the European communist parties.

French Rule: The French colonized Vietnam in the mid 1800s.  In 1885, France looked to take over Vietnam and in 1887 they did it.  The French started to integrate more Western ideals, education, and religion including, for the first time, introducing Christianity.  Their main exports were tobacco, indigo, tea and coffee.  The Modern Vietnam, as we know it today, was created from French colonialism. In 1882, France invaded northern Vietnam and forced the Vietnamese Emperor to accept the establishment of the French over central and northern Vietnam in 1883. This gave the French control over all of Vietnam. On August 19, 1945 an uprising occurred in which Vietnamese nationalists overthrew the Japanese administration then controlling Vietnam.