ublic of Vietnam (DRV) in 1946 failed to prevent the outbreak of war was the inability of the French to accommodate to the new realities in post-war Indochina. Until the French arrived in force in the mid-19th century, the Vietnamese had a long history of resistance to foreign invaders, the Chinese, who ruled them, except for short intervals, between 111 B.C. and 939 A.D. Between 1859 and 1884, the French seized control of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, which together became the colony of French Indochina. According to Hammer, Vietnamese nationalists "fought for independence from France as their ancestors had fought to oust the Chinese from Vietnam." French colonialism helped modernize Vietnam's economy, but Edmonds said "the French version of the 'white man's burden' was largely a smokescreen to cover an especially vicious brand of imperialism. France exploited Vietnam ruthlessly."
Under French rule, Vietnamese were second-class citizens. Hammer said "most Vietnamese withdrew entirely from political life, silently if unmistakably indicating their passive resistance to foreign rule. Some turned to violence and revolution." Non-communist nationalist movements were divided and largely ineffective. Ho Chi Minh (1892-1969), a dedicated, Russian-trained Communist, organized the communist party in Hong Kong in 1930. In 1931 the French 'White Terror' suppressed both movements; however, according to Devillers and Lacouture,
by refusing . . . to allow any nationalist movement . . ., the . . . French . . . prevented the Vietnamese from establishing open and legal organizations and . . . thereby
helped embed revolutionary Communism firmly within the heart of Vietnamese nationalism.
During World War II, the Japanese used Indochina as a military staging base and effectively controlled the local authorities of Vichy France. Duiker said the destruction of western colonial rule in Southeast Asia "brutally shattered" . . . "the precari...