The Defeat of France by The Vietnamese and Its Impact
The state that Vietnam was left in after they had defeated France in 1954.
In South Vietnam there was social upheaval due to Diem’s leadership. Diem left the South Vietnamese feeling increasingly alienated due to his inability to relate to the people and he gave precedence to the Catholics in a place where Buddhism outnumbered Catholics 14 to 1.[26] This also led to an increase of people coming from the North to the South after the Geneva Conference, attracted by the South’s strong Catholic position. However the favouritism towards Catholics saw Buddhists protests emerging. In one early protest in 1963, a group of students marched through the streets carrying Buddhist flags demonstrating against Diem. South Vietnamese security forces shot at the group and 8 students were killed.[27]This led to an increase in the number of protests and the severity of the protest, for example one Buddhist burnt himself in a public ceremony in Saigon.[28]This was the first of many burnings, and the views of the high ranking South Vietnamese towards these protests was unsympathetic, as seen by Diem’s sister, Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, who called the suicides “barbecues”.[29]After these suicides Diem, influenced by his family, declared martial law and instituted raids against Buddhist temples.[30]Historian Robert B. Asprey suggests that it was Diem’s inability to respect the Buddhists that “signed the death warrant of their government and, as it turns out, themselves”.[31]
In North Vietnam, the social situation was based on the relationship between Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese people. Ho Chi Minh was a charismatic leader who lived like a peasant to emphasise him being ‘one of the people’. Minh appealed to the peasantry directly seen by the land reforms where many large landowners were killed to make space for peasants and farms etc. The historian Phillip B. Davison describes that Ho Chi Minh’s actions “incessantly propagandised the peasants toward support of the communist regime…”.[32]These killing also brought about protest within North Vietnam due to the violence, and many people were becoming anxious whether they were going to be killed for their land or not. This also led to an exodus of people fleeing to South Vietnam to escape the impending death. It is estimated that the number of people fleeing from North Vietnam varied from 800 000 to one million.[33] Ho Chi Minh’s actions against landowners had mixed results: many people fled North Vietnam or were killed, and many other people started to support communism in Vietnam. Although the land reforms did create protests and disruption, Minh was able to use the land reform to create a more stable economy so the positives outweigh the negatives in terms of the war effort.
The political, economic and social situation in Vietnam during the period after the defeat of the French up to 1964 was mixed. The South had many issues mainly concerning their ally America with their economy based on American support and their political leader being backed by America. This leader caused social problems mainly for the Buddhist community however. The North Vietnamese economy was also initially based on support by China and Russia, but was able to be developed into a sustainable form of income. This was fashioned by the North Vietnamese political leader Ho Chi Minh.
[1] John Wood, Vietnam and the Indochina Conflict, Published by Macmillan Publishers New Zealand limited in 2001, page 29
[2] Ibid page 33
[3] Ibid page 33
[4] Ibid page 33
[5] Anthony James Joes, The War For South Vietnam 1945-1975, published by Praeger Publishers in 2001 page 40
[6] Gibson, Michael, The War in Vietnam, Published by Wayland Ltd in 1991, page 15
[7] OpCit John Wood, page 30
[8] Ibid page 30
[9] Ibid page 47
[10] Mark Bradley, The Vietnam War, Published by M.E. Sharpe in 1994, page 25
[11] William J. Duiker, Ho Chi Minh, Published by Allen & Unwin in 2000, page 475
[12] Ibid page 476
[13] Robert D. Schulzinger, A time for war: the United States and Vietnam, Published by Oxford University Press, Inc in 1997, page 90
[14] Ibid page 90
[15] Ibid page 90
[16] Ibid page 90
[17] Ibid page 90
[18] Ibid page 90
[19] Kuotsai Tom Liou, Handbook of economic development, Published by CRC Press in 1998, page 702
[20] Robert K. Brigham, http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/history/index.html, accessed 14th June 2009
[21] Andrew Weist, The Vietnam War, Published by the Rosen Publishing Group in 2008, page 17
[22] Yoshinori Nakano, Economic Conditions in North Vietnam, www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Periodicals/De/pdf/63_02_05.pdf, accessed 15th June 2009, page 87
[23] Ibid page 87
[24] Ibid page 87-88
[25] Ibid page 88
[26] Robert B. Asprey, War in the Shadows, Published by iUniverse in 2002, page 742
[27] Robert J. Topmiller, The lotus unleashed, Published by University Press of Kentucky in 2002, page 1
[28] OpCit Robert B. Asprey, page 743
[29] Ibid page 743
[30] Ibid page 743
[31] Ibid page 743
[32] Phillip B. Davison, Vietnam at War, Published by Oxford University Press in 1991
[33] OpCit Anthony James Joes, page 35
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