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Why Vietnam was colonized by France

In ancient China, among the neighboring countries, Vietnam can be said to be relatively tenacious. At the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, Vietnam was once included in the territory of China, but after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, it became completely independent. Since then, although the Central Plains Dynasty has continued to try to regain the Vietnam area, but in the end, they are all defeated. Typically there are two.

The first is during the Yuan Dynasty. Kublai Khan attacked Vietnam three times before and after. The Yuan Dynasty was an army that conquered the world. Naturally, it is not necessary to mention its combat power, but although each time, it directly entered its capital and expelled its king and others, and finally returned with a disastrous defeat.

The main reason is not that the Mongols can’t beat Vietnam, but Vietnam’s cunning. Once the Mongolian army comes, it will immediately run away and disappear, and then they will fight guerrillas and harass. At that time, the Mongolian army could not bear the hot weather in Vietnam, and as a result, many fell ill. In the end, the three Mongolian troops before and after were all defeated, completely defeated, and lost the opportunity to regain Vietnam.

The second time was during the period of Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty, when turmoil broke out in Vietnam and the Chen Dynasty was overthrown by the Hu Dynasty, so Chen Tianping, the prince of the Chen Dynasty, went to Nanjing to find Zhu Di, kneeling and crying, which made Zhu Di very moved. Moreover, Zhu Di also wanted to take this opportunity to take back the Vietnam area that had been away from the Central Plains for hundreds of years.

Therefore, Zhu Neng and Zhang Fu were sent to attack the Hu Dynasty in Vietnam, and Zhu Neng died of illness on the way. Fortunately, Zhang Fu was very good at fighting, and gave full play to the advantages of the Ming army to defeat the Hu Dynasty army in one fell swoop.

He even captured the usurped emperor Hu Dynasty directly and took him back to Nanjing to ask for the crime. In one fell swoop, Zhu Di included Vietnam into the territory of the Ming Dynasty and re-established the local government. However, this move was met with strong resistance from Vietnam, and peasant uprisings continued to break out.

Moreover, the officials of the Ming Dynasty continued to exploit there, causing public grievances to boil over. In addition, when the capital of the Ming Dynasty was moved to Beijing, the control of Vietnam was even weaker. In the last few decades, the officials and 70,000 troops stationed by the Ming Dynasty were almost wiped out, and the last attempt also failed. end.

However, in such a tenacious Vietnam, after the arrival of the Western colonizers, the French easily occupied Vietnam, and they also implemented colonial rule, and the Vietnamese people were still obedient. This in the end is why? Is it natural to like being invaded by foreign countries? The reason is actually very simple.

First, religion opens the way.

In Vietnam, Confucian culture was the orthodox ideology, but since the 15th century, a large number of Western missionaries came to Vietnam, and missionary missions in Vietnam achieved great success. The rapid penetration of Catholicism and Christianity has cultivated a large number of believers, and these believers have become an important force in the later French colonization of Vietnam.

Second, the military is strong.

Vietnam realized the power of missionaries and began to expel them. The French colonists used this as an excuse to invade Vietnam. The missionaries have already reported all the mountains, rivers, landforms and customs of Vietnam to France. Therefore, with the help of the ship’s sharp guns, he soon achieved a military victory. Moreover, the French can keep up with the supply from the sea, which is the key to their military victory.

Once a city has been conquered, even the usual guerrilla warfare in Vietnam cannot be effective with sufficient logistical supplies. The French are very cautious and have always insisted on a steady and steady fight. Every time they conquer a city, they first appease the people, sign a treaty with the local government, cultivate pro-French forces, and slowly realize colonization. After the rule is stabilized, it will continue to fight north to achieve the goal of gradually encroaching.

Third, cultural conquest.

We know that Vietnam has always used Chinese characters, and its ancient books and government documents are all Chinese characters. However, since the French began to infiltrate Vietnam, sent a large number of missionaries, and coupled with the occupation of the army, it was crucial that the Latin script soon succeeded in replacing the Chinese characters in Vietnam as its language. Once the writing is formed, it is a kind of cultural control.

Therefore, the Confucian culture was slowly eroded by the Latin civilization of France. This was also during the French colonial rule, and the people no longer resisted as fiercely as in the Yuan and Ming dynasties.