The Collapse of French Colonialism and the U.S. Entry into - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

The Collapse of French Colonialism and the U.S. Entry into Vietnam

Michael J. BoyleSlide2

Introduction

The story of France’s involvement in Vietnam, and its subsequent withdrawal, is important for understanding how the stage was set for the Vietnam war

Throughout the Vietnam war, France remained critical of the United States for not learning what it saw were its obvious mistakes

The U.S. tended to dismiss this view, in part due to poor relations between the U.S. and France (especially de Gaulle)

Yet there was an underlying assumption that the U.S. was more powerful and subject to different constraints than a

weakened

European powerSlide3

Introduction

This view ignores some of the structural and situational factors that would make the control of Vietnam difficult in any circumstance

By the early twentieth century, imperial/colonial relationships had fallen out of fashion amidst a new wave of nationalism

The experience of the second World War left experienced political leaders and trained military fighters in many colonized countries

In other words, Vietnam was always going to be a “hard nut to crack”

But the U.S. was also blinded by early Cold War politics and made a series of decisions that were based on the principle of “Seeing Hanoi, Thinking Moscow”Slide4

Early History

Early Vietnamese history was dominated by a struggle for independence against imperial China

The first independent Vietnamese state can be traced to 200 BC, but this survived for only a brief period of 100 years

For the next 1,000 years, Vietnam was dominated by the Chinese who treated it as a semi-autonomous colony

The relationship was tributary: China avoided direct administration of Vietnam but demanded fealty from local leaders

This produced a history of decentralized rule in Vietnam – a weak central government, but strong tribal and regional leaders

“The edict of the emperor stops at the edge of the village.”Slide5

Early History

In 938 AD, Vietnam overthrow its Chinese rulers and underwent a period of vicious civil war

Although Chinese rule returned briefly during the Ming Dynasty (14

th

century), Vietnam remained independent until the 18

th

century

Even during independence, there was frequent warfare and tribal rebellionsSlide6

Early European Contacts

The earliest known European contacts in Vietnam were Portuguese traders who arrived in 1535

In the 17

th

century, Vietnam saw the arrival of Dutch, French and English traders

Early conflict concerned not trade, but the activities of European missionaries who were determined to convert the mainly Buddhist population to Christianity

The local Vietnamese rulers engaged in persecution of missionaries and others thought to be spreading that belief Slide7

Early History

The last independent government of Vietnam was the Nguyen dynasty, which ruled from 1802 to 1945.

The

Emperor

Gia Long was the first in 300 years to unite the country into a single political unit, called “Vietnam,” though its borders were not the same

This dynasty was beset by constant dynastic and succession crises and interference by the Chinese

The Nguyen dynasty also confronted a growing role for the French in their society, alternatively accommodating and opposing themSlide8

Early European Contacts

By mid-1800s, the persecution of missionaries led the French to consider a more significant role to protect religious missionaries and to expand trade

Vietnam was divided into a series of regional states, including Tonkin, Annam, Cochin China and Cambodia.

France conquered Saigon in 1850 and captured in the colony of Cochin China in 1867.

Took Tonkin and Annam in 1884

In 1887, it merged all of these states (except Laos) into Indochina Slide9

Colonialism

French colonialism followed a distinct but reactive pattern which gradually expanded its footprint

As French soldiers, missionaries and traders were attacked or killed by locals, French soldiers would seek revenge and expand their own area of control

French officials would also demand special privileges for trade, missionary work and other forms of social control

French officials also conducted ‘divide and rule’ attacks backing different factions in tribal or regional conflicts for concessions Slide10

Colonialism

By 1925, France had established a bureaucracy and infrastructure to govern the country

There were 5,000 French bureaucrats occupying a country of 30 million people

French colonials had a hierarchical relationship with local Vietnamese and often employed them as servants

These colonial settlers often had substantial political weight in Paris, making Indochina a valuable prizeSlide11

Colonialism

One important element of this relationship was the French ‘style’ of imperialism

France

undertook

its mission

as part of the “civilization

Francais

” – a concerted effort to transform the society to look like France and turn the best of the local population into

Frenchmen

This meant influencing the language, religion, literature, an even poetry of local people, while transforming its laws and customs

France established schools for the children of elites, educated them in France and sent the best to French schools – 20% of population

It also spread Catholicism, thus producing a French-speaking, Catholic eliteSlide12

Colonialism

Some of the changes that France instituted were sweeping

Abolished Chinese script in favor of a Westernized one

Established colleges, medical and law schools

Built train lines between Hanoi and Saigon

Brought electricity to modern cities and redesigned their infrastructure and style

Abolished Vietnamese legal codes and customs in favor of the Napoleonic code

Instituted a parallel network of French judges

Installed French-speaking Vietnamese elites as local governors

The result was that France was deeply embedded in the politics and culture of the country Slide13

Colonialism

As in all cases, colonialism was in part economic and designed to profit the colonizer

By the late 1890s, France had appointed Paul

Doumer

as the local governor, who was determined to make the colony profitable

Imposed high taxes on local population and forced many to become day laborers

Turned Vietnam into a country with vast exports in rubber and rice, but only by pauperizing some parts of the societySlide14

Colonialism

One consequence of this development was that Vietnamese nationalist movements emerged and called for greater self-rule and independence

Some, but not all, of these were influenced by Marxism and saw the French presence as evidence of the inherently exploitative nature of colonialism

Among those calling for overthrowing French rule was Ho Chi Minh, who had received a French education and had been a young revolutionary in Paris, New York and elsewhere

By 1930, the Yen Bai mutiny was underway with Vietnamese soldiers turning on their French masters

It failed, and the French responded with a crackdownSlide15

Colonialism

The young Ho Chi Minh believed that the United States would back his calls for independence from the French

He appealed directly to President Woodrow Wilson in 1918 for support citing the Declaration of Independence as his inspiration

He was rebuffed and turned increasingly towards Marxism and its international sponsors, Russia and China

Began to preach Marxism as a revolutionary ideology in Vietnam and elsewhere

Ho Chi Minh, Paris, 1921Slide16

World War II

The incipient struggle against the French was transformed by the politics of World War II

Like Mao

Tse

Tung, Ho Chi Minh and other Vietnamese leaders behaved opportunistically and sought alliances which would allow them to improve their chances at independence

Fighting during WWII became an important way for these leaders to gain experience in tactics and military strategy, while consolidating their political gains

Looming over their decisions was the role of China as an Allied power and once who might seek their revenge on anyone allying with the Japanese.Slide17

World War II

During World War II, Japan invaded Vietnam and displaced some, but not all, of the French colonial infrastructure

Japan allowed Vichy French forces to continues to administer the country on its behalf

Viet minh forces – principally committed to an independent Vietnam – made common cause with the Allies against the Axis powers, while hoping to consolidate their independence

They

attacked

French Vichy forces and provoked reprisals if they couldSlide18

World War II

Ngo Diem

Giap

, later commander of Hanoi’s forces, organized local soldiers to fight French forces as a guerilla

Many of his forces became the core of the early cadres of the Viet Cong

Ho Chi Minh cooperated with U.S. forces and the OSS to run operations against Japanese forcesSlide19

World War II

Under pressure, Japan eventually abandoned the Vichy French administration and overthrew them in March 1945

Japan established an independent government under the control of

Bao

Dai, the last emperor of

Annman

Bao

Dai pledged fealty to Japan and declared that the new Vietnam was part of its East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere

Tainted by association with Japan, this government collapsed by late 1945 leaving an opening

Bao

Dai, 1921Slide20

World War II

In 1945, Ho Chi Minh established a new republic under the control of the Viet Minh party, comprised of nationalist and Communist forces

Initially, he expected that the U.S. and even France would support his independent republic, but he was prepared to turn on them if they did not.

China invaded Vietnam in 1945 to expel Japan and occupied Northern Vietnam, where Ho Chi Minh’s government, was based

China allowed Ho Chi Minh to function and to control northern VietnamSlide21

World War II

Under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, Viet Minh forces declared independence and sought to make their case internationally

The Vietnamese declaration of independence begins with a quote from the US Declaration of Independence and indicts the French as a corrupt, occupying power as Britain once was

They believed that they had a clear source of support due to the promises in the Atlantic Charter that the US and UK would support self-determination

Was greeted as a head of state by Charles de Gaulle in Paris negotiationsSlide22

World War II

Fearing China’s encroachment, British forces in South Vietnam permitted Free French forces to land in south Vietnam and establish control

Under the Potsdam agreement, French forces were supposed to replace the Chinese forces in the north

By 1946, France had struck a deal with Ho Chi Minh that Vietnam was a free state within the Indochina federation, but they disagreed with him what states constitute “Vietnam” as he saw it

They disagreed over whether the south –

Cochina

– belonged to Vietnam and hence could be independentSlide23

The War Begins

By November 1946, fighting had broken out between Vietnamese and French forces in Haiphong

French ships shelled the city, killing 6,000 Vietnamese

This event fueled recruitment to the Viet Minh forces, who attacked French forces in Hanoi

This began the French Indochina war (1946-1954)Slide24

The War Begins

In 1946, France re-installed

Bao

Dai as the ruler of Vietnam and incorporated Cochin China as a part of Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh did not accept the legitimacy of this government and hit and run attacks on French forces continued

In March 1947, Ho Chi Minh declared open war on the French with the goal of forcing them out entirely

The local government of

Bao

Dai, based in Saigon, was seen as a French puppet and lacked legitimacySlide25

The War Begins

Ho Chi Minh and General

Giap

had studied and published on guerrilla warfare for a number of years before this campaign began

They believed in the mass-scale mobilization of the population and in the use of mobile warfare to tie down French forces

France found it difficult to hold ground, as many of their local forces in the north were betraying them and were loyal to the forces of Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh was also building an extensive guerrilla network in the south to destabilize French ruleSlide26

The War BegiNs

The official French war goal was to allow for autonomous states to exist within a French-dominated Indochina Federation

Yet they tended to do this by centralizing power with the national and regional government, thus depriving local and tribal power centers of privileges and pushing them into the hands of the Viet Minh forces

They won favor with urban and Catholic forces, but this did them little good with the Buddhist rural majority

Efforts to achieve a negotiated solution often foundered because pro- colonialist and pro-Catholic parties dominating De Gaulle’s key ministriesSlide27

The War Begins

From the French side, much of the fighting was done by conscripts, many of whom believed that the war was a lost cause

The war was deeply unpopular, with only 19% of French citizens supporting any military presence in Vietnam by July 1949

French Communist parties supported Ho Chi Minh against French forces in Vietnam, thus producing a toxic debate in Paris

Returning French soldiers were actually treated for plasma and blood in hospitals outside Paris in order to shield the public from the cost of the warSlide28

Strategy

Initially, the French sought to conduct a decapitation strategy which removed the chief leaders of the movements against them

When this failed, they shifted to a strategy of pacification, based on the colonial experience, which was designed to break the back of the insurgents

Yet despite alliances with tribes in many regions, France could not pacify the insurgents, finding nationalist sentiment was much stronger than comparable incentives

To separate the population from the insurgents, they tried to do strategic resettlement into defensible hamlets, but this was unsuccessfulSlide29

Strategy

One of the chief problems with French forces was that they relied on fixed, defensive positions in their pacification campaigns

They built bases in many of the regions, but returned to them at night and effectively ceded the countryside to the Viet Minh forces

The Viet Minh forces successfully exploited the border with Laos and Cambodia in order to bring weapons in

They also tried to form local militias, but had a hard time judging loyalty

French Paratroopers, Indochina, 1951Slide30

Regional Politics

The French collapse in Indochina was also precipitated by changing politics in the region

The Communist takeover of mainland China in 1949 brought Chinese communist forces to the northern border and opened up an entirely new supply route

To compensate, France granted Vietnam in independence within a French union, effectively creating a state still led by

Bao

Dai recognized by the U.S., UK and others

At the same time, the Ho Chi Minh government in Hanoi was recognized by the USSR, China and others, thus producing two governments for Vietnam

Most of the rest of the region held their neutralitySlide31

Regional Politics

The onset of the Korean war also changed the calculation of many of the local actors

The United States was drawn into the Korean peninsula and began to worry more about a Soviet take-over of East Asia

The threat of a Soviet-Chinese axis loomed large in the mind of Washington policymakers, but at the same time few wanted to take over the war

France sought aid from Washington, but was reluctant to take military advice or acknowledge that its colonial days were overSlide32

Regional Politics

In February 1950, France asked the United States for military and financial aid for the war

By 1954, the US was covering 80% of the overall costs of the French conflict

At the same time, U.S. officials were concerned that France would lose and produce a power vacuum in Asia

Growing fear of another ‘domino’ falling

Yet they were reluctant to do another land war in Asia so closely after KoreaSlide33

Costs

By 1954, France had deployed 375,000 troops, including both French and foreign legion forces

Approximately 75,000 had been killed and another 40,000 had been taken prisoner, often tortured

Approximately 200,000 Vietnamese had also been killed, but the war remained at a stalemate

The Viet Minh forces had 125,000 troops, but 325,000 in informal militias by 1950Slide34

Breaking Point

The breaking point for the war was the

Dien

Bien

Phu

battle.

France had sent 15,000 forces located in a valley about 300 km from Hanoi, under the belief that their presence would prevent the Viet Minh from launching mobile attacks and supplying

France believed that their strong defensive position was an anchor point and that the Viet Minh would have to suffer extraordinary casualties to take it

Some argued that this was an attempt to draw out the Viet Minh

They had ceded the high ground to the enemy and misjudged their willSlide35

Breaking Point

Against these defensive lines, the Viet Minh sent human wave assaults to overwhelm and massacre French troops

The French sent reinforcements to preserve the position, and appealed for U.S. help, which was denied

The French lost 3,000 soldiers and 2,000 local forces

The Viet Minh lost 8,000 soldiers and another 15,000 wounded Slide36

Breaking Point

The defeat of French forces at

Dien

Bien

Phu

was a psychological blow to the French forces

Almost immediately, Charles De Gaulle began to make preparations to withdraw

France immediately recognized the independence of Laos and Cambodia and accepted new negotiations over Vietnam at Geneva Slide37

US Entry

The U.S. recognized that a power vacuum was likely and sought to back a local government that could resist Communist encroachment

It backed French plans for a

Bao

Dai led government, but also supported talks with Ho Chi Minh in Geneva

France considered the U.S. position a betrayal and was content to let the U.S. find a way to prop up the Saigon government

For many U.S. policymakers, especially those reeling from the costs of the Korean war, this looked like the next domino to fall.Slide38

Geneva Conference

At the Geneva conference in 1954, the U.S., China, Soviet Union, France and others agreed to split Vietnam at the 17

th

parallel into two parts for two years

North Vietnam – Democratic Republic of Vietnam

South Vietnam – State of VietnamSlide39

US Entry

The immediate problem that the U.S. faced was that the situation was unstable: the creation of South Vietnam left 450,000 people fleeing to the south to avoid the Communists

The U.S. backed the French-preferred solution of a

Bao

Dai government, but he was deposed in a referendum in 1955 in favor of a republic led by Ngo

Dinh

Diem

Ngo

Dinh

Diem was from the French-educated Catholic minority and was removed from the rural Buddhist majority

He also suppressed a number of religious minorities and had strong authoritarian tendencies

His regime was also deeply corrupt, and less battle experienced than Ho Chi MinhSlide40

The Leaders

Ngo

Dinh

Diem

Ho Chi MinhSlide41

US Entry

The DRV (North) adopted an official policy of socialist consolidation in the north and political struggle in the south

They expected to win the 1956 elections, which would abolish the American-backed government

The 1956 elections are cancelled, thus leading to more conflict

By 1959, they had resumed armed struggle to the South and organized supplies along the Ho Chi Minh trail

The North organized the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NLF) which was designed to overthrow the social structure and government of the southern leader Ngo

Dinh

DiemSlide42

US Entry under Eisenhower

President Eisenhower was caught in a dilemma: how do you not ‘lose’ Vietnam while avoiding another

war?

He eventually approved sending military trainers to support the Army of the Republic of Vietnam

By April 1956, the last French troops

left

Vietnam

Yet instability continues: the Viet Minh launch an invasion of Laos

By 1959, Diem is also confronting a coup among his own officersSlide43

US Entry Under EISENHOWER

The most fateful move occurs in December 1960, when the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam – known more popularly as the Viet Cong – is founded

At this point, the U.S. has inherited Vietnam, but they lack a coherent strategy

They are tied to the success and failure of the Diem government, which is itself confronted by internal revolt and a Viet Cong insurgency

Yet the greater politics of the Cold War means that the U.S. cannot afford to let another domino fall – thus meaning French departure set the stage for the Vietnam warSlide44

Conclusion

Some key questions that Eisenhower confronted:

Is it possible for the US to avoid France’s mistakes

?

Was there anything about their strategy – the fixed positions, for example, and their approach to pacification – that was flawed?

How could the Diem government be reformed?

Was it possible to isolate Ho Chi Minh from his Communist backers? How much did he do their bidding?

Should the U.S. fight this war, or accept that foreign support is a mistake after French mistakes?Slide45

Conclusion

Thank you

boylem@lasalle.edu