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The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China Class 10 Notes Social Science History Chapter 2
CBSE Class 10 History Chapter 2 Notes Understanding the Lesson
1. Nationalism in Indo-China, which comprises the modern countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, developed in a colonial context. The knitting together of a modern Vietnamese nation that brought the different communities together was in part the result of colonization but, as importantly, it was shaped by the struggle against colonial domination.
2. The history of Indo-China shows different groups of people living in this area under the shadow of the powerful empire of China. Even when an independent country was established in present-day northern and central Vietnam, its rulers continued to maintain the Chinese system of government as well as Chinese culture.
3. The colonisation of Vietnam by the French brought the people of the country into conflict with the colonizers. The most visible form of French control was military and economic domination but the French also built a system that tried to reshape the culture of the Vietnamese.
4. The French began to exploit the natural resources of Vietnam for their own benefit. They built canals and drained lands in the Mekong delta to increase cultivation. The vast system of irrigation works built mainly with forced labour increased rice production which ultimately benefitted the French. But the French did nothing to industrialize the economy of Vietnam.
5. French colonisation was also driven by the idea of a civilizing mission. The French claimed that they were bringing modem civilisation to the Vietnamese. Education was seen as one way to civilize the native. But the French feared that education might create problems. Once educated, the Vietnamese may begin to question colonial domination. Hence, they did not want to give the Vietnamese full access to French education.
6. The French systematically dismantled the traditional educational system and established French schools for the Vietnamese. It was decided that Vietnamese be taught in the lower classes and French in the higher classes. The few who learnt French and acquired French culture were to be rewarded with French citizenship.
7. School textbooks glorified the French and justified colonial rule. The Vietnamese were represented as primitive and backward. School children were told that only French rule could ensure peace in Vietnam.
8. The Tonkin Free School was started in 1907 to provide a Western-style education which included classes in science, hygiene and French. The school also encouraged the adoption of Western styles such as having a short hair-cut. For the Vietnamese, this meant a major break with their own identity since they traditionally kept long hair.
9. Teachers and students began to oppose openly. As the numbers of Vietnamese teachers increased in the lower classes, they quickly modified the text and criticized what was stated. In 1926, a major protest erupted in the Saigon Native Girls school. This protest forced the government to change its decision in favour of the Vietnamese student.
10. Students elsewhere protested against the colonial government’s efforts to prevent the Vietnamese from qualifying for white-collar jobs. Schools thus became an important place for political and cultural battles which ultimately paved the path for the independence of Vietnam. In other institutions too the Vietnamese expressed their anger against the French.
11. Colonial domination was exercised by control over all areas of private and public life. The French occupied Vietnam militarily but they also sought to reshape social and cultural life. But when the French missionaries introduced Christianity, the Vietnamese resisted it. They were afraid of the spread of Catholicism and French power.
12. Many religious movements started in Vietnam one by one. Some of them supported the French, but others inspired movements against colonial rule. One such movement was the Hoa Hao which drew on religious ideas popular in anti-French uprisings of the nineteenth century.
13. The nationalist leaders of Vietnam cherished different opinions. Some approved the domination of the West while others rejected it. Phan Boi Chau and Phan Chu Trinh were two such nationalists. While the former believed in the anti-colonial resistance, the latter opposed to the idea of resisting the French. Phan Chu Trinh accepted the French revolutionary ideal of liberty but charged the French for not abiding by the ideal.
14. Early Vietnamese nationalists had a close relationship with Japan and China. In 1907-08, several Vietnamese students went to Japan to acquire modern education. But their primary objective was to drive out the French from Vietnam and re-establish the Nguyen dynasty that had been deposed by the French. These nationalists looked for foreign arms and help. Developments in China also inspired Vietnamese nationalists. In 1911, the long-established monarchy in China was overthrown by a popular movement. This motivated the Vietnamese.
15. The Great Depression of the 1930s had a deep impact on Vietnam. Prices of rubber and rice fell, leading to rural uprisings. But the French suppressed these uprisings with great severity.
16. In 1940, Japan occupied Vietnam, to control Southeast Asia. Now the nationalists had to fight against the Japanese as well as the French. The league for the Independence of Vietnam, which came to be known as the Vietminh, fought the Japanese occupation and recaptured Hanoi in 1945.
17. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam faced several problems. The French tried to regain control by using the emperor, Bao Dai, as their puppet. Faced with the French offensive, the Vietminh were forced to retreat to the hills. After eight years of fighting, the French were defeated in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu.
18. In the peace negotiations in Geneva that followed the French defeat, the Vietnamese were persuaded to accept the division of the country. North and south were split. This division turned Vietnam into a battlefield bringing death and destruction all around. As a result, the Bao Dai regime in the south was overthrown by a coup led by Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem built a repressive and authoritarian government which was opposed by a broad opposition united under the banner of the National Liberation Front (NLF).
19. Vietnam got united with the help of the Ho Chi Minh government in the north and the NLF. But the US viewed this alliance with fear. It sent in troops and arms. The Us entry into the war proved costly to both the Vietnamese and the Americans.
20. The Vietnamese fought bravely against the US with whatever resources it had. They built the Ho Chi Minh trial to supply men and materials from the north to the south. The US regularly bombed j this trail but never got success in destroying this supply line because they were rebuilt quickly.
21. The Vietnamese women played an important role in this war. They helped in nursing the wounded, constructing underground rooms and tunnels and fighting the enemy. Between 1965 and 1975, of the 17,000 youths who worked on the Ho Chi Minh trail, 70 to 80 percent were women.
22. The US, however, could not crush the Vietnamese resistance and faced severe criticism from all around. Finally, the war was ended with a peace settlement which was signed in Paris in 1974.
The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China Class 10 CBSE Notes Important Terms
Indentured labour: A form of labour widely used in the plantations from the mid-nineteenth century.
Syncretic: Characterised by syncretism which aims to bring together different beliefs and practices.
Concentration camp: A prison where people are detained without due process of law.
Republic: A form of government based on popular consent and popular representation. In other words, it is a form of government based on the power of the people as opposed to monarchy.
Obscurantist: Person or ideas that mislead.
Napalm: An organic compound which, when comes in contact with surfaces like human body, sticks and continues to burn.
Notes of History Class 10 Chapter 2 Time Period
1802: Nguyen Anh became emperor symbolising the unification of Vietnam under the Nguyen dynasty.
1867: Cochinchina (the south) became a French colony.
1887: Creation of the Indo-China Union, including Cochinchina, Annam, Tonkin, Cambodia and later, Laos.
1930: Ho Chi Minh formed the Vietnamese Communist Party.
1945: Vietminh started a general popular insurrection, Bao Dai abdicated. Ho Chi Minh declared independence in Hanoi.
1954: The French army was defeated at Dien Bien Phu.
1961: Kennedy decided to increase US military aid to South Vietnam.
1974: Paris Peace Treaty
1975 (April 30): NLF troops enter Saigon.
1976: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed.