Vietnam War Literature Review Paper Example

Miller, Edward. 2006. "The Taylor-Buzzanco Debate And How We Think About The Vietnam War." Edward Miller War Stories, 453-480.

France is one of the many countries that were known to take over colonies in different parts of the world. When the French government set up base in Vietnam, they introduced new rules which the locals were to adhere to strictly. The failure to observe the rules could lead to imprisonment and also enslavement. This is one of the many negative effects of the French colonialism in the Vietnam region.

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Rotter, Andrew. 2010. "Light At The End Of The Tunnel." A Vietnam War Anthology, 146-160.

The Vietnamese people were tired of the constant colonial rule that they had been experiencing for many years. They had fought against the Chinese or their freedom, and the French came into the land again to colonize them. This made them fight through guerrilla warfare and other methods. The Vietnamese locals had mastered the art of fighting in the forests and thought they could win against the French using this method. They, however, utilized many techniques in defeating the French colonialists.

Marr, David. 1995. Vietnamese Traditions On Trial. Berkeley: University of California.

When the French colonialists invaded Vietnam, they introduced new cultures. They introduced Christianity and many people converted to the religion. The religion forced the new converts to leave their traditions. The religion was not welcomed by the locals which made them kill the Christian converts as a way of retaliation. They felt that their traditions were being mutilated and not being respected by the French colonialists. Also, the Vietnamese local was no longer free to practice their traditions in the long run. Also, there were French ways of dressing introduced to the Vietnamese people which forced them to forfeit their traditional dressing methods.

Bradley, Mark. 1950. "Imagining Vietnam And America." The Making OfPost Colonial Vietnam, no. 73-106.

America had a great interest in the resources available in Vietnam. This was the main reason they engaged in war with the French colonialists so that they could chase them from the land and occupy it themselves. The Vietnamese war which was supported by the American government helped to get rid of the French colonialists. This led to the creation of a good relationship between the Vietnamese people and the Americans. The end colonialism by the French imperialists was pushed forward by the Americans.

Colonialism in the 19th and 20th century was common. Most European countries colonized regions that were not developed. The main reason for invading other lands was to explore for resources that they could repatriate back to their home countries and be used for development. Most leaders in the European countries had the objective of ensuring that they had many colonies. Having many colonies was viewed as a source of power and pride. Some of the colonialists moved to lands far away for exploration so that they could identify resources that they could use for their country's development. When a free land was identified, the locals of the colonizing country invaded the colony as settlers. The locals were snatched their lands and property and sometimes subjected to paying taxation for their land and property. Since most of them could not afford the taxation rates, they ended up working in the plantations owned by the foreigners.

Locals were forced to work without pay. Sometimes, they could be provided with little food as a way of payment. In this way, most of the inhabitants in the colonies died due to the harsh conditions they were subjected to. Troops would be sent to the colonies to maintain security and peace for the settlers so that they could not be attacked by the locals. In addition to this, the colonialists set up industries, churches, and schools in the colonies so that their children could be educated. They introduced civilization to the colonies but also caused a lot of harm in the long run. It is essential to note that many people were killed and brutally handled by the colonialists. The French in Vietnam subjected the locals to hard labor without payment and food or water. Most of them worked in hazardous environments without protection. Mass deaths were registered from exposure to hazardous materials in the production factories. Some of the political and religious systems used by the colonialists were than assimilated by the locals even after the end of the colonial eras.

Literature review

The 1954 battle at Dien Bien Phu is an obvious example of Vietnamese resistance to French colonial rule. However, Vietnamese resistance to French Imperialism manifested itself in various forms prior to the war. Describe the intellectual, cultural and political forms of Vietnamese resistance, broadly constructed, right across the political spectrum, to the pervasive nature of French colonial rule over Vietnam.

Ways the Vietnamese resisted the French colonialists

The Vietnams repelled the French rule under various stages. The Can Vuong was a deliberate Vietnam formation in resistance against the French operations. Under the particular motive, the Vietnamese staged surprise attacks on The French forces. Can Vuong succeed in the first few periods as the surprise element in battles boosted it? However, the Vietnamese were soon defeated in the surprise attacks which are indicated above. The French pouring occasioned this in more officers as reinforcement. Further, the Christians in Vietnam were accused of allegedly aiding the French thereby leading to a counteraction.

The Can Vuong executed approximately 40000 Christians in vengeance and in a stance aimed at sending a message to the French . It is worth the mention that the French launched several retaliatory attacks. The attacks on the Can Vuong followed a new path whereby the French concentrated on limiting the former's capacity. As such, the resistance started experiencing acute shortages in both supplies and resources and slowly faded away from the scene.

The Phan Dinh Phung led resistance was another high energy form of resistance against the French atrocities. Phan was a rebel who organized troops to stage battles against the French forces. The resistance was high, and it is documented that the French reacted by coercion of the rebels into forceful surrenders. Of the battlefield, the French for instance resorted to threatening the force leaders' families and related acts . The resistance under question also retaliated through massive blowouts to the French forces especially noted with seizing their armories and copying the French battlefield resources and later deploying them against their initial owners; the French. Although the Phan-led resistance was mostly short of resources and the French constantly outsmarted them, the former procured weapons from the Siamese army. Sadly the movement crumbled with the fall of the resistance's leader, Phan Dinh Phung.

Another resistance group which resisted French rule was the Viet Minh. It was founded by Ho Chi Minh. Contrary to other earlier forms of resistance, the resistance movement welcomed people with varying political stands, but it sought to introduce an air of nationalism in the fight against French occupation and rule in Vietnam. , Founded in 1941, the resistance movement was also almost exclusively funded by Chinese and American nationalists. The basis for their support was that each nation was sovereign and the presence of the French in Vietnam was a clear deterrence.

A major occurrence occurred from 1944-1945 which attracted more members to the Viet Minh. There was a severe famine in North Vietnam which wiped an approximated ten percent of the northern Vietnam population, this being one million people. At the time, bases allied to the French rule were well furnished with food supplies. Viet Minh, therefore, encouraged people to not only abscond taxes but also invade the facilities and ransack food products. Given that the people were faced with lack of food, they cooperated and joined the resistance movement . The Viet Minh also staged an uprising successfully through the August revolution and proceeded to win the elections in most parts in the north and central regions of the country. The Hanoi war came as a subsequence of the electioneering period and the constant pressure the Viet Minh staged against the French thereby leading to the birth of the Indochina war.

One of the available resources in the country was land. It was in plenty, and the French found it necessary to exploit maximally. They invested in planting rubber and coffee in the vast plantations. The rubber was to be used in the production of vehicle tires which were to be then exported to France for use in production. This was a way that they could use to develop their home country while the people of Vietnam continued to wallow in poverty. According to research, the French used the Vietnamese offer cheap labor within the plantation. Due to the many deaths of the Vietnamese people, they resisted offering labor in the French-owned factories. Their main aim of refusing to offer cheap labor was to avoid more deaths of the Vietnamese. The people who worked in the plantations were recruited to joining guerrilla war aimed at neutralizing the power of the French colonialists.

Working in the factories proved to be hazardous to the Vietnamese who were forced to. They worked in the rubber processing factories without any form of protection, and this affected their health. Most of them had their health deteriorate and could lose their lives while working at the factories. This led to many of the people working in potations in different parts of the country to start a revolution that would see them gain independence after six decades of French colonial rule. Despite the French government banning the use of brutality as corporal punishment, most of the colonialists in Vietnam ignored this and continued to subject the workers to brutality when they were unable to offer labor within the plantations. Additionally, most of the individuals who owned pieces of land in Vietnam when the French colonized the country were snatched from them. They were given the option of working in the land and getting paid or leaving the lands and settling in other locations. This infuriated the people because they did not have anywhere else to settle apt from where they were ancestrally located.

The French colonialists lied to the Vietnam inhabitants that they would give them employment in the vast plantations with huge wages. This brightened the hopes of the Vietnamese such they accepted the offers. When they worked in the plantations, they were treated like slaves and were not given any special treatment. They were not paid, and the harsh working conditions made them die while working in eth plantations. Also, most of them lost their personal property in the form of land to the French colonialists at gun points. They were threatened so that they could not retaliate in the long run.

The French colonialist understood that keeping the Vietnamese inhabitants together could bring about a revolution that they could not stop. Due to this, the governors in different parts of the country used the divide and rule strategy. They separated the people whom they believed could be triggered to revolution against the French revolution. They were taken to plantations in different parts of the country. This movement paralyzed the intentions of the natives to fight back the French colonialists. Despite being victorious in the previous revolutions against the Chinese colonialists, the Vietnam inhabitants were not able to quickly conquer the French colonialists. The divide and rule strategy worked for the French, and they continued to oppress the Vietnams by subjecting them to hard labor and not paying them.

Further, the French l...