By: Rodrigo Soto
The goal of this article is to understand how foreign involvement in Vietnam developed and took place during the 20th century before American military involvement, the many factions involved and the consequences this series of events brought, the struggle for independence and imposing ideologies had a devastating effect and atrocities that civilians would pay dearly for decades to come.
Keywords: Vietnam, Foreign Involvement, War.
The long lasting wars Vietnam has had in the past are by no means random or not connected to each other, rather a continuity in all of them, foreign involvement parallel to a desire for independence threw countless souls, flags, corruption, interests and ideologies into the battle, not one side was exempt of committing atrocities, the combination of these and other factors gave the result we study today.
As the clouds gather before the Storm
Vietnam has a long history of foreign power ruling well before the 20th century, then along came Nguyen Ai Quoc, better known by his pseudonym: Ho Chi Minh, who was the founding father of modern day Vietnam, his life remains somewhat forgotten and details about him are quite overlooked but very interesting nonetheless, the communist revolutionary, politician, thin and short man (He was 5.4 ft. or 1.65 m. tall) had an admiration for the U.S., He carried a plea for an independent Vietnam in the 1919 Paris Peace Conference to American president Woodrow Wilson for an independent Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh would eventually fight the Japanese, French and American forces to a bloody stalemate and died six years before he could see foreign involvement in his country come to an end.
The Plea saw no success, some historians believe that the letter regarding this never reached the hands of Wilson, who at the time was seen as an advocate for lasting peace and democracy with his “Fourteen Points”, Ho saw motivation and opportunity in Wilson’s fifth point which expressed:
“A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable government whose title is to be determined.”
The French and colonialism
French involvement in the region started before the 20th century began, (In 1847 to be precise), and by 1880 the French controlled the country; European colonialism was the norm before and at the beginning of the 20th century, regions of Asia, the Middle East and Africa were under European control; In Southeast Asia, the French controlled the territories of Cochin-China, Annam, Cambodia, Tonkin, Kwangchowan (Guangzhouwan Today), and Laos, in those days it was called French Indochina (French: Indochine Française; Vietnamese: Đông Dương thuộc Pháp).
Life in Vietnam under French rule was harsh to say the least, blatant racism reigned, the colonial regime imposed a western-style administration, totally overlooking customs and tradition, some French rulers were believed to have total disregard and interest of language learning and style of living in their region of rule, and, eventually the Vietnamese felt this very deeply, large parts of the production benefited the French and wealthy landlords, even the slightest sign of rebellion or insurgency was severely punished, this led to a quick growth in nationalist sentiment in the general population.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica’s statistics, in 1939 (under French rule) Vietnam only had one University with 700 students, 2 physicians for every 100,000 people and no more of 15% of the children received some kind of schooling, in contrast of the several claims of French colonial regime apologists.
The Viet Minh
As mentioned earlier in this article, the Vietnamese people were no stranger to foreign intervention, no matter the ideology, background or status, people wanted increasingly to end foreign rule, so, numerous Vietnamese rebellions began to fight back with growing frequency, frontal assaults were of little or no success, instead, guerrilla tactics were implemented and using the terrain as a tactical advantage as well , the results were very effective, both of these tactics became the defining fighting trait before much of the conflicts that were to begin in a few years.
The Viet Minh, or Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, The League for the independence of Vietnam in English, was formed in May 1941 in Chinese jungles near the Vietnamese border, by the very same man that appealed for independence in Versailles in 1919: Ho Chi Minh, the Viet Minh acted as a national front with largely communist members, but open to various political inclinations, they were to carry the struggle against French, the Vichy rule, and later the Japanese as well, with the training and assistance from American troops.
Japan enters Vietnam
As the military buildup in secrecy became more and more obvious to the world, and the numerous promises made by Hitler to his people materialized, it became clear that nazi Germany was seeking a greater war in Europe that the one that ended in 1918, Adolf Hitler, himself a veteran, had a long resentment for what he called a “stab in the back” for Germany´s capitulation in world war one and the harsh terms of the Versailles treaty (that would see reparations paid until 2010) was adding up to resentment and anger, with a mainly French drive, the allies imposed these terms to prevent Germany to wage war for several years, but achieved exactly the opposite.
In May 1940, Hitler unleashed the blitzkrieg onto France conquering it in six weeks, since France is a large country, the nazis decided to divide the country into an occupation zone with German ruling and a portion left to a French collaborator government installed in Vichy, this left the situation of French Indochina uncertain, but not for long, only weeks after the fall of France, Japanese soldiers invaded Vietnam as part of their expansion and wishes of an empire, but kept Vietnam’s every day rule to the French, so, for the most part of the war, the situation remained largely the same.
Jean Decoux, the Vichy regime appointee in the region agreed with the Japanese government the use of all major ports and air facilities to the Japanese military in Vietnam, with a garrison of 30,000 troops, making it the most influential staging area for launching of Japanese military operations in the region.
Under general Giap, and with the support of most of the population, Viet Minh forces, began infiltrating Vietnam and put to use the same guerrilla tactics learned before, but this time against the Japanese, such tactics proved extremely deadly and Viet Minh fighters managed to liberate vast amounts of northern Vietnam; As the war was coming to an end, Japanese situation was becoming more desperate every day in all fronts, and Vietnam was no exception, in May 1945, the Japanese government evicted and executed numbers of French troops and took direct control over the country, as Japanese requisitions for food and raw materials increased, combined with the floods and breaches in the dikes, resulted in famine and disaster, that resulted in 2 million Vietnamese deaths.
The hope for Independence
In Hanoi’s Ba Dinh square, a man whom many have heard but never seen before stood, just hours after the Japanese surrender (September 2, 1945) and proclaimed Vietnamese independence, joy was widespread as Ho Chi Minh paraphrased the U.S. Declaration of Independence:
“All men are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and among them are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness...”
Ho’s motivation to declare independence derived from the position of the Viet Minh as a popular, native and effective force, Ho declared himself president of the democratic republic of Vietnam, He hoped U.S. support and recognition to keep French and Chinese imperialism out of the country effectively, but this hope was not to live long as American president Harry Truman repeatedly ignored Ho’s messages.
The British Arrive
After the war, in Potsdam, Germany, the allies agreed that Vietnam belonged to France, but the French lacked the resources and capabilities to restore order, and in the other hand, the Chinese under Chiang Kai Shek’s government fought the Japanese in the region, to mediate this situation, the Chinese would accept Japanese surrender and oversee disarmament in the northern region (above the 17th parallel) and the French, assisted by the British would do the same in the south, effectively dividing the country in two.
After this agreement, 150,000 Chinese soldiers entered northern Vietnam, looting every village in their way, when they reached Hanoi the story remained the same, consisting mainly of poor peasants this kind of behavior was to be expected, but nobody ever thought it would be as brutal as it was, even Ho and the Vietnamese recognized ‘better the devil you know’ as French seemed not as savage as Chinese troops, under Chiang Kai Shek’s government, China agreed with the French a withdrawal from Vietnam in February 1946, after some French concessions, the Chinese mission in North Vietnam effectively ended, but the situation in the south would be no different with European occupants.
A British-Indian task was assigned for the purpose of restoring control in southern Vietnam, but the situation was chaos to say the least, British troops lacked communications with their command and suffered several delays due to American politics regarding Japanese surrender procedures, several Vietnamese private militias were causing major difficulties, the French lacked manpower and as British troops aided them in restoring order, liberated former French paratroopers imprisoned by the Japanese, armed them, and assigned defeated Japanese soldiers as well for the mentioned task; Revenge, desire for vengeance, greed and many other factors played very badly for the Vietnamese, as French soldiers and civilians brutally took on civilians including women and children, clubbing them, looting homes and shops, after facing this kind of abuse by foreigners, the Viet Minh moved again and resumed guerrilla warfare, after the situation became dire enough, General Leclerc visited Saigon to “reclaim their inheritance”, freedom after world war two apparently came, but not for everybody.
After the British-French force regained some ground and Viet Minh control was slowly diminished, the situation seemed improved, but by the end of September 1945 a Vietnamese mob attacked and killed French troops and French-Vietnamese civilians, then the Viet Minh joined, setting fires in the central market and attacking the Than Son Nut airport guarded by British troops, the attack was repelled as others to come, British troops were seasoned veterans, while the Viet Minh was still learning new tactics, this led to an almost control, even almost repelled all Viet Minh forces out of Saigon with the help of Japanese and French forces, this led to British command to seize the opportunity and hand control to the French, effectively end their mission in Vietnam in May 1946.
Ho Chi Minh and the French agreed to work together in march 1946, in an effort to restore peace in the country, this to a promise that seemed somewhat neutral, the autonomy of Vietnam as a free state but within the French union, French troops would occupy the country as part of the agreement but with a gradual five year complete withdrawal, this led to some support from the French to Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh in consolidating power, this specially focused on politicians and groups backed by nationalist Chinese.
The beginning of the end, for the French in Vietnam
Some cooperation existed in 1946 between the French and the Viet Minh, but the abysmal differences in motivations began to show, as Vietnamese aimed for total independence including anticommunist leaders, the French sought the return of colonial rule, not long before this differences were all too apparent to be irreconcilable, the French decided to bomb Haiphong with naval guns, causing several deaths including civilians, in response the Viet Minh decided to act and by the end of 1946 open hostilities began.
The first phase of this conflict involved mostly rural areas and insurgency-style attacks, the French lacked terrain knowledge and enemy knowledge as well, the feeling of superiority and confidence undermined operations and resulted in advantage to Viet Minh forces who had some degree of American support, but as the war leaned more to the containment of communism around the world, the United States began backing up the French with huge amounts of equipment, the Viet Minh was not left alone at all without American support, Vietnamese people empathized with them for the most part, the Soviet and the Chinese (with new communist leadership) provided training, weapons and some logistics (mostly based on the north).
The support pouring in from foreign governments turned the situation into a more conventional war in 1949, were professional troops with modern equipment faced each other in the field of battle, the determination of Vietnamese nationalist soldiers was proving as difficult as ever for the French, Ho Chi Minh even said to the French: “you can kill 10 of my men for each one I kill of yours, but even at those odds you will lose and I will win”
French forces consisted of former maquis fighters (French resistance during world war two), French foreign legion, regular troops and forces from colonies such as Algerian, Moroccan, Cambodian among others but not forces recruited from French urban areas to prevent more unpopularity back in French soil as leftists were starting to call it la sale de guerre “the dirty war”, only after battles were raging for more six years it was becoming clear that the French were losing the battle, as much of Vietnam and neighboring Laos was controlled by the Viet Minh.
The battle that ended it all
At a French base at Dien Bien Phu in northwestern Vietnam, the constant mistakes in tactics and recognizing enemy capabilities would became all too apparent, General Henri Navarre established it as a lure to attract enemy forces, to crush them with superior firepower and cut the supply lines, while the base would be supported and resupplied from the air with American made airplanes, what the French did not expect was the tenacity of enemy fighters, under general Giap, forces dismantled artillery pieces, and carried them through mountains and difficult terrain, bringing with them, ammunition, small arms and other procurements necessary for the incoming battle, when in position, the Viet Minh forces dug positions in the mountains and started assembling and placing the equipment, with a force of more than 10,000 troops, the French were confident in the vast numbers of troops, fire superiority and victory, ‘Anne-Marie, Beatrice and Claudine ’ and some other were the strongpoints in the French base, named after the generals’ mistresses, these strongpoints held a perimeter of about 40 miles, too wide for only six battalions assigned to hold, but French forces were confident in superior artillery firepower (under Colonel Piroth) and air support, which was enough, because the enemy lacked artillery for that matter, as the French assurance was.
After four months of the base being established en March 13 1954, Vietnamese artillery opened up a barrage on Beatrice strongpoint, the French guns proved ineffective at repelling the enemy attacks as the Vietnamese artillery was dug in and well concealed, two days after the attack, Colonel Piroth committed suicide.
The siege, very reminiscent of the static battles of world war one, lasted 54 days, proving counter attacks and resupplies almost impossible, before the battle ended, Vietnamese casualties were much higher than expected, morale among the attackers was crumbling in face of the tenacious defense, General Giap’s commanders suggested a withdrawal in fear of American involvement to remedy the French situation, but the Chinese pushed them to carry on the attack and so they did and by May the 7th it was all over.
Reported Vietnamese casualties were around 15,000 between dead and wounded, but it is estimated that the real number goes around 23,000 dead and wounded, for their part, the French losses numbered around 7,500 dead and wounded with 11,000 captured, the next day, after the battle, in Geneva, conferences began to effectively end French intervention in Vietnam and partition the country in two.
American administration of president Dwight David Eisenhower saw the defeat in various perspectives, the French defeat was a product of “lack of political will” military mistakes and incorrect positioning of forces, which was true at a degree, but totally overlooked the efforts, tactics and motivation of the Vietnamese, in the other hand, the French withdrawal meant a stronger communist presence and consequences could come with this result, as president Eisenhower said to American politicians regarding a defense for a ‘free’ Vietnam:
“You have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the ‘falling domino’ principle, You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one [Vietnam], and what will happen to the last one is the certainty it will go over very quickly. So you could have the beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound consequences…”
REFERENCES:
WOOLF, Christopher (2017) THE LITTLE-KNOWN STORY OF VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST LEADER HO CHI MINH’S ADMIRATION FOR THE US, Written for: PRI.org, Retrieved: 06 January 2020 from: https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-09-18/little-known-story-vietnamese-communist-leader-ho-chi-minh-s-admiration-us
DUNN, Peter (1985) THE FIRST VIETNAM WAR, London: C. Hurst Press, London England.
BUTTINGER, J., DUIKER, W. (2019) VIETNAM, EFFECTS OF FRENCH COLONIAL RULE, Written for: Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., Retrieved: 16 January 2020 from: https://www.britannica.com/place/Vietnam
MARR, David (1995) VIETNAM 1945: The quest for power, Berkeley University, California Press, California, United States.
LONELY PLANET STAFF (2017) HISTORY OF VIETNAM, Written For: lonelyplanet.com, Retrieved: 17 January 2020 from: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/vietnam/history#72288
THE HISTORY PLACE, (2019) THE VIETNAM WAR, Seeds of Conflict, Written For: historyplace.com, Retrieved: 17 January 2020 from: https://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1945.html
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