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About Vietnam >> Vietnam's History :>> Vietnam's History - French Colonization In order to conquest new markets and extend their colonies, in 1857, French conquered Vietnam. As a colonized nation, Viet Nam's natural resources were exploited, its people were treated with disdain and impoverished, and its leaders were rendered powerless. Many resistance movements broke out immediately in occupied areas, some led by former court officers, such as Truong Dinh, some by peasants, such as Nguyen Trung Truc. In the north, most movements were led by former court officers and lasted quite long, with Phan Dinh Phung until 1895 and Hoang Hoa Tham until 1911. Even the teenage Nguyen Emperor Ham Nghi left the Imperial Palace of Hue in 1885 and started the Can Vuong, or "Save the King", movement, trying to rally the people to resist the French. In early 20th century, Vietnamese patriots realized that they could not defeat France without modernization. Also, having been exposed to Western philosophy, they aimed to establish a republic upon independence, departing from the royalist sentiments of the Can Vuong movements. Japan served as a perfect example that modernization could help an Asian country to defeat a powerful European empire, which was Russia. Thus emerged two parallel movements of modernization: The first was the Dong Du ("Go East") Movement started in 1905 by Phan Boi Chau. Phan Boi Chau's plan was to send Vietnamse students to Japan to learn every modern skills, so in the future they can lead a successful armed revolt against the French. The second movement was the Duy Tan ("Modernization"), led by Phan Chu Trinh, who favoured a peaceful, non-violent struggle to gain independence. He stressed the need to educate the masses, modernize the country, foster understanding and tolerance between the French and the Vietnamese, and a peaceful transition of power. Within this context, a young revolutionary named Nguyen Tat Thanh (alias Nguyen Ai Quoc), who later became known as Ho Chi Minh, began studying with Russian and Chinese communists on the techniques of politics, warfare, and power. He formed the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930, which also became known as the "Viet Minh." Concurrently with the Vietnamese Nationalist Party that was formed in 1927, these revolutionary organizations carried out separate sporadic rebellions that helped to raise the consciousness of the Vietnamese people and awaken their spirit of fierce independence and freedom. Even during the Japanese occupation of Viet Nam during World War II, both the Nationalists and Communists focused on building their own separate underground intelligence and guerrilla networks. After Japan was defeated, Ho Chi Minh and Viet Minh triumphed in the August 1945 Revolution. On Sept 2nd, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh read the Independence Manifesto declaring the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam at Ba Dinh Square. Following the August 1945 Revolution, the Vietnamese people drove the French colonialists out of Vietnam forever with the historical victory at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The victory and the Geneva Conference ended nearly 100 years of French’s colonial presence in Vietnam.
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