In the early nineteenth century the French established themselves as a colonial power; they controlled an area called French Indochina, but in the late 1940s France struggled to control its colonies in Indochina, which consisted of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Ho Chi Minh, a communist leader who led the Viet Minh, and his forces captured back much of Vietnam while the French were busy fighting WWII. The French were infuriated with the actions of Ho Chi Minh and his forces and decided to once again enter into Vietnam, where they fought a lengthy, hard battle with the Viet Minh forces. The fighting between the French and Vietnamese continued into the mid 1950s, but was put to an end when the French signed a peace document after suffering a major …show more content…
Phuong’s sister makes her decisions for her, disallowing Phuong from having much emotion or any free will. The transition from Phuong having free will to being controlled by her older sister is representative of the transition of her country, Vietnam, before and after the war. “And I saw Phuong for a moment as I had seen her first, dancing past my table at the Grand Monde in a white ball-dress, eighteen years old, watched by an elder sister who had been determined on a good European marriage. An American had bought a ticket and asked her for a dance: he was a little drunk- not harmfully, and I suppose he was new to the country and thought the hostesses of the Grand Monde were whores. He held her much too close as they went round the floor the first time, and then suddenly there she was, going back to sit with her sister, and he was left, stranded and lost among the dancers, not knowing what had happened or why. And the girl whose name I didn’t know sat quietly there, occasionally sipping her orange juice, owning herself completely,” (page 32) the narrator describes a scene in which Phuong appears to be dancing and having a good time, but is then forced to stop and go sit by her sister, who controls her. Phuong’s sister begins to inquire about Pyle by asking Fowler “who is he?” “what does he do?” “is he married” and then stating “he looks a nice reliable man,” (page 33). After talking to Fowler about Pyle, Pyle and Phuong’s sister meet each other and she begins to interrogate him by asking where he is from and other questions such as “is your father a business man?” with follow up questions about his profession (page 33-34). Phuong’s sister also states “she is the most beautiful girl in Saigon,” “she is delicate… she needs care. She deserves care. She is very, very loyal,” and “she loves children,” (page 34) she is trying to find a suitable
The role of the French in the Indo-Chinese war could be characterized as a desperate attempt to maintain control over their colonies in Asia. For the uninitiated, in the aftermath of the Second World War, the majority of European powers, which were inclusive of Britain and Germany, had relinquished their colonies, deeming them as distracting burdens. On the contrary, the French were still adamant that the possession of colonies would give the nation much desired power and status. From December 19, 1946 to August 1, 1954, the French were engaged in a brutal, grueling and ultimately unsuccessful campaign in Vietnam. The catalyst for conclusion of the war was the demoralizing and humiliating defeat of the French at the short-lived battle of
On the 19th of December 1946, The Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh leadership launched a rebellion against the French authority governing the colonies of French Indochina. The first few years of the war were a low-level rural insurgency against French authority. However, after the Chinese communists reached the Northern border of Vietnam in 1949 the conflict became a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons. These were supplied by the Chinese communist and Russian communist.
The French were highly involved with Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) due to the abundant harvesting riches that were favorable with their own economy. Historically, Vietnam first established the communist party through the influence of China after their conversion into a Communist country in 1949. Ho Chi Min, a nationalist leader, had
The Vietnam war did not officially start until the 1950's. This is when the U.S. started sending in troops. Before then the French had been trying to conquer what was then called Indochina. They began their conquest in 1859, by 1888 they had turned the area that is now called Vietnam and Cambodia into the Colony of French Indochina. This was challenged many times by different uprisings but none worked as well as the Viet Minh common front( this was controlled by the Vietnamese communist party). During WWII the French were defeated by the Germans. This severely weakened their authority in Vietnam. In 1940 the Japanese invaded and
Vietnam was a French colony dating back to mid 1800s. Vietnam was meant as a farming colony where they would grow things such as tobacco, tea, and coffee. The French treated their colony poorly by denying civil
Since the late 1800s, Vietnam has struggled with maintaining independence. Vietnam was under the French control but the Vietnamese wanted to break free of the harsh rules put in place by the French, so Ho Chi Minh created the Indochinese Communist Party in 1940. After the Japanese conquered Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh created the Vietminh in order to gain independence from all foreign rule. Although the Vietnamese defeated the Japanese in 1945, the French had no thoughts of pulling out of Vietnam. By the end of 1945 the French had already reentered into Vietnam and conquered the southern cities.
For centuries the Vietnamese people resisted being controlled by their powerful Chinese neighbors. They struggled to unify their country as an independent state. Ultimately they freed themselves from China 's claim for control of political authority and achieved national unity only to fall victim to French imperialism (Anderson 1). French ruled Vietnam and neighboring kingdoms as colonies from the nineteenth century to the twentieth century. Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia during World War II influenced the Vietminh war against the French in 1945. September 2nd, 1945, Ho Chi Minh declares independence from French rule shortly after Japans surrender from World War II (www.history.com). France 's rule over its colony was incredibly brutal and exploitative (Anderson 6). French colonialism deprived the Vietnamese of their political independence, and it impoverished many of the Vietnamese people (Anderson 7). Many villagers lost their lands and became low-paid plantation
Phuong is treated like an object to be won by the men in The Quiet American. Both Fowler and Pyle fight for her affections, without truly understanding her. Pyle sees Phuong as being an innocent, delicate victim that needs to be saved from Fowler who he believes is taking her for granted. “That night I woke from one of those short deep opium sleeps, ten minutes long, that seem a whole night’s rest, and found my hand where it had always lain at night, between her legs. She was asleep and I
From the 1880s until World War II, France governed Vietnam as part of French Indochina, which also included Cambodia and Laos. The country was under the formal control of an emperor, Bao Dai. From 1946 until 1954, the Vietnamese struggled for their independence from France during the first Indochina War. At the end of this war, the country was temporarily divided into North and South Vietnam. North Vietnam came under the control of the Vietnamese Communists who had opposed France and aimed for a unified Vietnam under Communist rule. Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French controlled the South.
“The very word "Indochina" was created by colonization and for colonization; the Danish-born geographer Malte-Brun coined the term in 1852.” (Lacouture) This reminds me of the action that happened during the European colonization of America. Under the wrong impression of Columbus, during his first expedition, he “discovered Indies of the West, while traveling in search of the Indies of the East.” (DuBois 15) Spaniards were in control of the colonization of Latin America, and the French tried to do so with Indochina. The colonization began in 1848 with the provinces being transferred to France through ceding. French imperialism was imprinted on the colonies including Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Due to French government’s interests on the location of Indochina, there were clear and coherent policies that were haphazard, expedient, and brutal. The real reason for the colonization in Vietnam was for its port. The possibility of trading and increasing in economy is endless with many access points for boats. Therefore, “in this way, a relatively economical system of exploitation was established.” (Lacouture) With colonized people exploiting another, the French government still benefited from the trading that occurred through their controls. Overtime, after the lost in World War II to German, the grip of colonial possessions had loosened and France was being supported by
French Indochina was a colony of France consisting of the modern day countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The colony was created after the French occupied several important cities and the Vietnamese were forced to sign treaties acknowledging the authority of the French over Vietnam. “After gradually establishing suzerainty over Indochina between 1858 and 1893, the French created the first Indochinese Union to govern it”(Indochina). French influence was strongest in the urban centers, while it had little impact on the far more populous rural areas. French Indochina came under the occupation of the Japanese during World War II, and the Japanese collaborated closely with the French colonial administrators and Bảo Đại, the Emperor of Vietnam and a French puppet ruler. Once the war ended and Japan surrendered, French troops reoccupied
To justify the French conquest over Indochina, the French claimed that they were conducting a “civilizing mission” in Indochina, “France would introduce the fruit of the Western civilization—democratic institutions, capitalist economies, modern technology, and French culture—to its subject peoples in Indochina, thus enabling them to complete in a social-Darwinist world of ‘survival of the fittest’” (Duiker 11). In actuality, the French wanted to establish a solid base in Southeast Asian in order to compete economically and militarily with other nations such as Great Britain and the United States, who controlled respectively, India and Guam, “The original impulse for French expansion into the
---After WWII and until 1955, France fought hard to regain their former territories in the region, but with a poorly organized army and little determination among the troops, their efforts soon collapsed. The French were finally defeated at Dien Bien Phu on the 8th of May 1954 by the communist general Vo Nguyen Giap. The French troops withdrew, leaving a buffer zone separating the North and South and set up elections in order to form a government in the South. The communist regime set up its headquarters in Hanoi under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. Many North Vietnamese left the country and fled south where the self-proclaimed president, Ngo Dinh Diem had formed the Republic of Vietnam.
Like many other parts of Asia and Africa, Indochina also fell under the control of a European power in the 1800s. By the year 1893, France had established its power over all of Indochina. Over the next century, French imperialists abused the principles of "freedom, equality and fraternity", violated the integrity of land and oppressed the people of Indochina. During this century of French oppression and corruption, Vietnamese nationalism against the French surged and became more intense. The outbreak of World War II in September 1939 provided a real opportunity to end French Control of Indochina. From 1940 onwards, Nazi Germany forces controlled northern France and influenced the nominally neutral Vichy Government that ruled southern
Eighteen year old, Vietnamese Phuong was terribly naive. This young girl was in a state of peace with Fowler, but what she really wanted was to be settled, married. She, much like Vietnam, was being fought for. And was constantly wavering between Fowler and Pyle. The Vietnamese “want[ed] enough rice” (94) that’s all, and all Phuong wanted was to be settled. That was why she left Fowler for Pyle, why Pyles’ death wasn’t so devastating for her, and why she was so happy to be able to be “the second Mrs. Fowler.”