Opium War (China, Qing ship attacked by British ship)

Vietnam saw the Qing dynasty of China, its suzerain, during the Opium War, and felt a strong sense of crisis in European countries.

Vietnam, which did not want to be invaded like Qing, would take a harder diplomacy
And Vietnam, which believed in Confucianism, which is the teaching of Chinese thought, had come to ban Christianity as Japan did before, and to adopt a seclusion system.

その当時、キリスト教をベトナム国内で広めていたフランス人宣教師を処刑しフランスが怒って戦争を起こします。それが仏越戦争です。当時はナポレオン3世が積極的に植民地領土を広げようとしていました

At that time, a French missionary who was spreading Christianity in Vietnam was executed, which made France get angry and start a war. That is the French-Vietnamese War. It was just when Napoleon III was actively trying to expand the colonial territory.

When the French-Vietnamese war begun, France landed in Vietnam with 3,000 soldiers on board and bombarded.
Vietnam ended up in dissapointing defeat in front of the overwhelming military power of the French army.

France, which won the French-Vietnamese War, would acquire the French colony under the strict Treaty of Saigon.

On April 16, 1863, a welcome party for the French delegation was held here to conclude the treaty.

Christian mission, occupation of Cochinchina

In 1858, France and Spain sent troops to Turan (Da Nang) for the campaign of two Spanish missionaries. After that, France tried to conquer Hue, but he got stuck and decided to attack Saigon of Cochinchina in earnest. Since the Nguyen Dynasty refused the terms of peace presented by France in 1861, he continued military operations such as occupying Bien Hoa and sent warships to Hue to occupy. As a result, a delegation led by Fan-Tan Jiang and Lam Duy Hiep (Vietnamese version) was dispatched to Saigon, and the Treaty of Saigon was signed on June 5, 1862. As a result, the three southeastern provinces of Vietnam occupied by the French Navy became virtually French colonies as Cochinchina, the three western provinces (1874) were transferred, and six ports including Hanoi and Hai Phong were opened. Twelve items were promised, including the establishment of a consulate, the acquisition of troops, freedom of Christian missions throughout the country, the right to regulate Nguyen diplomacy, $ 4 million in compensation, and the opening of the Mekong River.
Between 1948 and 1960, 25 European missionaries living in Vietnam, however, 300 Vietnamese missionaries, and 30,000 followers were killed.

Xâm lược miền bắc Việt Nam !!

Ngay cả sau khi hiệp ước hòa bình được ký kết, các cuộc tấn công vẫn không dừng lại, và cuộc xâm lược tiếp theo là vào miền Bắc Việt Nam.
Lập luận của Pháp là hiệp ước hòa bình có nội dung “Nếu bạn muốn tôi dừng cuộc chiến này, hãy cho tôi tiền và đất!” Chứ không phải “Tôi sẽ không tấn công nữa”.
Phía Việt Nam hết sức chống lại lập luận này nhưng cuối cùng thất bại. Sau đó, Việt Nam đã dần trở thành quốc gia thuộc địa của Pháp .

Invasion of northern Vietnam !!

Even after the peace treaty was signed, the attack did not stop, followed by the next invasion of northern Vietnam.
France's argument was that the peace treaty said, "If you want me to stop this war, give me money and land!", instead of "I won't attack anymore."
The Vietnamese side also desperately resisted this, but in the end they were pushed out and Vietnam became a protectorate of France.

We will protect the protectorate, so we will do diplomacy with other countries!
Being protected, we cannot negotiate with other countries or conclude treaties freely.
On the contrary, because of his protecting status, France can give it to other countries without permission, saying, "Ah, Vietnam? We are a protectorate, so I will give it to you."
The country itself didn't die out, but Vietnam had almost no rights.
France got virtually all of Vietnam under the name of "protection".

Qing dynasty France war

What was Qing, who should have control, doing exactly when Vietnam was supposed to be like this?
In fact, at this time, Qing could not care about the ruled nation because of the Opium War with Britain, the Arrow War with Britain and France, and the domestic rebellion.
As France's protectorate of Vietnam was virtually a cession of Qing territory, the Qing dynasty protested against France. Thus, in 1884, Vietnam was returned! The war between Qing and France, the Sino-French War broke out for the purpose of French Indochina.
As a result of the war, Qing was defeated, Vietnam was no longer under Qing's control, and was completely under French control instead. France also reached out to Cambodia and Laos close to Vietnam. “I made Vietnam a protectorate. Together with Laos and Cambodia.” That's why they would be called French Indochina.

1939 World War II broke out

As a result of the war, Qing was defeated, Vietnam was no longer under Qing's control, and was completely under French control instead. France also reached out to Cambodia and Laos close to Vietnam. “I made Vietnam a protectorate. Together with Laos and Cambodia.” That's why they would be called French Indochina

France surrenders

At this time, Vietnam, which had been a French territory, became neither French nor German one.
Japan did not miss this opportunity.

Advance into French Indochina

It was a time when Japan was trying to expand his territory steadily in accordance with his territorial expansion policy.
Japan did not miss a chance and advanced to French Indochina in 1940.
As for the advance under the agreement of the Japanese and the French governments, French Indochina was at first under dual control of French Army and Japan. But in reality, Japan, which was close stance to Germany, would take it away from France which lost against Germany, and was in control of it.
Vietnam thought the rule would be over because France lost the war, however, Japan immediately took over the rule.

In Vietnam, which was under Japanese control, rice was forcibly collected by the Japanese army, and in addition, a tremendous food shortage due to record-breaking cold and flood damage caused 400,000 to 2 million people to be killed.

1945 Vietnam Famine

Up to 2 million people starve
Japan supported independence !! Hunger and the Japanese army are unrelated !!
As there are pros and cons to this fact, Japan founded an empire for the independence of Asia, not for control, and supported Vietnam's independence!
Since Vietnam is still a pro-Japanese country, we can find that it was appreciated by the Vietnamese! Or, famine was mostly due to natural disasters and had nothing to do with the Japanese army itself ! There are also positive voices about the governance such as;

I think it's arguable what the reality was like, but anyway, Japan's rule continued until August 1945, until Japan was defeated in World War II.
It seemed that there were about 700 Japanese soldiers who remained in Vietnam without returning to Japan.
Governed until August 1945

September 1945 Established Democratic Republic of Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh who declared independence
We finally became an independent country! For a while, the real hardships of Vietnam continue from that moment.

France marches

France, which could not give up Vietnam's colonial rule, refused to the establishment of the "Democratic Republic of Vietnam" and thus marched in 1946 to re-colonize Vietnam. There was one problem on the French side in ruling Vietnam.
That was, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was a socialist country.
Since France was a capitalist country, it was concerned that the socialistic rule in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam might remain existed.

Capitalism

Capitalism is the idea that individuals can freely earn and spend money and develop the economy through the free competition of shops created by it.

Socialism

Socialism is in direct opposition to capitalism, where a state, not an individual, manages the people's money and the state plans and controls the economy.

Indochina War (1946-54)

North Vietnam vs South Vietnam
Thus, from 1946 to 1954, the Indochina War in the form of North Vietnam vs. South Vietnam broke out, and many former Japanese soldiers fought against the French army.
US intervention The US, a capitalist nation, would intervene in this Indochina War.
Thus, the Indochina War, in which the United States supported France, became a battle between the great power, that is, France and the United States, and the Vietnamese people. Cold war

Conflict between capitalism and socialism

At that time, the United States was a capitalist country and the Soviet Union was a socialist country.
The two countries owned nuclear weapons. The two countries did not directly engage in a war because a direct war could lead to a retaliation battle with nuclear weapons and destroy the world, but proxy wars between the countries supported by the United States and the Soviet Union broke out all over the world. I realized that the Vietnam War was one of those wars.
Also, in the United States during the Cold War, there was the idea of "domino theory".

Domino theory: Neighboring countries are becoming socialist one after another

Domino theory is the idea that if one country becomes socialist, the neighboring countries will also become socialist. I want to make a country that is likely to become a socialist nation a capitalist nation! I was thinking

Established People's Republic of China

And the People's Republic of China is established.

Chinese Communist Party vs Kuomintang

In China around this time, the "Chinese Communist Party" and the "Kuomintang" had been fighting for a long time, but in the end the Chinese Communist Party expelled Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang to Taiwan, and the Chinese Communist Party took the lead. The "People's Republic of China" was established.
Since the Chinese Communist Party was a political party based on socialism, the People's Republic of China will also be a socialist country.

Since China, which was adjacent to Vietnam, became a socialist nation, the United States, which believed in domino theory, was in trouble. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam wasn't regarded as a country, but was supported the Republic of Vietnam, a capitalist state established by France.

Vietnam War begins
Republic of Vietnam

The Soviet Union and China, which were socialist nations, recognized and supported the "Democratic Republic of Vietnam" in North Vietnam as a country, and had little to do with Vietnam's intentions, and the war began in Vietnam due to the speculation of the United States, France, and the Soviet Union. I did.
The Vietnam War broke out with the composition that the socialist Democratic Republic of Vietnam with the support of the Soviet Union and China faced the South, the capitalist Republic of Vietnam with the support of France and the United States.

Việt CộngViet Cong

The Vietnamese in the north formed the "Viet Cong", commonly known as the "Viet Cong", as the United States strengthened military support for South Vietnam.

The "Viet Cong" Viet Cong was a civilian unit armed by civilians, not a regular military force by the state.

Since there were no regulations such as military uniforms, the US and South Vietnamese troops seemed suspicious even to non-Viet Cong civilians, and sometimes slaughtered unrelated people. In this way, the number of victims increased in addition to those who were fighting in the war.

Venomous snake pit: Bamboo spear with snake venom on the ground
Leg-hold trap underground tunnel

In addition, Betocon made full use of traps such as leg-hold traps that pinched your feet when you step on it, or made a pit with a poisonous snake, applied snake venom to something with a sharp tip and put it on the ground. And fought

Cu Chi Tunnel Underground tunnel with a total distance of 250km

The "Cu Chi Tunnel" has a total distance of 250 km and is located on the second basement floor. I went to the crater where the bomb was dropped to dump the soil dug at night with a simple mulberry.
Schools, meetinghouses, field hospitals, and Ho Chi Minh sandals made from rubber tires were also manufactured in this tunnel. Survived only 6,000 out of the 16,000 people who fought in the tunnel, due to spiders, scorpions, snakes and infectious diseases. In the daytime, the South Vietnamese army was dominant, but at night, the South Vietnamese military bases were attacked from the tunnel, which was to be called the impregnable "Iron Triangle".

Bombing with a U.S. bomber

The bombing of North Vietnam after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, commonly known as the "North Bomb," dropped 2.23 million tons of bombs and killed about 50,000 people.
In addition to the North Bomb, the United States was to mobilize 200,000 ground troops to control the whole of Vietnam.

Operation Ranch Hand

The American operation that symbolizes the Vietnam War is "Operation Ranch Hand"
Destroy forests and land with defoliants ... US aircraft spraying defoliants
Bombing with a U.S. bomber
The bombing of North Vietnam after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, commonly known as the "North Bomb," dropped 2.23 million tons of bombs and killed about 50,000 people.
In addition to the North Bomb, the United States was to mobilize 200,000 ground troops to control the whole of Vietnam

Defoliants were sprayed from the sky to destroy the forests where the Viet Cong lurked and the land where food growed.
It did have the effect of killing jungles and crops, but what was even more scary was the impact on humans.
Defoliants are extremely toxic drugs that can cause skin disorders and immune disorders even though they aren't applied directly to humans.
Skin diseases, immune disorders

Accumulation in crops

The most frightening thing is that the defoliant ingredients accumulated in the crop. Even if you don't touch the defoliants directly, the defoliant components that are sown in the soil are sucked up by the crop. In this way, a crop containing the defoliant component is grown, and for people who eat it, the defoliant component indirectly accumulates in their bodies. The ingredient caused great damage especially to pregnant mothers.

Tích tụ trong lương thực

After spraying defoliants, childbirth abnormalities increased dramatically in Vietnam. Accumulation of defoliant components in the womb had a strong effect on the child in the abdomen. Even after the war itself was over, the defoliants sprinkled was to remain on the ground. As a result, childbirth abnormalities in Vietnam have become a phenomenon that continues decades after the end of the war.

In addition to defoliants, weapons such as cluster munitions and napalm were introduced. A cluster munition is a bomb that contains hundreds of bombs and causes widespread damage. Not only that, but even after the war ended with many unexploded ordnance, the damage caused by the cluster munitions continued, and people who were just farming and children who were just playing lost their limbs and lives due to the unexploded ordnance explosion. There is.
Napalm bombs are bombs that burn at extremely high temperatures of 900 to 1300 degrees Celsius and contain jelly-like oils and fats that attach to clothes and continue to burn at high temperatures. Fire with a high temperature of nearly 1000 degrees cannot be extinguished with water. There is no choice but to wait for the fire to extinguish naturally. However, it consumes a large amount of oxygen during combustion, and even if it is far from the point of impact, it may cause people to die due to lack of oxygen.
Viet Cong also repeated the tactic of "hidden in the tunnel, overcoming the attack on the ground, attacking while hiding in the jungle, and returning to the tunnel", that is, fighted reluctantly.

The war went on and off and became into quagmire.
Media such as TV that led to the end of the Vietnam War
It was the media that led to the end of the Vietnam War.
Around this time, television was widespread in developed countries, and the tragic scene of the Vietnam War was projected on television.
As the state of the war became known to the American people through television, anti-war movements began to occur in the United States due to its misery.

Anti-war demonstration in the United States

US college students demonstrating anti-war

I fought a war in a distant country and won! It is completely different from hearing the report that you can see what is actually happening in the battlefield in a video. In addition, the fact that the U.S. military during the Viet Cong eradicative operation revealed the case of Song Mi village, where 500 people including women and children unrelated to the war were killed, raised doubts about the legitimacy of the war. The anti-war movement has become fierce.

Despite the heightened anti-war mood, the United States was to expand its front to Cambodia and Laos in the 1970s.
The expansion of the American front had been criticized not only in U.S. but also in abroad.
Relations between the Soviet Union and China had also deteriorated on the North Vietnamese side, which was fighting with the United States.
If this would happen, support for Vietnam would also be affected. The war might go on for more than 10 years, and each country might be exhausted.
Also, with the media in an anti-war mood around the world, continuing the war was not a good choice.
The Vietnam Peace Accord, a ceasefire agreement, was signed in 1973, and the U.S. military withdrew from Vietnam.

Even after losing the backing of the US military, the South Vietnamese administration continued to fight North Vietnam. The battle with the Viet Cong continued, and the Vietnam War finally ended with the fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, in 1975, two years after the Vietnam Peace Accords.

the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

The Democratic Republic of Vietnam, a socialist nation on the north side, won, and in 1976, the "Socialist Republic of Vietnam" that continues to this day was born.

Finally, I will summarize the number of victims of the Vietnam War
North Vietnam 1.8 million soldiers 3 million civilians
South Vietnam: 1.8 million soldiers, 1.6 million civilians
South Vietnam: 1.8 million soldiers, 1.6 million civilians
The number of civilian victims was very numerous, with 3 million people killed on the North Vietnamese side and 1.6 million people on the South Vietnamese side.

In total, about 8 million people were killed.
It took a long time, and soldiers continued to be dispatched with the support of various countries in the south and north, so the damage was so great.