The History of French Indo-China

For over two-thousand years the people of Vietnam have fought off invading armies from ancient Chinese rulers to present-day super powers all the while struggling to maintain their indigenous identity and culture.

One such super power was France. And from 17th century with the establishment of Jesuit missions to 1954 and the battle of Dien Bien Phu the French had influence on Indochina.

French Indochina was formed in October 1887 from the territories of Annam, Tonkin, Cochinchina, which all together form modern-day Vietnam, and the Kingdom of Cambodia- Laos was added after the Franco-Siamese War.

European involvement in Viet Nam was confined to trade during the 18th century, though in 1787 Pigneau de Béhaine, a French Catholic priest, petitioned the French government and organized French military volunteers to aid Nguyễn Ánh in retaking lands lost to the Tây Sơn. His troops fought in the service of France until 1802.



France was heavily involved in Vietnam in the 19th century; protecting the work of the Paris Foreign Missions Society in the country was often presented as a justification. As time went on the Nguyễn Dynasty increasingly saw Catholic missionaries as a threat to their way of life.

Territorial conflict in the Indochinese peninsula led to the Franco-Siamese War of 1893. In 1893 the French authorities in Indochina used border disputes, followed by the Paknam naval incident, to provoke a crisis. Soon after, French gunboats appeared at Bangkok, and demanded the cession of Lao territories east of the Mekong and got it.

The French continued to pressure Siam and in 1906–1907 they manufactured another crisis. This time Siam had to concede French control of territory on the west bank of the Mekong opposite Luang Prabang and around Champasak in southern Laos, as well as western Cambodia. France also occupied the western part of Chantaburi.

February 10, 1930 marked an uprising by Vietnamese soldiers in the French colonial army's Yen Bai garrison. The "Yên Bái mutiny" was sponsored by the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (VNQDD). VNQDD for the Vietnamese Nationalist Party. The attack was the largest disturbance against the colonisation of Vietnam since Phan Dinh Phung and the "Can Vuong monarchist movement" of the late 19th century. The aim of the revolt was to inspire a wider uprising among the general populace in an attempt to overthrow the colonial authority.

The VNQDD had previously attempted to engage in clandestine activities aimed to undermine French rule, but increasing French scrutiny on their activities led to their leadership group taking the risk of staging a large scale military attack in the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam.

During the Second World War Thailand took the opportunity of French weaknesses to reclaim previously lost territories, resulting in the French-Thai War between October 1940 and 9 May 1941.

The Thai forces generally did well on the ground, but Thai objectives in the war were limited. In January, Vichy French naval forces decisively defeated Thai naval forces in the Battle of Koh Chang. The war ended in May at the instigation of the Japanese, with the French agreeing to minor territorial gains for Thailand.

French forces were not in a strong enough position to immediately reassert their authority in their former colony, French Indochina, after the Japanese invaders withdrew at the end of World War II.

In the north, the Vietminh, a political party led by Ho Chi Minh, proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam. France agreed to recognize Vietnam as a free state within the French Union, but negotiations dragged on.

In December 1946, Vietminh forces attacked French garrisons, and during the ensuing years guerrilla activity increased in the countryside. In 1949, a Vietnamese provisional government, headed by Emperor Bao Dai, was established, which was recognized by France and, in 1950, by the United States.

The communist-dominated Vietminh rejected any remnant of French authority and consequently attacked French outposts along Vietnam's border with China, from whom they received substantial military aid. In 1951, the Vietminh created a common front with communist groups in Laos and Cambodia, also known as Kampuchea, and became more and more aggressive.

They were led by General Vo Nguyen Giap, who launched an attack on March 13, 1954, against the strategic French stronghold at Dien Bien Phu in northwestern Vietnam. Giap's siege lasted 56 days; his Vietminh troops continually attacked with artillery and mortar fire until the French defenders, short of ammunition, surrendered on May 7, 1954.



On April 27, 1954, the Geneva Conference produced the Geneva Agreements supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Indochina, granting it independence from France, declaring the cessation of hostilities and foreign involvement in internal Indochina affairs.