Oppression of Vietnam Througout History

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Recommended: Vietnam war from the Vietnamese point of view

Oppression is perhaps the worst crime that man will ever inflict upon himself. Despite a tyrant's will, the fighting spirit of the oppressed never dies out. Oppression has the power to turn an average commoner into a force to be reckoned with. If you take a man's freedom from him he has nothing to lose, making him extremely dangerous. Since 248 A.D., this oppression plagued South East Asia by the French, the Chinese and others. At the end of World War II in August of 1945, the French were trying to re-establish control over their Indochinese colonies. This weak moment would be seized by Vietnam to free themselves from French rule and declare their independence.

Vietnam has a long history of other countries ruling over it, beginning around 2,700 years ago. Successive dynasties based in China ruled over Vietnam from 111BC until 938 when Vietnam re-gained independence briefly. Vietnam remained a tributary state to China for much of its history and constantly repelled invasions from both Chinese and Mongols. The “independent” era ended towards the end of the 19th century when it was colonized by the French. France obtained control over northern Vietnam following its victory over China in the Sino-French war (1884-1885). French Indochina was formed in October 1887 from Annam, Tonkin, and Cochinchina, which together form modern Vietnam.

In the spring and summer of 1954, French and Vietminh forces were battling fiercely over who would be in control of Vietnam. Things were beginning to look very bleak for the French forces trying to quell the uprisings of the Vietminh in their colonial possession of Indochina. An uprising by Vietnamese soldiers occurred on February 10, 1930, in the French colonial army's Yen Bai garrison, a small t...

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...eva Accords partitioned the country in two, with the promise of re-unification and democratic free elections. Unfortunately rather than peaceful re-unification, partition led to the Vietnam war, where former neighbors were at war with each other. Meanwhile the Geneva conference had begun again in April. Vietminh general Giap decided to commence his attack on Dien Bien Phu while the conference was under way. The September before the U.S had agreed to give the French a grant of $385 million to begin the ‘Navarre Plan’, a plan to destroy the Viet Minh forces by 1955. The French were in desperate need of the aid by that time.

While The Vietnamese eventually reached their goal of independence, had to fight hard and stay determined to win. The Indo-China war took many Vietnameese lives but united a country of mostly peasants under Ho Chi Minh against their oppressors.

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