1.
Mandarin (bureaucrat)
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A mandarin was a bureaucrat scholar in the government of imperial China. The English term comes from the Portuguese mandarim and its usage among the Portuguese is also attested by Matteo Ricci, who entered mainland China from Portuguese Macau in the late 16th century. The Portuguese word was thought by many to be related to mandador and mandar, modern dictionaries, however, agree that it was in fact borrowed by Portuguese from the Malay, which ultimately came from the Sanskrit mantri. In the 16th century, before the term became widespread in the European languages. It is frequently used, for example, in Galeote Pereiras account of his experiences in China in 1548–1553, boxer explains, the word comes from the Chinese 老爷, which was commonly used by people in China to address officials. For around 1,300 years, from 605 to 1905, China has had civil servants since at least the Zhou Dynasty. However, most high ranking positions were filled by relatives of the sovereign and it was not until the Tang Dynasty when the final form of the mandarin was completed with the replacement of the nine-rank system. The mandarins were the founders and core of the Chinese gentry, a governmental office headed by a mandarin is called a yamen. The mandarins were replaced with a civil service after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Vietnam, after becoming free of Chinese rule and setting up its own independent monarchy, the Qing dynasty divided the bureaucracy into civil and military positions, both having nine grades or ranks, each subdivided into a and b categories. Military appointments ranged from being a marshal or chamberlain of the imperial bodyguard to a third class sergeant. In the table below, na is shorthand for the nth rank, primary, during the Qing dynasty, the governor of a Chinese province, was signified by wearing a mandarin hat-pin made of ruby. The lower ranks of mandarins were signified by hat-pins made of coral, sapphire, lapis lazuli, white jade, gold, and silver. In modern English, mandarin is also used to refer to any civil servant, often in a satirical context, yangban Government of the Peoples Republic of China at DMOZ Government of the Republic of China at DMOZ
2.
Imperial examination
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The Chinese imperial examinations were a civil service examination system in Imperial China to select candidates for the state bureaucracy. The examination helped to shape Chinas intellectual, cultural, political, shopping, arts and crafts, the increased reliance on the exam system was in part responsible for Tang dynasty shifting from a military aristocracy to a gentry class of scholar-bureaucrats. Starting with the Song dynasty, the system was regularized and developed into a roughly three-tiered ladder from local to provincial to court exams, the content was narrowed and fixed on texts of Neo-Confucian orthodoxy. Critics charged that the system stifled creativity and created officials who dared not defy authority, wealthy families, especially merchants, could opt into the system by educating their sons or purchasing degrees. In the 19th century, critics blamed the system, and in the process its examinations, for Chinas lack of technical knowledge. The influence of the Chinese examination system spread to neighboring Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Korea, Japan, following the initial success in that company, the British government adopted a similar testing system for screening civil servants in 1855. Other European nations, such as France and Germany, followed suit, modeled after these previous adaptations, the U. S established its own testing program for certain government jobs after 1883. However, the structure of the system was extensively expanded during the reign of Wu Zetian. Thus the system played a key role in the selection of the scholar-officials, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the system contributed to the narrowness of intellectual life and the autocratic power of the emperor. The system continued with some modifications until its 1905 abolition under the Qing dynasty, other brief interruptions to the system occurred, such as at the beginning of the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century. The modern examination system for selecting civil servants also indirectly evolved from the imperial one and this changed during the Sui, when recruitment into the imperial civil service bureaucracy became to be considered an imperial prerogative, rather than a duty to be performed by the lower levels. By the Tang dynasty, most of the recruitment into central government bureaucrat offices was being performed by the bureaucracy itself, the regular higher level degree examination cycle was nominally decreed in 1067 to be 3 years. The jinshi tests were not an event and should not be considered so. Oral examination on policy issues were sometimes conducted personally by the emperor himself, beginning in the Three Kingdoms period, imperial officials were responsible for assessing the quality of the talents recommended by the local elites. This system continued until Emperor Yang of Sui established a new category of recommended candidates for the mandarinate in AD605, for the first time, an examination system was explicitly instituted for a category of local talents. However, the Sui dynasty was short-lived, and the system did not reach its mature development until afterwards, a pivotal point in the development of imperial examinations arose with the rise of Wu Zetian. Up until that point, the rulers of the Tang dynasty were all members of the Li family. Reform of the examinations to include a new class of elite bureaucrats derived from humbler origins became a keystone of Wus gamble to retain power
3.
Battle of Gia Cuc
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In defiance of the instructions of his superiors, Rivière stormed the citadel of Hanoi on 25 April 1882. Although Rivière subsequently returned the citadel to Vietnamese control, his recourse to force was greeted with alarm in both Vietnam and China, the Vietnamese also bid for Chinese support. Vietnam had long been a state of China, and China agreed to arm and support the Black Flags. The Qing court also sent a signal to the French that China would not allow Tonkin to fall under French control. In the summer of 1882 troops of the Chinese Yunnan and Guangxi Armies crossed the border into Tonkin, occupying Lang Son, Bac Ninh, Hung Hoa, both negotiators were criticized for giving too much away, and the deal soon unravelled. It was never ratified in China, and in France Jules Ferrys incoming administration disavowed the agreement in March 1883, Rivière was disgusted at the deal cut by Bourée, and in early 1883 decided to force the issue. He had recently sent a battalion of marine infantry from France. French casualties were 4 men wounded, the Vietnamese may have lost as many as 1,000 dead and wounded. One of the factors in the Vietnamese defeat was the absence of pressure on the French from Liu Yongfu. Liu was supposed to attack Hanoi from the west while Prince Hoang descended from the north, however, the two men were on the coolest of terms, and Liu made only a feint attack on the French-held Royal Palace. This attack was beaten off by the French garrison. Meanwhile, the failure of cooperation between Prince Hoang and Liu Yongfu alarmed the Chinese, the senior Chinese civil mandarin Tang Jingsong reconciled the two men in April 1883, and persuaded Liu Yongfu to take the field against the French with the Black Flag Army. The result, in May 1883, was the disastrous French defeat at the Battle of Paper Bridge, in which both Rivière and Berthe de Villers were killed
4.
Tientsin Accord
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The Tientsin Accord or Li–Fournier Convention, concluded on 11 May 1884, was intended to settle an undeclared war between France and China over the sovereignty of Tonkin. Chinese opposition to French efforts to clamp a protectorate on Tonkin led to the outbreak of a war between France and China towards the end of 1883. Chinese troops fought alongside Liu Yung-fus Black Flag Army during the Sơn Tây Campaign, although Admiral Courbets capture of Son Tay paved the way for the eventual French conquest of Tonkin, the French now had to deal with open opposition from China as well as the Black Flag Army. In March 1884, in the Bắc Ninh Campaign, Millot routed the Guangxi Army, the negotiations took place in Tianjin. Li Hung-chang, the leader of the Chinese moderates, represented China, the original French text of the accord, in five articles, is given below. La France s’engage à respecter et à protéger contre toute agression d’une nation quelconque, et en toutes circonstances, les frontières méridionales de la Chine, conformément aux usages diplomatiques, le texte français fera foi. Chacun des Plénipotentiaires a gardé un exemplaire de chaque texte, eastmans English translation, modified slightly where it departs too far from the original French, is given below. Article I, France undertakes to respect and protect against aggression by any nation whatsoever, under any circumstances, in accordance with diplomatic usage, the French text shall be binding. Each of the plenipotentiaries has retained one copy of each text, the signature of the treaty, which replaced the punitive Harmand Treaty of August 1883, was accompanied by an important symbolic gesture. In theory, the conclusion of the Tientsin Accord should have resolved the confrontation over Tonkin between France and China, Fournier was not a professional diplomat, however, and the agreement contained several loose ends. Crucially, it failed to state a deadline for the Chinese troop withdrawal from Tonkin. The French asserted that the withdrawal was to take place immediately. In fact, the Chinese stance was an ex post facto rationalisation, the accord was extremely unpopular in China, and provoked an immediate backlash. The war party called for Li Hung-changs impeachment, and his political opponents intrigued to have sent to the Chinese troops in Tonkin to hold their positions. The intransigence of the Chinese hardliners resulted in a clash between French and Chinese troops near Bac Le on 23 June 1884, which plunged both countries into a fresh crisis. Chinas refusal to pay an indemnity for the Bắc Lệ ambush led directly to the outbreak of the Sino-French War on 23 August 1884
5.
Sino-French War
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The Sino-French War, also known as the Tonkin War and Tonquin War, was a limited conflict fought from August 1884 through April 1885, to decide whether France would supplant Chinas control of Tonkin. Although the Chinese armies performed better than in other nineteenth-century wars and the war ended with French defeat on land, France began its colonial campaign in 1858, annexing several southern provinces in 1862 to form the colony of Cochinchina. In 1873, a small French force commanded by Lieutenant de Vaisseau Francis Garnier, exceeding his instructions, following a series of French victories against the Vietnamese, the Vietnamese government called on Liu Yongfus Black Flags, who defeated Garniers force beneath the walls of Hanoi. Garnier was killed in battle, and the French government later disavowed his expedition. In 1881, French Commandant Henri Rivière was sent with a military force to Hanoi to investigate Vietnamese complaints about the activities of French merchants. In defiance of the instructions of his superiors, Rivière stormed the citadel of Hanoi on 25 April 1882, although Rivière subsequently returned the citadel to Vietnamese control, his recourse to force provoked alarm both in Vietnam and in China. The Vietnamese also bid for Chinese support, Vietnam had long been a vassal state of China, and China agreed to arm and support the Black Flags, and to covertly oppose French operations in Tonkin. The Qing court also sent a signal to the French that China would not allow Tonkin to fall under French control. In the summer of 1882, troops of the Chinese Yunnan and Guangxi armies crossed the border into Tonkin, occupying Lạng Sơn, Bắc Ninh, Hung Hoa, neither of the parties to these negotiations consulted the Vietnamese. Rivière, disgusted at the cut by Bourée, decided early in 1883 to force the issue. He had recently sent a battalion of marine infantry from France. On 27 March 1883, to secure his line of communications from Hanoi to the coast, Rivière captured the citadel of Nam Định with a force of 520 French soldiers under his personal command. During his absence at Nam Định, the Black Flags and Vietnamese made an attack on Hanoi, Rivière jubilantly reacted, This will force them to take forward their Tonkin Question. He had expected to be cashiered for his Capture of Nam Định, there had recently been a change of government in France, and the new administration of Jules Ferry strongly favoured colonial expansion. It therefore decided to back Rivière, Ferry and Foreign Minister Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour denounced Bourées agreement with Li Hongzhang and recalled the hapless French minister. They also made it clear to the Chinese that they were determined to place Tonkin under French protection and this resulted in a year of Liu Yongfus forces fighting an unconventional war. On 10 May 1883 Liu Yongfu challenged the French to battle in a taunting message widely placarded on the walls of Hanoi, on 19 May Rivière confronted the Black Flags in the Battle of Paper Bridge, and the French suffered a disastrous defeat. Rivières small force attacked a strong Black Flag defensive position near the village of Cầu Giấy, after initial successes the French were eventually enveloped on both wings, only with difficulty could they regroup and fall back to Hanoi
6.
Vietnam
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Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 92.7 million inhabitants as of 2016, it is the worlds 14th-most-populous country, and its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976, with Ho Chi Minh City as a historical city as well. The northern part of Vietnam was part of Imperial China for over a millennium, an independent Vietnamese state was formed in 939, following a Vietnamese victory in the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Following a Japanese occupation in the 1940s, the Vietnamese fought French rule in the First Indochina War, thereafter, Vietnam was divided politically into two rival states, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. Conflict between the two sides intensified in what is known as the Vietnam War, the war ended with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975. Vietnam was then unified under a communist government but remained impoverished, in 1986, the government initiated a series of economic and political reforms which began Vietnams path towards integration into the world economy. By 2000, it had established relations with all nations. Since 2000, Vietnams economic growth rate has been among the highest in the world and its successful economic reforms resulted in its joining the World Trade Organization in 2007. It is also a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Vietnam remains one of the worlds four remaining one-party socialist states officially espousing communism. The name Việt Nam is a variation of Nam Việt, a name that can be traced back to the Triệu Dynasty of the 2nd century BC. The word Việt originated as a form of Bách Việt. The form Vietnam is first recorded in the 16th-century oracular poem Sấm Trạng Trình, the name has also been found on 12 steles carved in the 16th and 17th centuries, including one at Bao Lam Pagoda in Haiphong that dates to 1558. Then, as recorded, rewarded Yuenan/Vietnam as their nations name, to also show that they are below the region of Baiyue/Bach Viet. Between 1804 and 1813, the name was used officially by Emperor Gia Long and it was revived in the early 20th century by Phan Bội Châus History of the Loss of Vietnam, and later by the Vietnamese Nationalist Party. The country was usually called Annam until 1945, when both the government in Huế and the Viet Minh government in Hanoi adopted Việt Nam. Archaeological excavations have revealed the existence of humans in what is now Vietnam as early as the Paleolithic age, Homo erectus fossils dating to around 500,000 BC have been found in caves in Lạng Sơn and Nghệ An provinces in northern Vietnam. The oldest Homo sapiens fossils from mainland Southeast Asia are of Middle Pleistocene provenance, teeth attributed to Homo sapiens from the Late Pleistocene have also been found at Dong Can, and from the Early Holocene at Mai Da Dieu, Lang Gao and Lang Cuom. The Hồng Bàng dynasty of the Hùng kings is considered the first Vietnamese state, in 257 BC, the last Hùng king was defeated by Thục Phán, who consolidated the Lạc Việt and Âu Việt tribes to form the Âu Lạc, proclaiming himself An Dương Vương
7.
Bombardment of Tourane
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The Bombardment of Tourane was a naval incident that took place during the short reign of the Vietnamese emperor Thiệu Trị, which saw a considerable worsening of relations between France and Vietnam. The two French ships fought back, sinking four Vietnamese corvettes, badly damaging a fifth, French missionaries had been active in Vietnam since the seventeenth century, and by the middle of the nineteenth century there were perhaps 300,000 Catholic converts in Annam and Tonkin. Most of their bishops and priests were either French or Spanish, most Vietnamese disliked and suspected this sizeable Christian community and its foreign leaders. The French, conversely, began to feel responsible for their safety, French naval captains in the Far East were given instructions to negotiate with the Vietnamese authorities when such cases occurred. On two occasions they intervened with considerable success, on 25 February 1843, capitaine de frégate Favin-Lévêque, captain of the French warship Héroine, anchored off Da Nang to intercede for the release of five missionaries detained at Huế for two years. After long and frustrating negotiations, the five missionaries were released, in 1845, the French corvette Alcmène went to Tourane to ask for the release of Dominique Lefèbvre, the French vicar apostolic of Lower Cochinchina, who was being held prisoner at Huế. Again, the Vietnamese acceded to the French request, and Lefèbvre was released, the 1845 intervention was ordered by Admiral Cécille, the senior French naval officer on station. In 1847, Dominique Lefèbvre secretly re-entered Vietnam and he and another missionary, Duclos, were imprisoned. Probably because the Vietnamese considered Lefèbvres return to Vietnam a deliberate provocation by the French, discussions dragged on without result, and on 15 April 1847 six Vietnamese corvettes attacked the two French ships in the Bay of Tourane. In the brief action followed, the French sank four Vietnamese corvettes and disabled a fifth. According to the French, the Vietnamese spun out the negotiations to win time to assemble a fleet and his plan was to invite the French officers to a banquet, kill them, and then burn and sink the ships. But Commandant Lapierre was on his guard, and declined the invitation, the mandarins, seeing the first part of their programme go astray, passed on to the second. Lefèbvre was released by the Vietnamese authorities either before or shortly after the battle, the Vietnamese naval defeat at Tourane dramatically demonstrated the technological superiority of the French warships over the antiquated vessels of the Vietnamese fleet. Harassment of the Christians eventually provided France with a pretext for attacking Vietnam, during the 1840s, the persecution of Roman Catholic missionaries in Vietnam evoked only sporadic and unofficial French reprisals, such as that taken by de Lapierre and Rigault de Genouilly in 1847. In 1857, however, the execution of two Spanish Catholic missionaries by the emperor Tự Đức led directly to French intervention in Vietnam, in September 1858, a joint French and Spanish naval expedition landed at Da Nang. Its commander was Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly, one of the two French naval captains involved in the 1847 incident, the resultant Cochinchina campaign inaugurated the era of French colonial rule in Vietnam. History of Indochina ISBN 2-226-09965-4 Thomazi, A, la conquête de lIndochine Thomazi, A. Histoire militaire de lIndochine français Tucker, S. C. Vietnam ISBN 0-8131-0966-3 Strategy and science of combat on the water in Vietnam before the arrival of French, Lê Đình Thống
8.
Siege of Saigon
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Saigon was of great strategic importance, both as the key food-producing area of Vietnam and as the gateway to Cochinchina. In 1858, Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly attacked Vietnam under the orders of Napoleon III following the mission of diplomat Charles de Montigny. His stated mission was to stop the persecution of Catholic missionaries in the country, for his descent on Vietnam, Rigault de Genouilly had a force of 14 warships,1,000 French marine infantry, and 1,000 troops from the Spanish garrisons of the Philippines. The allied force landed at the port of Tourane in September 1858, however, the allies were soon placed under siege by the Vietnamese and, unable to advance inland beyond the protection of the squadrons guns, were effectively immobilised at Tourane. Realising that the French garrison at Tourane could achieve nothing useful, the expedition was approved, and on 2 February, leaving capitaine de vaisseau Thoyon at Tourane with a small French garrison and two gunboats, Rigault de Genouilly sailed south for Saigon. His naval force consisted of the corvettes Phlégéton and Primauguet, the gunboats Alarme, Avalanche and Dragonne, the Spanish despatch vessel El Cano, Rigault de Genouilly halted for five days in Cam Ranh Bay for four supply ships to join him with food for the expedition. On 9 February he again got underway, on 10 February the allied flotilla bombarded the forts that defended the interior harbour of Cape Saint-Jacques and soon reduced their cannon to silence. The landing companies, a force of French and Spanish soldiers under the command of capitaine de vaisseau Reynaud, then went ashore. On 11 February the five-day voyage upriver began, the transports and the baggage were left at Cap Saint-Jacques. The gunboat Dragonne scouted ahead, followed by the two gunboats, the two corvettes and the Spanish despatch vessel. Three companies of infantry and two Spanish companies,2,000 men in all, were distributed among the vessels which towed the launches of the naval force. The allied flotilla advanced cautiously as the currents were unknown, the Vietnamese defended themselves vigorously, Dragonne was hit with three cannonballs, and Avalanche by seven. The invaders took care to ensure that the river could not be closed behind them, after each fort was taken its cannon were either spiked or taken aboard the ships. On the evening of 15 February the naval division arrived in view of the two built by Gia Longs French engineers, which defended Saigon from the south. During the night two armed launches were sent forward to destroy a barrage made of lashed together and filled with explosives. At dawn on 16 February Phlégéton, Primauguet, Alarme and Avalanche anchored 800 metres from the forts, the channel was so narrow that Admiral Charner, on Phlégétons bridge, was able to shout his orders to the captains of the other vessels. Prégent, Dragonne and Elcano were a further back. The allied flotilla opened fire on the Vietnamese forts and soon found the range, Marine infantry snipers, firing from the mastheads of the French and Spanish ships, picked off the Vietnamese gunners
9.
Citadel of Saigon
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The Citadel of Saigon also known as the Citadel of Gia Dinh was a late 18th-century fortress that stood in Saigon, Vietnam from its construction in 1790 until its destruction in February 1859. It was destroyed in a French naval bombardment as part of the colonisation of southern Vietnam which became the French colony of Cochinchina. The citadel was used once prior to its destruction, when it was captured by Le Van Khoi in 1833. The city changed hands multiple times before Nguyễn Ánh captured the city in 1789, under the directions of French officers recruited for him, a Vauban style octagonal citadel was built in 1790. Thereafter, the Tây Sơn never attacked southern Vietnam again, and he used this to build an administration and strengthen his forces for a campaign that united Vietnam in 1802, resulting in his coronation as Gia Long. In 1833, his son Minh Mạng was faced with a led by Lê Văn Khôi. The rebels took control of the citadel and the revolt continued until the forces took control of the citadel in 1835. Following the capture of the citadel, Minh Mang ordered its razing and replacement with a smaller square stone-built structure, on February 17,1859, the citadel was captured during the French invasion after less than a day of battle and significant amounts of military supplies were seized. Realising that they did not have the capacity to hold the fort against Vietnamese attempts to recapture it, until the 17th century, what is now southern Vietnam was not inhabited by ethnic Vietnamese but by Khmer people. What is now central Vietnam had been the seat of the kingdom of Champa, the 1471 Vietnamese conquest of Champa saw the destruction of the Cham capital and heralded the ultimate decline of Champa. The Vietnamese continually expanded south in what is known as the nam tien, central Vietnam was ruled by the Nguyễn lords, who had broken away in the early 17th century from the Trịnh lords, who ruled the north. The Nguyễn continued the expansion that eventually saw Vietnamese encroach into what had been Khmer territory in the Mekong Delta. The southern edge of Vietnam, being away from the Nguyễn power base in the centre, was loosely governed. In 1771, the Tây Sơn rebellion erupted from Bình Định Province, in 1777, the last of the Nguyễn lords was deposed and killed. His nephew Nguyen Phuc Anh was the most senior member of the Nguyễn family to have survived the Tây Sơn victory and conquest of Saigon in 1777. Nguyễn Ánh fled to Hà Tiên in the far south of the country, where he met Pigneau de Behaine, over the next few decades, there were continuous attacks and counterattacks by both sides and Saigon changed hands frequently. Eventually, Nguyễn Ánh was forced him into exile, the Tây Sơn regularly raided the rice growing areas of the south during the harvesting season, confiscating the Nguyễns supply of food. In 1788, the Tây Sơn moved north to attack the Trịnh, Nguyễn Ánh took advantage of the situation to return to southern Vietnam
10.
Cochinchina Campaign
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The Cochinchina campaign, fought between the French and Spanish on one side and the Vietnamese on the other, began as a limited punitive campaign and ended as a French war of conquest. The war concluded with the establishment of the French colony of Cochinchina, the French had few pretexts to justify their imperial ambitions in Indochina. Certainly, he and his successor Minh Mạng flirted with the French, but this limited contact with the French counted for little. Neither Gia Long nor Minh Mạng had any intention of coming under French influence, but the French were not prepared to be brushed off quite so easily. As so often during the era of European colonial expansion, religious persecution created a reason for intervention. French missionaries had been active in Vietnam since the 17th century, most of their bishops and priests were either French or Spanish. Most Vietnamese disliked and suspected this sizeable Christian community and its foreign leaders, the French, conversely, began to feel responsible for their safety. Harassment of the Christians eventually provided France with a pretext for attacking Vietnam. During the 1840s, persecution or harassment of Catholic missionaries in Vietnam by the Vietnamese emperors Minh Mạng and Thiệu Trị evoked only sporadic, the decisive step towards the establishment of a French colonial empire in Indochina was not taken until 1858. In 1857, the Vietnamese emperor Tự Đức executed two Spanish Catholic missionaries and this was neither the first nor the last such incident, and on previous occasions the French government had overlooked such provocations. But this time, Tự Đứcs timing was inopportune, as it coincided with the Second Opium War. France and Britain had just despatched a joint military expedition to the Far East to chastise China, in November 1857, Napoleon III of France authorised Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly to send a punitive expedition to Vietnam. In September 1858, a joint French and Spanish expedition landed at Tourane, the allies expected an easy victory, but the war did not at first go as planned. The Siege of Tourane lasted for three years, and although there was little fighting disease took a heavy toll of the allied expedition. The garrison of Tourane was reinforced from time to time, and occasionally mounted local attacks against the Vietnamese positions, in October 1858, shortly after his capture of Tourane, Rigault de Genouilly cast around for somewhere else to strike the Vietnamese. Realising that the French garrison at Tourane was unlikely to achieve anything useful, the expedition was approved, and in early February, leaving capitaine de vaisseau Thoyon at Tourane with a small French garrison and two gunboats, Rigault de Genouilly sailed south for Saigon. On 17 February 1859, after forcing the defences and destroying a series of forts and stockades along the Saigon river. French marine infantry stormed the enormous Citadel of Saigon, while Filipino troops under Spanish command threw back a Vietnamese counterattack, the allies were not strong enough to hold the citadel, and on 8 March 1859 blew it up and set fire to its rice magazines
11.
Pacification of Tonkin
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Following their colonisation of Cochinchina in the 1860s, the French attempted to extend their influence into Tonkin. A first, abortive attempt to intervene in Tonkin was made by Francis Garnier in 1873, nine years later, in April 1882, Henri Rivière seized the citadel of Hanoi, inaugurating the second French intervention. Although it would take years before Tonkin was truly pacified. In August 1883, in the wake of Admiral Amédée Courbets victory at the Battle of Thuan An, when the Sino-French War ended in April 1885, there were 35,000 French troops in Tonkin, but the area of French control was restricted to the Red River Delta. The Can Vuong insurgency against the French launched in Annam in July 1885 after Hàm Nghis flight from Huế was portrayed by the insurgents as a patriotic, anti-French, the insurgency in Tonkin was rather more complex. Many of the insurgents fought for patriotic motives, but others wanted to exploit the anarchy that prevailed in much of Tonkin at the end of the Sino-French War. They kept their weapons and supported themselves by brigandage, in many cases sheltering behind the rhetoric of the Can Vuong insurgency. The reign of the mandarins was now ended, but force would be needed to deal with the pirates, Liu Yongfus Black Flag forces continued to harass and fight the French in Tonkin after the end of the Sino-French War. With support from China, Vietnamese and Chinese freebooters fought against the French in Lang Son in the 1890s and they were labelled pirates by the French. The Black Flags and Liu Yongfu in China received requests for assistance from Vietnamese anti-French forces, pirate Vietnamese and Chinese were supported by China against the French in Tonkin. Women from Tonkin were sold by pirates, dealers of opium and pirates of Vietnamese and Chinese origin in Tonkin fought against the French Foreign Legion. The bandits and pirates included Nung among their ranks, by adopting their clothing and hairstyle, it was possible to change identity to Nung for pirate and exile Chinese men. Pirate Chinese and Nung fought against the Meo, the flag pirates who fought the French were located among the Tay. In 1891 Goldthwaites Geographical Magazine, Volumes 1-2 said FOUR months ago and they beheaded the French resident, ransacked and burned the town, and killed many of the people. In 1906 the Decennial Reports on the Trade, Navigation, Industries, Etc. of the Ports Open to Foreign Commerce in China and Corea, volume 2 said Piracy on the Tonkin border was very prevalent in the early years of the decade. These posts were handed over to the military authorities. Defective as they may be, these roads must, it seems to me, be of service to cultivation and trade, the wounds were all light, scarcely more than scratches, and no evil effect was feared at the time. After a few days, however, in spite of every care, the captain grew weaker, and it became apparent that he was suffering from the effects of arrow poison
12.
Hanoi Poison Plot
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The aim of the plot was to neutralize the French garrison and make way for Hoang Hoa Thams rebel army to capture Hanoi. The plot was disclosed, and then was suppressed by the French, in early 1908, Hoang Hoa Tham collaborated with Vietnamese nationalists, including Phan Boi Chau, in organizing a plot to seize Hanoi from the French. The plan was executed on the evening of 27 June 1908, the poison immediately knocked out nearly 200 French troops but did not kill them. Outside the citadel, Hoang Hoa Tham did not receive the signal he was expecting, realized the plot had failed, in quick response to the plot, the French executed by guillotine 13 plotters. On 8 July 1908, another 24 death sentences were announced, severely repressive actions were launched against the Vietnamese activists, and hundreds of them, including Phan Châu Trinh, were sent to Con Dao prison. The French also accused Phan Boi Chau of the plot, forcing him to flee to Japan, on the other hand, the French began hunting Hoang Hoa Tham. The last emperors of Vietnam, from Tu Duc to Bao Dai. Greenwood Publishing Group, france Overseas, Study of Modern Imperialism. The French empire between the wars, imperialism, politics and society, largo, V. Vietnam, Current Issues and Historical Background. Marr, David G. Vietnamese Anticolonialism, 1885-1925, imagining Vietnam and America, The Making of Postcolonial Vietnam, 1919-1950. A Time for War, The United States and Vietnam, 1941-1975
13.
History of Vietnam during World War I
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At the outbreak of the World War I, Vietnam was part of French Indochina. While seeking to maximize the use of Indochinas natural resources and manpower to fight the war, the country remained a member of the French Empire, and many Vietnamese fought later in World War I. The French entry into World War I saw the authorities in Vietnam press-gang thousands of volunteers for service in Europe, almost 100,000 Vietnamese went to Europe to fight and serve on the French battlefront. They were conscripts, and thousands lost their lives at the Somme, additional Vietnamese were in the Middle East. Exposed to new political ideals and returning to an occupation of their own country. Many of these troops sought out and joined the Vietnamese nationalist movement focused on overthrowing the French, the 7th Battalion was formed from the Vietnamese in Tonkin on February 16,1916 and landed at Marseilles in September. They underwent training at Frejus until April 1917, in June 1918, the battalion was in the trenches in the area of Anould, staying there until 22 June during which time they were involved in the repulse of a strong German attack. A short move to the trenches at Clové then followed where they were involved in two attacks between 29 and 30 October 1918. At the time of the armistice, they were stationed in Lorraine and left France at Marseilles on 15 February 1919, arriving at Haiphong where the unit was dissolved. The 21st Battalion was formed, from Indochinese soldiers already serving in France, on 1 December 1916 at Camp St. Raphael, from April 5,1917 the battalion was employed at Dand in road repair, care for airfields and drainage work on the battlefield. From late May to late July it was serving in the trenches of the Vosges. It returned to the Vosges and it held the positions in the area of Montigny and was dissolved on April 18,1919,2 combat battalions also served in Salonika, the 1er and the 2ème. The Tonkinese riflemen of the 6e Battalion de Tiralleurs Indochine subsequently saw service on the Western Front near Verdun, in 1915 a battalion of the 3rd Regiment of Tonkinese Rifles was sent to China to garrison the French Concession in Shanghai. The tirailleurs remaining in Indo-China saw service in 1917 in putting down a mutiny of the Garde Indignene in Thai Nguen. In August 1918 three companies of tirailleurs tonkinois formed part of a battalion of French Colonial Infantry sent to Siberia as part of the Allied intervention following the Russian Revolution. Through contacts with Europeans and their writings, some acquired a taste for current ideas of autonomy, revolutionary struggle. Vietnam also contributed 184 million piasters in the form of loans and 336,000 tons of food and these burdens proved all the heavier as agriculture was hard hit by natural disasters from 1914 to 1917. The scholars movement had declined while new social forces were not yet enough to promote large-scale campaigns
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1916 Cochinchina uprising
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The organisation and motivation of the uprisings were unclear, since many different organizations of Vietnamese revolutionaries with different ideologies were involved. Long had been imprisoned three years earlier after declaring himself Emperor and attempting to storm Saigon with the help some purported magic potion to restore the monarchy, Longs supporters sought his release from jail. There were also an alliance of secret organizations from the provinces in the Mekong Delta region. The centre of the planning appeared to be the Nui Cam Pagoda in Châu Đốc, while many participants also appeared to have been sympathisers and affiliates of Prince Cường Để, Cường Để was a direct descendant of Emperor Gia Long, who founded the Nguyễn Dynasty in 1802. Cường Để was a descendant of Gia Longs eldest son Prince Cảnh, the centrepiece of the plot was to seize the central prison of Saigon, in order to facilitate the release of Phan Xich Long and many other revolutionaries who had been imprisoned. This would also have provided access to the French armoury and their firearms, which would have given an upgrade to the firepower of the Vietnamese, who were armed with spears and machetes. On February 14,1916, around three hundred men landed at Saigons waterfront and began to move in groups towards the penitentiary, however, some of the groups came across police patrols, and retreated back towards the piers after being fired upon with pistols. The groups that did reach the prison found the gates securely protected, despite the failure to capture the jail, many areas in the Mekong Delta proceeded with their planned actions against the French. At Bien Hoa, on the outskirts of Saigon, a revolt was attempted at the local jail. In Thủ Dầu Một, another town northwest of Saigon, a march towards Saigon was planned, at Bến Tre to the south in the Mekong Delta, a march by villagers resulted in the burning and destruction of the local archives and registers offices. After French authorities broke up the march, the participants retreated, at Vũng Tàu, a port town to the southeast of Saigon, an armed group made a failed attempt to seize the military post. A bomb was uncovered in Mỹ Tho, while the town of Long Xuyên in the far south saw ransackings and kidnappings for ransom. In the town of Tây Ninh, on the border with Cambodia. The French community in Cochinchina was taken aback by the revolt that had occurred and demanded a response from the colonial authorities. Hundreds of Vietnamese were quickly apprehended, and summary justice was dispensed by a French War Council, eventually,51 people were put to death and an unknown number of dissidents were jailed. Despite some criticism back in France about the severity of the reaction, marr, David G. Vietnamese anticolonialism, 1885–1925
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French Indochina in World War II
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The Vichy government ceded control of Hanoi and Saigon in 1940 to Japan, and in 1941, Japan extended its control over the whole of French Indochina. The United States, concerned by this expansion, put embargoes on exports of steel and this led to the USA declaring war against Japan. The US then joined the British Empire, already at war with Germany since 1939, as part of the Allied fighting against the Japanese, the Chinese formed a nationalist resistance movement, the Dong Minh Hoi, this included Communists, but was not controlled by them. When this did not provide the intelligence data, they released Ho Chi Minh from jail. This mission was assisted by Western intelligence agencies, including the American Office of Strategic Services, free French intelligence also tried to affect developments in the Vichy-Japanese collaboration. In March 1945, the Japanese imprisoned the Vichy French and took control of Vietnam until they were defeated by the Allies in August. At that point, there was an attempt to form a Provisional Government, nationalist and anti-colonialist movements that wanted independence from the French. Communists who indeed would like to expand, the lines were not always clear, and some alliances were of convenience. Prior to his death, Franklin D. Roosevelt made numerous comments about not wanting the French to regain control of Indochina. In 1999, former U. S. Secretary of Defense and he found U. S. claims unconvincing that China was a threat, given a millennium of Sino-Vietnamese enmity, as well as Dean Achesons claim that the French blackmailed the U. S. into supporting them. On Hos part, McNamara believes they misinterpreted the lack of U. S. response to be equivalent to enmity, and, allowed themselves to be blackmailed by the Soviets and Chinese. In France itself, an anti-fascist Popular Front, included the Center, Left, a corresponding Indochinese Democratic Front formed. An unpopular Governor General was replaced, encouraging Vietnamese nationalists to meet a French commission of Inquiry with lists of grievances, by the time the commission arrived, however, the Leftists were now not just members of an opposition, but part of a government concerned about Japanese expansion. Moutets Popular Front failed in actually liberalizing the situation, and he was to be involved in a failure a decade later. Throughout East and Southeast Asia, tensions had been building between 1937 and 1941, as Japan expanded into China, Franklin D. Roosevelt regarded this as an infringement on U. S. interests in China. The U. S. had already accepted an apology and indemnity for the Japanese bombing of the USS Panay, the French Popular Front fell, and the Indochinese Democratic Front went underground. When a new French government, still under the Third Republic, formed in August 1938, among its first acts was to name General Georges Catroux governor general of Indochina. Catrouxs immediate concern was with Japan, who were fighting in nearby China
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August Revolution
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The August Revolution, also known as the August General Uprising, was a revolution launched by the Việt Minh against French colonial rule in Vietnam, on August 14,1945. However, according to Vietnamese document, Việt Minh, in fact, on September 2,1945, Ho declared Vietnamese Independence. The August Revolution created a government for the entire country. Before the Japanese arrived, French colonialism in Vietnam had already lasted 87 years, to justify their imperial domination, the French claimed that it was their responsibility to help undeveloped regions in Asia become civilized. Without French intervention, they asserted, these places would remain backward, uncivilized, however, in reality, French imperialism was driven by the demand for resources - raw materials and cheap labor. From the beginning of the French occupation of Vietnam, thousands of poorly-armed Vietnamese reacted to foreign control as they always had, one of the famous rebellions is called Cần Vương movement, which was a large-scale Vietnamese insurgency between 1885 and 1889 against French colonial rule. In 1917, a band of political prisoners, common criminals and mutinous prison guards seized the Thái Nguyênn Penitentiary. The extraordinary regional and social diversity of its force makes the Thái Nguyên uprising a compelling prequel to the modern nationalist movements of the 1930s, although all these rebellions finally failed, the rebels remained a powerful symbol of resistance for generations. During the colonial period, the French did transform Vietnamese society, education and national industry were promoted which had the unintended effect of stimulating the development of nationalist movements. In the north, the anticolonial nationalist movement was dominated by Communism after Hồ Chí Minh created the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League in 1925, on February 3,1930, a special conference was held in Hong Kong under the chairmanship of Hồ Chí Minh. Out of this conference the Vietnamese Communist Party was born, in October, following a Comintern directive, this name was changed to Indochinese Communist Party or in short, I. C. P. Until the Party was officially disbanded by Hồ Chí Minh in November 1945 and these name changes were used to further his cause of uniting the citizens and encouraging them to rebel. Ho Chi Minh means Ho Who Aspires To Enlightenment, in the south, the anticolonial nationalist movement is more complicated than the north. The Cao Đài was the first of southern Vietnam’s three most influential politico-religious organizations to emerge in the colonial era. Officially founded by civil servant Ngô Văn Chiêu in 1926, it would grow to be the largest of the region’s politically oriented religious entities. More than a later, in 1939, Prophet Huynh Phu So introduced another politico-religious organization into southern Vietnam’s anticolonial milieu by founding the Hòa Hảo. The third politico-religious organization called Bình Xuyên, can be traced back to the early 1920s, but Bình Xuyên didn’t become a truly organized political force until the end of the Second World War. All three of these organizations constituted major anticolonial powers in southern Vietnam, before 1945, France and Japan had uneasily ruled Vietnam together for over four years
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First Indochina War
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The First Indochina War began in French Indochina on 19 December 1946 and lasted until 1 August 1954. Fighting between French forces and their Viet Minh opponents in the South dated from September 1945, Japanese forces located south of that line surrendered to him and those to the north surrendered to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. In September 1945, Chinese forces entered Tonkin and a small British task force landed at Saigon, the Chinese accepted the Vietnamese government under Ho Chi Minh, then in power in Hanoi. The British refused to do likewise in Saigon, and deferred to the French there from the outset, on V-J Day, September 2, Ho Chi Minh had proclaimed in Hanoi the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. On 23 September 1945, with the knowledge of the British Commander in Saigon, French forces overthrew the local DRV government, guerrilla warfare began around Saigon immediately. The first few years of the war involved a low-level rural insurgency against the French, French Union forces included colonial troops from the whole former empire, French professional troops and units of the French Foreign Legion. The use of metropolitan recruits was forbidden by the government to prevent the war from becoming more unpopular at home. It was called the dirty war by leftists in France, the strategy of pushing the Viet Minh into attacking well-defended bases in remote parts of the country at the end of their logistical trails was validated at the Battle of Nà Sản. However, this base was relatively weak because of a lack of concrete and this combination proved fatal for this base defenses, culminating in a decisive French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The south continued under Emperor Bảo Đại, a year later, Bảo Đại would be deposed by his prime minister, Ngô Đình Diệm, creating the Republic of Vietnam. Soon an insurgency, backed by the North, developed against Diệms government, the conflict gradually escalated into the Vietnam War. Vietnam was absorbed into French Indochina in stages between 1858 and 1887, nationalism grew until World War II provided a break in French control. Early Vietnamese resistance centered on the intellectual Phan Bội Châu, Châu looked to Japan, which had modernized and was one of the few Asian nations to successfully resist European colonization. With Prince Cường Để, Châu started two organizations in Japan, the Duy Tân hội and Vietnam Cong Hien Hoi, due to French pressure, Japan deported Phan Bội Châu to China. Witnessing Sun Yat-sens 1911 nationalist revolution, Châu was inspired to commence the Viet Nam Quang Phục Hội movement in Guangzhou, from 1914 to 1917, he was imprisoned by Yuan Shikais counterrevolutionary government. In 1925, he was captured by French agents in Shanghai, due to his popularity, Châu was spared from execution and placed under house arrest until his death in 1940. In September 1940, shortly after Phan Bội Châus death, Japan launched its invasion of French Indochina, keeping the French colonial administration, the Japanese ruled from behind the scenes in a parallel of Vichy France. As far as Vietnamese nationalists were concerned, this was a double-puppet government, Emperor Bảo Đại collaborated with the Japanese, just as he had with the French, ensuring his lifestyle could continue
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Battle of Dien Bien Phu
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It was, from the French view before the event, a set piece battle to draw out the Vietnamese and destroy them with superior firepower. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that influenced negotiations underway at Geneva among several nations over the future of Indochina. As a result of blunders in French decision-making, the French began an operation to insert, then support the soldiers at Điện Biên Phủ, deep in the hills of northwestern Vietnam. Its purpose was to cut off Viet Minh supply lines into the neighboring Kingdom of Laos, a French ally, the plan was to resupply the French position by air, and was based on the belief that the Viet Minh had no anti-aircraft capability. The Viet Minh, however, under General Võ Nguyên Giáp, the Viet Minh brought in vast amounts of heavy artillery. This positioning of the artillery made it nearly impervious to French counter-battery fire, the Viet Minh opened fire with a massive artillery bombardment in March. After several days the French artillery commander, Charles Piroth, unable to respond with any effective counterbattery fire, the Viet Minh occupied the highlands around Điện Biên Phủ and bombarded the French positions. Tenacious fighting on the ground ensued, reminiscent of the warfare of World War I. The French repeatedly repulsed Viet Minh assaults on their positions, as the Viet Minh antiaircraft fire took its toll, fewer and fewer of those supplies reached the French. The garrison was overrun in May after a siege. A few of them escaped to Laos, the French government then resigned, and the new Prime Minister, the left-of-centre Pierre Mendès France, supported French withdrawal from Indochina. The war ended shortly after the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the refusal of Ngô Đình Diệm to allow elections in 1956, as had been stipulated by the Geneva Conference, eventually led to the first phase of the Second Indochina War. This is better known as the Vietnam War, which was waged largely by the United States after 1963, by 1953, the First Indochina War was not going well for France. During their 1952–53 campaign, the Viet Minh had overrun vast swathes of Laos, a French ally and Vietnams western neighbor, advancing as far as Luang Prabang, the French were unable to slow the Viet Minh advance, who fell back only after outrunning their always-tenuous supply lines. In 1953, the French had begun to strengthen their defenses in the Hanoi delta region to prepare for a series of offensives against Viet Minh staging areas in northwest Vietnam. They set up fortified towns and outposts in the area, including Lai Châu near the Chinese border to the north, Nà Sản to the west of Hanoi, and the Plain of Jars in northern Laos. In May 1953, French Premier René Mayer appointed Henri Navarre, Mayer had given Navarre a single order—to create military conditions that would lead to an honorable political solution. According to military scholar Phillip Davidson, On arrival, Navarre was shocked by what he found, there had been no long-range plan since de Lattres departure
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1954 Geneva Conference
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The part of the conference on the Korean question ended without adopting any declarations or proposals. On Indochina, the conference produced a set of known as the Geneva Accords. A Conference Final Declaration, issued by the British chairman of the conference, although presented as a consensus view, this document was not accepted by the delegates of either the State of Vietnam or the United States. In addition, three separate ceasefire accords, covering Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, were signed at the conference, the conference was held at the Palace of Nations in Geneva, commencing on April 26,1954. The first agenda item was the Korean question to be followed by Indochina. ”After the defeat of the Japanese Empire in 1945, nationalist and communist movements in Vietnam fought for independence, resulting in the First Indochina War in 1946. This colonial war between the French Unions Expeditionary Corps and Hồ Chí Minhs Việt Minh guerrillas turned into a Cold War crisis in January 1950, the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ started on March 13,1954, and continued during the Geneva conference. The course of the hung over the conference, as both sides sought a strategic victory that would strengthen their negotiating position. The Chinese delegation proposed an amendment to have a group of “neutral nations” supervise the elections, the U. S. supported the South Korean position, saying that the USSR wanted to turn North Korea into a puppet state. Most allies remained silent and at least one, Britain, thought that the U. S. -South Korean proposal would be deemed unreasonable, the South Korean representative proposed all-Korea elections, to be held according to South Korean constitutional procedures and still under UN-supervision. The Belgian and British delegations said that while they were not going to accept “the Soviet and Chinese proposals, that did not mean a rejection of the ideas they contained. ”In the end, however, the conference participants did not agree on any declaration. While the delegates began to assemble in Geneva from late April, the Viet Minh had achieved their decisive victory over the French Union forces at Dien Bien Phu the previous day. The Western allies did not have a position on what the Conference was to achieve in relation to Indochina. Anthony Eden, leading the British delegation, favored a negotiated settlement to the conflict and its leaders had previously accused the Democratic Truman administration of having lost China when the communists were successful in dominating the country. The Eisenhower administration had considered air strikes in support of the French at Dien Bien Phu, Eisenhower was wary of becoming drawn into another Korea that would be deeply unpopular with the American public. U. S. domestic policy considerations strongly influenced the U. S. position at Geneva, at the time of the Geneva conference, the U. S. did not recognize the Peoples Republic of China. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, a strong anti-Communist, forbade any contact with the Chinese delegation, refusing to shake hands with Zhou Enlai, the State of Vietnam refused to attend the negotiations until Bidault wrote to Bao Dai assuring him that any agreement would not partition Vietnam. Pham Van Dong first proposed a partition of Vietnam on May 25. It appears that the DRV leadership thought the balance of forces was uncomfortably close and were worried about morale problems among their troops, in addition, there was a widespread perception that the Diem government would collapse, leaving the Viet Minh free to take control of the area
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Empire of Vietnam
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The Empire of Vietnam was a short-lived puppet state of Imperial Japan governing the whole of Vietnam between March 11 and August 23,1945. This changed on 9 March 1945 when Japan officially took over, to gain the support of the Vietnamese people, Imperial Japan declared it would return sovereignty to Vietnam. Emperor Bảo Đại declared the Treaty of Huế made with France in 1884 void, Trần Trọng Kim, a renowned historian and scholar, was chosen to lead the government as prime minister. Kim and his ministers spent an amount of time on constitutional matters at their first meeting in Huế on 4 May 1945. One of their first resolutions was to alter the name to Việt Nam. This was seen as a significant and urgent task and it implied territorial unity, Việt Nam had been Emperor Gia Longs choice for the name of the country since he unified the modern territory of Việt Nam in 1802. Furthermore, this was the first time that Vietnamese nationalists in the northern, central, when France had finished its conquest of Vietnam in 1885, only southern Vietnam was made a direct colony under the name of Cochinchina. The northern and central regions were designated as protectorates as Tonkin, when the Empire of Vietnam was proclaimed, the Japanese retained direct control of Cochinchina, in the same way as their French predecessors. Thuận Hóa, the name for Huế, was restored. Kims officials worked to find a French substitute for the word Annamite, Annamite was considered derogatory, and it was replaced with Vietnamien. Apart from Thuận Hóa, these terms have been accepted since Kim ordered the changes. This decision ended three months of speculation concerning a new flag for Vietnam, Kims government strongly emphasised educational reform, focusing on the development of technical training, particularly the use of romanised script as the primary language of instruction. After less than two months in power, Kim organized the first primary examinations in Vietnamese, the language he intended to use in the advanced tests, education minister Hoang Xuan Han strove to Vietnamise public secondary education. His reforms took more than four months to achieve their results, the Justice minister Trịnh Đình Thảo launched an attempt at judicial reform. In May 1945, he created the Committee for the Reform and Unification of Laws in Huế and his ministry reevaluated the sentences of political prisoners, releasing a number of anti-French activists and restoring the civil rights of others. This led to the release of a number of Communist cadres who returned to their former cells, one of the most notable changes implemented by Kims government was the encouragement of mass political participation. A committee was organised to select a list of heroes for induction into the Temple of Martyrs. In Huế, Jules Ferry was replaced on the signboards of a thoroughfare by Lê Lợi
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Communist Party of Vietnam
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The Communist Party of Vietnam is the founding and ruling political party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Although nominally it exists alongside the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, it maintains a government and has centralized control over the state, military. The supremacy of the Communist Party is guaranteed by Article 4 of the national constitution, the current partys leader is Nguyễn Phú Trọng, who holds the titles of General Secretary of the Central Committee and Secretary of the Central Military Commission. The party is known for the advocacy of what it calls a socialist-oriented market economy, the highest institution of the CPV is the partys National Congress which elects the Central Committee. In between party congresses, the Central Committee is the organ on party affairs. Immediately after a party congress, the Central Committee elects the Politburo and Secretariat, and appoints the First Secretary, in between sessions of the Central Committee, the Politburo is the supreme organ on party affairs. However, it can only implement decisions based upon the policies which have been approved in advance by either the Central Committee or the partys National Congress, as of 2014, the 11th Politburo comprises 16 members. The Communist Party traces its lineage back to 1925, when Ho Chi Minh established the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League, Thanh Niên sought to make use of patriotism in an effort to end the colonial occupation of the country by France. The group sought political and social independence and the redistribution of land to working peasants. Thanh Niên was designed to prepare the ground for an armed struggle against the French occupation. In 1928 the headquarters of the Thanh Niên organization in Canton was forced underground by Chinese nationalists led by Kuomintang and this led to a national breakdown within the organization, which lead indirectly to a split within Thanh Niên. The other faction of Thanh Niên, based in the central and southern districts of the country. The two organizations spent the rest of 1929 engaged in polemics against one another in an attempt to gain a position of hegemony over the radical Vietnamese liberation movement. A third Vietnamese Communist Party emerged around this time, called the League of Indochinese Communists, the League of Indochinese Communists had its roots in another national liberation group which had existed in parallel with Thanh Niên, and saw itself as a rival to the latter. At a later conference, the party was renamed the Indochinese Communist Party, during its first five years of existence, the ICP attained a membership of about 1500 and had large contingent of sympathizers. Despite the groups small size, it exerted an influence in a turbulent Vietnamese social climate, poor harvests in 1929 and 1930 and an onerous burden of debt served to radicalize many peasants. As three May Day marches grew into mass rallies, French colonial authorities moved in to quash what they perceived to be dangerous peasant revolts, Government forces fired upon the assembled crowds, killing dozens of participants and inflaming the population. In response, local councils were organized in villages in an effort to govern themselves locally, General Secretary Tran Phu and many leaders of the Central Committee were arrested and killed
