Chapter 15 : FRENCH DOMINATION
The French invasion created a big breakage in our nation’s history. It caused suffering throughout Vietnam but also brought about a new breath of air that broke down the vicious circle of the traditional agricultural society. The French invaded Vietnamese under the motto “building civilization”. They allowed Vietnamese people to access to their Western civilization and technique in order to serve their colonial interests.
To exploit the colony, the French built infrastructure including a network of trans-Viet roads and railways, bridges and ports. Besides, they also introduced processing industries and consumer goods. Some cities were built in the Western architectural model. Vietnam’s culture and education gradually went out of Confucian influence in order to adopt Western ideologies of equality and democracy.
In the late 18th century, Vietnam preceded major transformation due to the impact of the French colonial exploitation policies. The foremost impact was the formation and development of a variety of cities; Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Sài Gòn… Unlike the old cities of Thăng Long, Phố Hiến… these cities associated with machineries, industries, workers, electric lights, trains and buildings… They were large urban areas which served various functions such as administration, military, economics, etc.
Since then, a series of modernizations had taken place, from appearances such as customs, hair styles… to ideologies. Vietnamese people started to wear Europeanized attires, similar to our clothes today. This process happened more drastically in cities. Remarkably, intellectual class, trained in the French educational model was formed and began to play an important role in the social and cultural transformation of Vietnam.
However, the motto “building civilization” could not make the Vietnamese people forget that they were losing their country. It was unexpected for the French that the ideologies of freedom and democracy they brought into Vietnam suggested Vietnamese patriots a way of national liberation -the bourgeois democratic revolution. At that time, as a result of the colonial exploitation, there appeared two new classes in Vietnam’s society: bourgeois and petite bourgeois. Many of these classes were strongly influenced by and took part in patriotic movements launched by two excellent revolutionists: Phan Bội Châu (1867-1940) and Phan Chu Trinh (1872-1926).
Phan Bội Châu organized the Đông Du (Go East) Movement to bring young people to other countries for studying. Meanwhile, Phan Chu Trinh launched the Duy Tân (Revolution) Movement, advocating the learning of Western countries’ economic cultural developments. Press flourished, becoming a “weapon” in the struggle for national independence. In February 1930, after the unsuccessful uprising in Yên Bái led by Nguyễn Thái Học (1902-1930), his Việt Nam Quốc dân Đảng (National Party of Vietnam) was destroyed. The bourgeois domestic movement was brought to an end.
A revolutionist, Hồ Chí Minh (1890-1969), recognized the only way-out for the Vietnamese nation. He understood that it was the proletarian revolution led by the working class that could gather all walks of life to join hands in the struggle for national independence. He travelled to different countries and took part in international revolutionary activities in order to learn their lessons that could be applied to Vietnam. On 3 February 1930, Hồ Chí Minh founded the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), the political organization representing Vietnam’s working classes.
Since its establishment, the CPV led the Vietnamese revolution through various high tides: 1930-31 and 1936-39. In August 1945, the Vietnamese revolution came to its victory with a successful general uprising to seize power and put an end to the 80-year French domination. On 2 September 1945, at Ba Đình Square in Hà Nội, President Hồ Chí Minh read the Declaration of Independence, founding the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN).
It led to the resistance war, click here to read it.
VIETNAM – A BRIEF HISTORY IN PICTURES
Compiled by: HIẾU MINH – HUYỀN TRANG (in Vietnamese language)
With an introduction of Historian DƯƠNG TRUNG QUỐC
Illustrated by TẠ HUY LONG
Translated by: NGUYỄN XUÂN HỒNG
P/s: Completed by the volunteers: Nguyễn Ngọc Bích – Second-year student of Foreign Trade University; Takanori Kano from Japan; Antoine Roels from Belgium; Linh – The coordinator of SJ Vietnam.
