The decision to invade Vietnam was made in July 1857 by Napoleon. France adopted a principle called ‘mission civilisatrice’ which loosely means ‘civilising mission’ in an attempt to justify colonisation. French imperialists held the view that it was their duty to colonise these under-developed areas around the world and to “enlighten” them through modern ideas. They believed that these places would remain “uncivilised” and “backwards” without their involvement. However, France’s main goal was not actually to “help” Vietnam, but profit and economic exploitation.
France took over all areas of the administration, Vietnamese bureaucracy was void of any real power. Vietnamese emperors were also removed and were replaced by those who were loyal to France. France took huge advantage of Vietnam’s natural resources with rice, coal, rare minerals and rubber being the main products. There were huge numbers of Vietnamese people working in these industries, but because the main aim of this expansionism was profit for France, very little was reinvested into Vietnam’s economy. This economic “progress” which was created through this colonial system only benefited the French and the very small group of wealthy Vietnamese.
Workers on these plantations in French Indochina (the group of French colonies in South East Asia in general) were known as ‘coolies’, a derogatory term for Asian labourers. They worked exhaustingly long hours for barely any money and some labourers were even paid in rice instead of money. The conditions were dreadful, and it was not unusual for several workers to die on any given day. The French tyre manufacturer, Michelin, were notorious for having extremely horrendous conditions for their labourers and between the two world wars, one plantation recorded 17,000 deaths. This exemplifies the abysmal conditions that these Vietnamese workers had to operate under for extremely little if any wages, and to enable the French to line their pockets.
Whilst there were clearly numerous issues with French colonialism in Vietnam, there were some benefits for the Vietnamese people as well, the most evident being the improvement of education. Primary schools were opened by French ministers, officials and some families where they taught both French and Viet languages. A number of Viet students were also provided scholarships to study in France. However, this progress was only in cities as there was no attempt to help educate the children of farmers. Furthermore, the curriculum at said schools was used to emphasise the necessity of French control by stressing the supremacy of French values and culture. This demonstrates how France did not actually want to “educate” Vietnam and its people but solely wanted to establish control and exploit their resources. Yes, France did help progress education within Vietnam; it was not available for everyone and French officials were not concerned with making it accessible to as many people as possible, but ultimately it was all self-serving.
As time progressed, increasing numbers of Viet citizens resented French rule as quality of life in cities had declined and huge numbers of people were forced to take low-income jobs working in factories or coal mines. This led to huge numbers of people turning to nationalistic hopes for independence as they realised that France was exploiting both Vietnam’s resources and people.
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