Vietnam War (contd-6)

Soon Le Duan became the acting 1st secretary replacing Truoung. Duan urged military line, increased assistance to insurgency, assassinated govt officials, but maintained status qua to schholteachers, health workers and agricultural officers.According to an estimate he assassinated 20 p.c. of South vietnam's village chiefs by 1958. In 1959, the North's Central Committee issued a secret circular authrizing an armed struggle. In may the South Vietnam Govt enacted a law which made political violence a punishable by death and property confiscated. Observing the increasing unpopularity of the Diem Govt. Hanoi created a National Liberation Front.At that time American administrator Mcnamara and other were posted in Vietnam. The communists got a  popular support to replace Diem's Govt and reunify the country.

Vietnam War (contd-5)

Insurgency in the South, 1956-1960 The Sino-Soviet split led to a reduction in the influence of the PRC, which had insisted in 1954 that the Viet Minh should accept a division of the country.Truong Chinh, North Vietnam's pro-PRC party first secretary, was demoted and Hanoi authorised communists in South Vietnam to begin a low level insurgency in Dec 1956. This insurgency in the south had begun in response to Diem's Denunciation of Communists campaign, in which thousands of local Viet Minh cadres and supporters had been executed or sent to concentration camps, and was in violation of the Northern Communist party line which had instructed them not to start an insurrection,  but rather engage in a political campaign, agitating for a free all-Vietnam election in accordance with the Geneva accord.

Ho Chi Minh advised, "Do not engage in military  operations, that will lead to defeat. Do not take land from the peasant. Emphasize nationalism rather than communism. Do not antagonise any one if you can avoid it  Be selective in your violence . If an assassination is necessary, use a knife, not a rifle or a grenede. It is easy to kill innocents with guns and bombs, and accidental killing of the of the innocent bystanders will allienate peasants from the revolution. Once an assassination has taken place, make sure peasants know why the killing occurred ". This strategy was referred to as "armed propaganda".     

Vietnam War (contd-4)

Diem Era, 1955-1963 The Domino Theory (which said that if one country fell to Communist forces, then all of thew surrounding countries would follow) was first proposed as policy by the Eisenhower administrationJohn F Kennedy, then a US senator, said in a speech to the American Friends of Vietnam;"Burma,Thiland,India, Japan, the Philipines and obiously Laos and Cambodiawere among those whose security would be threatened if he Red Tide of Communism overflowed into Vietnam.
Diem, a devout Roman Catholic, was fervently anti-Communist, nationalist and socially conservative, narrow and extremist nationalism coupled with autocracy and nepotism.He helped the French rule in Vietnam.
Beginning in the summer of 1955, he launched "the denounce he Communists" campaign during which the communist andother anti-government elementswere arrested, imprisoned, tortured or executed.Diem instituted a policy of death penaltyagainst any activity deemed communist in aug 1956. Opponents were labeled Viet Cong (Vietnamese Communists) by the regime to degrade their nationalist credentials.As a measure of the political repression , about  12,000 suspected opponents of Diem were killed in the year 1955-1957 and by the end of 1958an estimated 40,000 political prisoners had been jailed.
In May, Diem undertook a ten-day state visit to the US, where Eisenhower assured continued support to Diem.Robert Macnamara wrote that the new Americans patrons were comletely ignorant of the Vietnamese culture.

Vietnam War (contd-3)

In the north, The viet Minh ruled as the DRV and engaged in a drastif land reform programin which an estimated eight thousand perceived
"class enemies " were executed. In 1056, the communist party's leaders of Hanoi admitted to excesses in implementing this program and restored a large amount of the land to the original owners.
In the South, former Emperor Bao Dai's State of Viernam operated , with Ngo Dinh Dien as his primeminister . In June 1955, Diem announced that election would not be held. South Vietnam had rejected the agreement from the beginningand was therefore not bound by it., he said "how can we expect free election to be held in Communist north.Diem asked President Eisenhower echoed seniorUS experts when he wrote that , in 1954, 80 p.c. of the population would have voted for communist Ho Chi Minh, over Emperir Bao Dai.
In April=June 1955, Diem cleared the decks of any political oppositions in the south by launching militry operations
On 26, oct 1955, Diem declared the new Republic of Vietnamwith himself as president.      

Vietnam War (contd-2)

US carriers sailed to the Gulf of Tonkin, and reconnaissance fights over Dien Bien Phu were conducted during the negotiations. According to Richard Nixon the plan involved the Joint chiefs of Staff drawing up plans to use three small tactical nuclear weapons in support of the French. Vice-president Nixon , a so called hawk on Vietnam , suggested that the US might have to "put American boys in." President Eisenhower made American participation contingent on British support, but London was opposed. In the end, convinced that the political risks outweighed the possble benefits, Eisenhower decided against the intervention.The Viet Minh received crucial support from the Soviet Union and PRC. PRC support in the Border Campaign of 1950 allowed supplies to come from PRC into Vietnam. Throughout the conflict, US intelligence estimates remained skeptical of French chances of success. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu marked the end of French involvemnnet in Indochina. The Viet Minh  and their merculiar commander Vo Nguyen Giap handed the French a stunning military defeat, and on May 7, 1954, the French Union garrison surrendered. At the Geneva conference the French negotialted a ceasefire agreement with the Viet Minh. Independence was granted to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Transition Period:   

Vietnam was temporarily partitioned at the 17th parallel, and under the terms of the Geneva Convention, civilians were to be given 6he opportunity to freely move between the two provisional States for 300-day period. Elections throughout the country were to be held in 1956, to establish a unified govt.About 1 millin northerners, mainly minority Catholics fled south , fearing persewcution  by the Communists.

In addition to the catholics fkowing through the south from the north upto 130,000, Revolutionary Regroupees went north for the regroupment expecting to return to the south within 2years. The last French soldiers were to leave Vietnam in April 1956. The PRC comleted their withdrawal from North vietnam at around the same time.Around 52,000 Vietnamese civilians moved from south to north.      

Vietnam War (contd-1)

History of Vietnam War: Vietnam was ruled by China during 207 BC until 938 when Vietnam regained its Independence Emperor Tran Nhan Tong later  diplomatically submitted Vietnam to a tributary of the Yuan to avoid further conflicts.The independent period temporarily was in the middle to late 19th century, when the country was colonized by France. During  WW II, Imperial Japan expelled the French  to occupy Vietnem though they retained French administrators during their occupation. After the war when the allied forces came as a victorious ally, it was agreed that Indochina was a part of France but after the First Indochina War, Geneva accords partitioned the country in two with a promise of democratic election to reunite the country. But the United States did not want the expansion of communism in this region of Indochina and stood in the way of reunification of Vietnam. This was the cause of Vietnam War.    

Exit of the French, 1950-54;
In Jan 1950, the Communist nations , led by the People's Republic of China (PRC), recognized the Viet Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnamas and the Govt of Vietnam. Whereas the Non-communist nations recognized the French-Backed State of Vietnam in Saigon led by former Emperor Bao Dai in the following months.The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 convinced many Washington policy makers that the war in Indochina was an example of communist expansionism directed by the Kremlin.
PRC military advisors began assisting the Viet Minh in July 1950. PRC weapons, expertise  and laborers transformed the Viet Minh from a guerrilla force into a regular army.   In Sept 1950, the US created a military Assistance and Advisory Advisory Group (MAAG) to screen French request for aid, advise on strategy , and train Vietnamese soldiers. By 1954, the US had supplied 300,000 small arms and spent US $ 1 bilion in supprot of the French military effort and was shouldering 80 p.c. of the cost of the war.
There were also talks between the French and Americans in which the possible use of three tactical nuclear weapons was considered , though how seriously this was considered  were even now vague and contradictory. One version of the plan for the proposed OperationVulture envisioneed sending 60B-29s from US bases in the region , supported by as many as 150 fighters launched from US Seventh Fleet carriers, to bomb Viet Minh commander Vo Nguyen Giap's positions. Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave this nuclear strike, as could carrier aircraft from the Seventh Fleet.

Vietnam War

Vietnam War was a cold war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from Nov 1, 1955 to April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell. This war was fought between Communist North Vietnam, supported by its Communist allies and the govt of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations.

The United States entered the War to prevent a Communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of commitment. Military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. US involvement escalated in early 1960s, with US troop levels trippling in 1961 and trippling again in 1962. US combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this, US ground forces, were withdrawn as part of a policy called Vietnamization. Despite the Paris Peace accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued.
The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities including 3 to 4 million Vietnamese from both sides, 1.5 to 2 million Laotians and Cambodians , and 58,159 US  soldiers.

Various names have been applied to the conflict . Vietnam War is the most commonly used name in English. It has also been called the Second Indochina War, and the Vietnam Conflict.

As there have been so many conflicts in Indochina, this conflict is known by the name of their chief opponent to distinguish it from the others. Thus, in Vietnamese, the war is known as the Vietnam War, or as Resistance War Against America, loosely trnaslated as the American War .

The main military organizations involved in the War were, on one side, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and the US military, on the other hand, the Vietnam People's army or North Vietnamese Army and the Vietcong, or National Front  for the Liberation of South Vietnam, a south Vietnamese communist army. 

        

First Indochina War (contd-3)

The following day, peace talks on Indochina began in Geneva, attended by DRV, Associated State of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, France , Britain, China, the Soviet Union, and the United States. In July a compromise agreement was reached cosisting of two documents, a ceaase fire and a final declaration. The ceasefire agreement, which was signed only by France and theDRV, established a provisional military demarcation line at about the 17 degree N parallel and required the regroupment of all French military forces south of that line and of all Viet minh military forces north of the line. A demilitarized zone (DMZ), no more than five kms wide, was established on either side of the demarcation line.The cease fire agreement also provided for a 300-day period, during which all civillians were free to move from one zone to the other, and an international Control Commission , consisting of Canada, India,and Poland, to supervise the ceasefire. The final declaration was  endorsed through recorded oral assent by the DRV, France, Britain, China, and the Soviet Union. It provided for the holding of national elections in July 1956, under he supervision of the of the International Control Commission, and stated that the military demarcation line was provisional and "should not in any way be interpreted as constituting a political territorial boundary." Both the United States and the Associated State of Vietnam, which France had recognized on June 4, as a fully independent and sovereign statte," refused to approve the final declaration and submitted separate declarations stating their reservations.
       

The Geneva Agreements were viewed with doubt and dissatisfaction on all sides.Concern over possible United States Intervention, should the Geneva talks fail, was probably a major factor The united states had disassociated itself from the final declaration, although it had stated that it would refrain from the threat or use of force to disturb the agreements. President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote to the new prime minister of the Bao Dai Govt. Ngo Dinh Diem, in Sept 1954 promising United States support for non-communist Vietnam. Direct United States aid to South Vietnam began in Jan 1955, and American advisors began arriving the following month to train South Vietnamese army troops.By early 1955, Diem had consolidated his contro; by moving against lawless elements in the Saigon area and by suppressing the religious sects in the Mekong Delta. He also launched a "denounce the Communists"  campaign, in which, according to communist accounts , 25,000communist sympathizers were arrested and more than thousand killed. In Aug 1955, Diem issued a statement formally refusing to participate in consultations with the DRV, which had been called for by the Geneva Agreement to prepare for national elections . In Oct , the easily defeated Bao Dai in a seriously tainted referendum and became president of the new Republic of Vietnam.    Despite the growing likelyhood that national elections would not be held, the communist leadership in Hanoi decideed for the time being to continue to concentrate its efforts on the political struggle. Several factors led to this decision, including the weakness of the party apparatus in the south, the need to concentrate on strengthening the war-weakened North, and presure from the communist leadership of the South Union, which, under Gen.Secretary Nikita Khruschev, had inaugurated its policy of peaceful co-existence with the West. By 1957, however, a shift to a more militant approach to the reunification of the country was apparent . Partly in responsee to Diem's anti-communist campaign, the party stepped up terrorist activities, in the south, assassinating several hundred officials of the Diem Govt. This led the arrest of another 65,000 suspected communists and the killing of more than 2,000 by the Saigon Govt. In 1957.Repression by the Diem regime led to the rise of armed rebel self defense units in various parts of the south , with the units often operating on their own without any  party direction. Observing that a potential revolutionary situation had been created by popular resentment of the Diem govt. and learning that the govt's anti-communist policy would destroy or weaken party organisation in the south , the WWP leadership determined that the time had come to resort to violent struggle.         

First Indochina War (contd-2)

The newly appointed commander of French forces in Vietnam, Henry Navarre, decided soon after his arrival in Vietnam that it was essential to halt a Viet Minh offensive underway in neighbouring Laos. To do so , navarre believed that it was necessary for the French to capture  and hold the town of Dien Bien Phu, sixteen kms from the Laotian border. For the Viet Minh, control of Dien Bien Phu was an importanrt link in the supply route from China. In Nov 1953, the French occuppied the town with paratroop battalions and began reinforcing it with units from the French military post at nearby Lai Chau.

During that same month, Ho indicated that the DRV was willing to examine French proposals for a diplomatic settlement announced in the month before. In Feb 1954, a peace conference to settle the Korean and Indochinese conflicts was set for April in Geneva, and negotiations in Indochina were scheduled to begin on May 8. Viet Minh strategists, led by Giap, concluded that a successful attack on a French fortified camp, timed to coincide with the peace talks, would give Hanoi the necessary leverage for a successful conclusion of the negotiations.   

Accordingly,

the stage of Dien Bien Phu began on March 13, by which  time the Viet Minh had concentrated nearly 50,000 regular troops , 55,000 support troops, and almost 1,00,000 transport workers in the area. Chinese aid, consisting mainly of ammunition, petroleum, and some large artillery pieces  carried a distance of 350 kms from the Chinese border, reached 1,500 tons per month by early 1954. The French garrison 15,000, which depended on supply by air, was cut off by March 27, when the Viet Minh artillery succeeded in making the airfield unusable. An elaborate system of tunnels dug in the mountain sides enabled the Viet Minh to protect its artillery pieces by continually moving them to prevent discovery . Several hundred kms of trenches permitted the attackers to move progressively closer to the French encampment . In the final battle , human wave assaults used to take the perimeter defenses, which yielded defensive guns that were then turned on the main encampment . The French garrison surrendered on May 7, ending the siege that had cost the lives of about 25,000 Vietnamese and more than 1,500 French troops .

First Indochina War (contd-1)

The United States recognized the Associated State of Vietnam in early 1950. but the action was counterbalanced a few days later with the recognition of the DRV by the new People's Republic of China. In March, Ho signed an agreement with Beijing that called for limited assistance to Hanoi. Shortly thereafter, Moscow also formally recognized the DRV,  and the Viet Minh became more openly affiliated with the Communist camp. Mao Zedong's model of revolution was openly praised in the Vietnamese press , and the ICP, which on paper, had been temporarily dissolved in 1945 to obsecure the Viet Minh's Communist roots, surfaced under a new name in 1951 that removed all doubt of its communist nature. More than 200 hundred delegates, representing some 5,00,000 party members , gathered at the Second National Party Congress of the ICP, held in Feb 1951 in Tuyen Quang province. Renaming the ICP as the Vietnam's Worker's Party (VWP,Dang Lao Dong viet nam), the delegates elected Ho as party Chairman and truong Chinh as general secretary.

With Beijing's promise of limited assistance to Hanoi, the communist  The Communist military strategy concetrated on the liberation of Tonkin and concined Cochinchina to a lower priority. The top military priority, as set by Giap, was to free the northern border areas in order to protect the movement of supplies and personnel from China. By Autumn of 1950, the Viet Minh had again liberated the Viet bac in decisive battles that forced the French to evacuate the entire border region, leaving hehind a large quantity of ammunition . From their liberated zone in the northern border area, the Viet Minh were free to make raids into the Red River Delta. The French military in Vietnem found it increasingly difficult to convince Paris and the French electorates to give them the man power and material needed to defeat the Viet Minh. For the next two years, the Viet Minh, well aware of the growing disillusionment of the French people with IndoChina, concentrated its efforts on wearing down the French military by attacking its weakests outpostsand by maximizing the physical distance between engagements to disperse the French forces. Being able to choose the time and place for such engagements gave the guerrillas a decided advantage. Meanwhile, political activity was increased until by late 1952, more than half the villages of the Red River Deltawere under Viet Minh control.           

First Indochina War

Ho's effort during this period were directed primarily at conciliating both the French themslves and the militarily anti-french members of the ICP leadership. The growing frequency of clashes between French and Vietnamese forces in Haiphong  led to a French naval bombardment of that port city in Nov 1946. Estimates of Vietnamese casualities from the action range from 6,000 to 20,000. This incident and the arrival of 1,000 troops of the French Foreign Legion in central and northern Vietnam in early Dec. convinced the communists, including Ho, that should prepare for war. On Dec 19, the French demanded that the Vietnamese forces in the Hanoi area disarm and transfer responsibility for law and order to French authority. That evening, the Viet Minh responded by attacking the city's electric plant and other French installations around the area. Forewarned , the French seized Gia Lam airfield and took control of the central part of Hanoi, as full scale war broke. By late Jan., the French had retaken most of the provincial capitals, in Northern and central Vietnam. Hue fell in early Feb., after a six-week seige. The Viet Minh,  which avoided using its main force units against the French at that time, continued to control most of the countryside, where it concentrated on building up its military strength and setting up guerrilla training programs in liberated areas. Seizing the initiative, however, the French north to the Chinese border in autumn of 1947, lnflicting heavy casualities on the Viet Minh and retaking much of the Viet Bac region.

             Meanwhile, in 1947 the Viet Minh in Cochinchina had destroyed all chance for alliance with the religious sects by executing Huynh Phu So, leader of the Hoa Hao and the Cao Dai formed alliances soon afterward with the French. The Committee for the south, which had seriously damaged the Communist image in Cochinchina by its hard-line approach, replaced in 1951 by the central office for South Vietnam (COSVN, trung Oung Cuc Mien Nan), headed by Le Duan. In the north, however, the political and military situation had begun to improve for the Communists by late 1948. The Viet Minh had increased the the number of its troops to more than 2,50,000 and through guerrilla activities, the communists had managed to retake the part of the Viet Bac as well as a number of small liberated base areas in the south. ICP political power was also growing , although lack of a land reform program and the continued moderate policy towards the patriotic landed gentry discouraged peasant support for the Communists. In 1948,  the French responded to the growing strength of the Viet Minh by granting ninimal Independence to all of Vietnam's Independence was, in reality, devoid of any practical significance. The new Govt, established with Bao Dai as chief of state, was viewed critically by nationalists as well as Communists . Most prominent nationalists, including Ngo Dinh Diem (President Republic of Vietnam, South Vietnam, 1955-63), refused positions in the Government, and many left the country.   

Ho Chi Minh (contd-2)

In the Soviet Union and China
In1923, Ho left Paris for Moscow, where he was appointed by Comintern , and he participated in the Fifth Comintern Congress in June 1924, before arriving in Canton (Guanzhou)China, in Nov 1924.
He married a Chinese woman, Thang Tuyet Minh (Zing Xueming) on 18 Oct 1926 because he wanted a lady who wouldteach him Chinese and look after his house.She was 21 and he was 36. He left Canton and returned to Moscow again in 1927. He had to move for organising Communist Party in different countries and he was arrested at Hong Kong in June 1931.Around 1940, he regularly used the name Ho Chi Minh, meaning "brighter light."

In Sept 1940, the Japanese army invaded Indochina. Paris being occupied by Germany, the French authority surrendered to Japanese without putting any resistance.Seeing this as an advantage, Ho Chi Minh and his followers took this opportunity to Free their country from foreign domination formed an organisation, Vietminh,  under the leadership of General Vo Nguyen Glap  and began a guerilla campaign against the Japanese.

They received weapons and ammunitions from Soviet Unionand after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, they also obtained supplies from US

When the Japanese surrendered to the allies in Aug. 1945, the Vietminh was in a good positionto take over the control of the country.

In Sep. 1945, Ho Chi Minh announced the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. But it was unknown to them that in a summit discussion of Roosevelt, Churchil and Stalin, Vietnam was divided in two parts , North and South at the end of the second World War.  

Ho Chi Minh (contd-1)

In England
In London Ho Avenue, West Ealing.It is claimed that Ho trained as pastry chef under the legendary French master, Escoffer, at the Carlton Hotelin the Haymarket, West Minister, but there is no evidence to suppory this.However there was some evidence which showed that Ho worked there in 1913 as a waiter.
From 1919-1923 while living in France Ho embraced communism, through his friend Marcel Cachin and claimed to live in Paris from London in 1917 but Police record said that Ho lived there in June 1919. Following WW I, under the name Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the patriot) a petition was made to Western powers at versailles Peace Talks to recognize civil rights of Vietnamese people in French IndoChina, which was ignored. Also, another petition made by Ho to the US prsident W.Wilson for help to remove the French from VIetnam and replace it bya national Govt was ignored.
In 1921, during the Congress of tours, France, Ho became a founding member of the French Communist partyand spent much of his time in Moscow afterwards , becoming a Comintern's Asia hand and the Principal theorist on colonial warfare. During the Indochina War, the Communist Party of France would propagate anti-war propaganda, sabotage and support for revolutionary effort.In may 1922, Ho wrote an article in French magazine criticising the use of English words by French ssportswriters.While living in Paris he had relationship with Marie Briere.        

Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh

Nguyen Sinh Cung, also known as Nguyen Ai Quoc, born on 19 May, 1890 in Hoang Tru Village,Vietnam, was a Communist Revolutionary and statesman who became prime Minister (1946-1955) and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (north Vietnam). He led the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward and established the Communist Government in Democratic  Republic of Vietnam in 1945defeating the French Union in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu.
He was born in mother's hometown .but was brought up in his paternal residence of Kim Lien Village, Vietnam. Minh studied with his father, a teacher, before going to school with a scholar named Vuong Thuc Do. He quickly mastered Chinese writing , a requisite for any serious study of Confucianism, while honing his colquial Vietnamese writing. In addition to his studies, he was fond of flying kites, going  fishing etc.At the age 10, his father gave him a new nam, Nguyen Tat Thanh. In defence to his father Cung received a French education, attended lycee in Hue, the alma mater of his later disciples.He later left his studies and chose to teach at Duc Thanh school in Phan Thiet. 
In the USA
Minh joined to work, in 1912, as a cook's helper on a ship and travelled to the United States. From 1912 to 1913, he lived in New York (Harlem)and Boston, where he workedd as a baker at the Parker House Hotel. He began to work different kinds of menial jobs. He worked for a wealth family in Brooklyn between 1917 and 1918, during this time he was influenced by Marcus Garvey in Harlem. It is believed that while in the Unidted States he made contact with Korean nationalists, an experience that developed his political outlook.

Vietnam, French Colonisation

19th Century and French Colonisation :
The flag of the Colonial Annam West's involvement in Vietnam dates back to 166 BC with arrival of merchants  from the Roman Empire , 1292 with the visit of Marco Polo and the early 1500s with the arrival of Portuguese and other European traders and missionaries Alixendre the Rhodes, a French Jesuit Priest improved on earlier work by Portuguese missionaries and developed the Vietnamese Romanised alphabet  in 1651.
Nguyen Dynasty
After Nguyen Anh established the Nguyen Dynasty in 1802, he tolerated Catholicism and employed some Europeans in his court as advisors.However, he and his successors were conservative Confucians who resisted westernisation. The next Nguyen Emperors, Ming Mang Thiu Tri and Tu Duc brutally suppressed catholicism and pursued a closer door policy, perceiving  the westerners as a threat.Tens of thousands of Vietnamese and foreign born Christians were persecuted and trade with the west slowed during the period.These acts were soon being used as excuses for France to invade Vietnam.Actually, the early Nguyen dynasty accomplished almost everything the previous great Dynasties did  excepts those fits were not enough in the new age of science , technology, industrialisation, trade and politics.The Nguyen dynasty was usually blamed for failing modernize the country in time to prevent French colonisation in the late 19th century.
Under the orders of Napolean II of France, the French gunships under Reault De Genouilli attacked the port of Da Nang in 1858, causing significant damages, yet failed to gain any foothold. De Ganouilli  decided to sail south and captured the poorly defended city Gia Dinh (present day Saigon). from 1859 to 1887, French troops expanded their control over all provinces on the Mekong Delta and formed a French colony known as Cochin China. A few years later French troops landed in Northern Vietnam (which they called Tonkin) and captured Ha Noi twice in 1873 and 1882. The French managed to keep their grip on Tonkin although twice, their top commanders, Francis Garnier and Henry Rivieire were ambushed and killed.France assumed control over the whole of Vietnam after the Franco-Chinese war (1884-1885). French Indo-China was formed in Oct 1887 from Annam(central Vietnam).
In the early 20th century, the Vietnamese patriots realised that they could not defeat France without modernization. Japan served as a perfect example that modernization could help an Asian country to defeat European Empire.

Marxism was also introduced in Vietnnam. with the emergence of three Communist parties (Indochinese Communist Party, Annamese Communist party , and Indochinese communist Party). and later a Trotskyist movement led by Ta Thu Thau. The Commintern sent Nguyen Ai Quoc to coordinate the unification of the parties into the Vietnamese Communist Party in 1930, in Hong Kong, with Tran Phuas the first general Secretary. Later the party changed the name to Indochinese Communist Party as Comintern, under Stalin, did not favor  nationalist sentiments.Nguyen Ai Quoc was a leftist revolutionary being ib France since 1911. He participated in founding the French Communist Party  and in 1924 travelled to the Soviet Union to join the Communist International (Comintern).Though the late 1920s he acted as a Comintern agent to help communist movements in South East Asia. During the 1930s, the Vietnamese Communist Party was nearly wiped out under french suppression with the execution of top leaders such as tran Phu i,e,, Hong Phong and Nguyen Van Cu in 1940.during World War II. Japan invaded Indochina and kept the French Govt as a puppet Govt.