In
1859
French troops conquer Saigon. The French intervention was
triggered by the
persecution of Christians in the Vietnamese
empire, which started in the 30's of the 19th century. The first
European missionary executed in the Vietnamese capital of
Hué
was Frenchman François Isidore Gagelin. He was publicly
strangled. Between 1848 and 1860, 25 European priests, some 3,000
Vietnamese priests and more than 30,000 Vietnamese Catholics are
executed.
In 1862
the Vietnamese emperor Tu Duc surrenders South Vietnam
to the French, who set up their colony of Cochin China.
Apart from that, Emperor Tu Duc has to assure an end to the persecution
of Christians.
In 1883
France forces the yet uncolonialized part of Vietnam to accept
the status of a French protectorate. Administratively the
French divide the country into the colony Cochin China
(in the South) and the protectorates Annam (central
Vietnam) and Tonkin (North Vietnam).
In September
1940, after the conquest of France by German armies, Japanese
troops occupy Indochina without meeting any resistance. Officially
the word is that the French colonial power leaves all military
installation for the Japanese to use; in response the
French colonial administration remains in office. Therefore the
years of World War II mean less war activity and destruction for
Vietnam than, for instance, the fiercely contended Southeast Asian
states of Burma and the Philippines.
With the
Japanese capitulation on August 14, 1945, World War II
ends in East Asia. France attempts to establish herself again
as colonial power in Vietnam.
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