FRENCH PERSPECTIVE VIETNAMESE PERSPECTIVE FRENCH PERSPECTIVE French were

FRENCH PERSPECTIVE VIETNAMESE PERSPECTIVE

FRENCH PERSPECTIVE French were seeking “God, Gold & Glory” in Vietnam. Like Europe’s other powers during the C 19 th Age of Imperialism, France sought colonies. Vietnam was perfect as it provided a French presence in South East Asia and had plentiful resources e. g. rice, rubber, coal, tin, zinc. The main motivating factor for France was therefore economic, though they often couched their rule in religious language. 1858 Napoleon III ordered troops to land at Da Nang. This invasion was in order to prevent other European countries from making Vietnam their colony. French used “Divide & Conquer” and split Vietnam into Conchina, Annam and Tonkin. French created an elitist French-Vietnamese landowning class. The French mission civilisatrice involved imposing sophisticated French culture on the inferior Vietnamese. This idea was tied up with White Man’s Burden.

VIETNAMESE PERSPECTIVE The French do not seem to care about the hardships they place on the Vietnamese people, or even the loss of life. Some Vietnamese welcomed the French, hoping that they would bring an end to despotic dynastic rule. However, French rule turned out to be politically repressive and economically exploitative. Vietnamese prisoners were treated brutally. Ho Chi Minh uses the division in society created by the French (haves and have nots) in order to gain popular support amongst the peasant masses. Ho Chi Minh began to emerge as a Nationalist leader, which was further encouraged by Japan’s invasion of French Indo-China.