Conflict in Vietnam pre-1963 - The Development Of Ho Chi Minh's relations with France and America.

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Conflict in Vietnam pre-1963

The Development Of Ho Chi Minh’s relations with France and America

      1)

Source A shows us that Vietnamese people hated the French, they called them “invaders”. Not only did the poor people hate the French, but also the rich and even children “refused to accept the French occupation of 1883”, this shows that they were against the French. The Vietnamese used guerilla warfare to defeat the French “by irregular bands of men protected by the people of the countryside, who hid them and fed them.

Source B shows us that the men in the front of the picture is Vietnamese, and the man at the back of the picture is French. They look to be wearing different clothes however they look to be very similar, this is because not all the Vietnamese hated the French, some liked the French, which is why they had joined the their army as I can see in the picture.

2)

Agreement

Both sources C and D agree about why Vietnam was important to them (the French),  they both feel that Vietnam is important to the French army. Source C says that Vietnam is theirs  “it is our country” they feel that they are in control of the country “which we feel we belong to”.

Disagreement

These sources also disagree, source D says that it wants Vietnam for its raw materials “indo-China was a storehouse of raw materials”, these consisted of things like iron, coal and rubber. Whereas source C says that its just theirs “ it is our country”. Source D says that it wants Vietnam for economical reasons but source C says that it wants to ”hold on to it” because of its “profound” love for the country, this is very emotional. Source C never mentions anything about giving independence to Vietnam even if it was theirs however source D mention that they would “Our aim was to lead them to independence little by little”.  

3)

Source A

This source says that the Vietnamese people hated the French that’s why they called them “invaders”. This included every single person whether they were rich or poor, even the children hated them because they did not want someone to come in to their country and take it over. The Vietnamese people had hated the French from the beginning. To defeat the French the Vietnamese people used guerilla warfare, this is when people would dress up in ordinary clothes and look as if they were civilians. They would hide in bushy areas.

The reason for saying this

The author of this source was a French historian. He’s writing about this because it is history, it has already passed. He may be writing this in order to defend the French, as he would not like anything bad said about his country. While he was writing this, the American’s were fighting the Vietnamese and they were losing to them because of guerilla warfare, so he may be trying to tell them that it wont be a easy battle or that they might lose to this tactic, like the French did.

Source B

The picture in source B tells me that the relationship between the French and the Vietnamese was not that bad, because some Vietnamese had actually joined the French army.

The reason for saying this

We do not know for sure whether the Vietnamese people had actually joined the French army. For example in world war 1 the Vietnamese people were in the French army however this time they could just be using propaganda in the picture, showing how nice they are by letting the  Vietnamese into the army. They could be showing good relations on purpose in order to say that they are not that bad.

Source C

Source C says that the French really did love Vietnam “out of profound love for a country”. By saying about their profound love for a country they show that they had very deep feelings for it. It also mentions that Vietnam belongs to France forever “which we feel we belong to”.

The reason for saying this

This source was written by a French army officer who was stationed at Vietnam. He is saying this not only because he is an army officer but he is also fighting for this country, and he has to give a reason for why the French are fighting for this country. He is fighting for a reason which he believes in. This was in 1945 when the French were fighting Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh.

 

Source D

This source says that Vietnam is important to the French because of its raw materials “indo-China was a storehouse of raw materials”. It says that they wanted it as it was important for money and economical reasons. However says that they were not going to hold onto it forever, they were going to give it independence eventually, like a parent child relationship “preparing the way rather like you’d prepare a child for adulthood.

The reason for saying this

This source was written by a French merchant and colonist who was in Vietnam before and after world war Two. In the source he mentions that the reason they wanted Vietnam was because “it was a storehouse of raw materials”. The reason he mentions this parent and childhood relation is because he wants the French look to good, as though they were not that bad to the Vietnamese people and treated them ordinarily. When he says that they would eventually have left Vietnam he is actually looking back and is changing the French’s history (what really would have happened).

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Source E

Here is where the bad relationship is mentioned. The French people dominated the Vietnamese, they had completely taken over. The French people sent out thousands of their own people to go and find themselves jobs “of colonies people who needed jobs”. Even those French people who had little if any knowledge “ people with very little education”. This had really upset the Vietnamese people as they were not able to get jobs themselves.

The reason for saying this

This source was written by a Vietnamese man called Ton That Thien, who was a wartime interpreter for ...

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