Both of them wanted modernization of Vietnam. Phan Boi Chau felt that Vietnamese traditions had to be strengthened to resist the domination of the West, while Phan Chu Tinh felt that Vietnam had to learn from the West even while opposing foreign
domination.
i. In 1907-08 some 300 Vietnamese students went to Japan to acquire modern education. For many of them the primary objective was to drive out the French from Vietnam, overthrow the puppet emperor and to re-establish the Nguyen dynasty that had been deposed by the French.
ii. These nationalists looked for foreign arms and help. They appealed to the Japanese as fellow Asians. Japan had modernized itself and had resisted colonization by the West. Besides, its victory over Russia in 1907 proved its military capabilities.
iii. Vietnamese students established a branch of the Restoration Society in Tokyo but after 1908, the Japanese Ministry of Interior clamped down on them. Many, including Phan Boi Chau, were deported and forced to seek exile in China and Thailand. How did the development in Japan inspire Vietnamese nationalists? (answer above)
i. In 1911, the long established monarchy in China was overthrown by a popular movement under Sun Yat-Sen, and a republic was set up.
ii. Inspired by these developments, Vietnamese students organized the Association for the Restoration of Vietnam (Viet-Nam Quan Phuc Hoi). Now the nature of the anti-French independence movement changed. The objective was no longer to set up a constitutional monarchy but a democratic republic.
‘Early Vietnamese nationalists had a close relationship with Japan and China’. Support your answer with 3 examples. Write two answers above)
Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces were among the poorest, had an old radical tradition, and have been called the ‘electrical fuses’ of Vietnam – because when the (economic) system was under pressure they were the first to blow. They were the first to affect by the Great Depression of the 1930s.
i. The new republic faced a number of challenges. The French tried to regain control by using the emperor, Bao Dai, as their puppet. Faced with the French offensive, the
Vietminh was forced to retreat to the hills.
ii. After eight years of fighting, the French were defeated in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. 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 Vietnam were formed. Ho Chi Minh and the communists took power in the north while Bao Dai’s capitalist regime was put in power in the south.
22. What were the consequences of the partition of Vietnam in to two countries?
i. The division turned Vietnam into a battlefield bringing death and destruction to its people as well as the environment.
ii. The Bao Dai regime was overthrown by a coup led by Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem built a repressive and authoritarian government.
iii. Anyone who opposed him was called a communist and was jailed and killed.
iv. Diem retained Ordinance 10, a French law that permitted Christianity but outlawed Buddhism.
v. His dictatorial rule came to be opposed by a broad opposition united under the banner of the National Liberation Front (NLF).
23. Why did the U.S.A interfere in the Vietnam War?
i. North Vietnam, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh , followed a socialist Government. South Vietnam under the leadership of Bao Dai followed a capitalist Government formed with the help of U.S.A..
ii. When North Vietnam attacked South Vietnam for unification under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh and NLF , USA interfered to give support to South Vietnam.
iii. USA did not want South Vietnam to become socialist and the expansion of socialism.
24. How did the entry of USA mark a new phase in the Vietnam War?
i. US entry into the war marked a new phase that proved costly to the Vietnamese as well as to the Americans.
ii. From 1965 to 1972, over 3,403,100 US services personnel served in Vietnam (7,484 were women).
iii. Even though the US had advanced technology and good medical supplies, casualties were high. About 47,244 died in battle and 303,704 were wounded.
iv. Thousands of US troops arrived equipped with heavy weapons and tanks and backed by the most powerful bombers of the time – B52s. The wide spread attacks and use of chemical weapons – Napalm, Agent Orange, and phosphorous bombs – destroyed many villages and decimated jungles. Civilians died in large numbers.
25. What was the effect, of U.S involvement in the Vietnam War, in the United States?
The effect of the war was felt within the US as well. Many were critical of the government for getting involved in a war that they saw as indefensible. When the youth were drafted for the war, the anger spread. Compulsory service in the armed forces, however, could be ignored for university graduates. This meant that many of those sent to
fight did not belong to the privileged elite but were minorities and children of workingclass families.
26. How did the nationalists draw women in to the struggle in Vietnam?
i. As the nationalist movement grew, the status of women came to be questioned and a new image of womanhood emerged. Writers and political thinkers began idealizing
women who rebelled against social norms.
ii. In the 1930s, a famous novel by Nhat Linh caused a scandal because it showed a woman leaving a forced marriage and marrying someone of her choice, someone who was involved in nationalist politics. This rebellion against social conventions marked the arrival of the new woman in Vietnamese society.
iii. Rebel women of the past were similarly celebrated. In 1913, the nationalist Phan Boi Chau wrote a play based on the lives of the Trung sisters who had fought against
Chinese domination in 39-43 CE. (Common Era) In this play, he depicted these sisters as patriots fighting to save the Vietnamese nation from the Chinese.
iv. Nationalists popularized image of another rebel leader Trieu Au, who lived in third century CE. to inspire people to action.
v. In the 1960s, photographs in magazines and journals showed women as brave fighters. There were pictures of women militia shooting down planes. They were portrayed as young, brave and dedicated.
vi. Stories were written to show how happy they felt when they joined the army and could carry a rifle. Some stories spoke of their incredible bravery in single-handedly killing the enemy – Nguyen Thi Xuan, for instance, was reputed to have shot down a jet with just twenty bullets.
vii. Women were represented not only as warriors but also as workers: they were shown with a rifle in one hand and a hammer in the other. Whether young or old, women began to be depicted as selflessly working and fighting to save the country. As casualties in the war increased in the 1960s, women were urged to join the struggle in larger numbers. (any four)
27. What was the role of women in the anti imperialist struggle in Vietnam? Compare it with that of women in India.
i. Many women joined the resistance movement. They helped in nursing the wounded, constructing underground rooms and tunnels and fighting the enemy.
ii. Along the Ho Chi Minh trail, young volunteers kept open 2,195 km of strategic roads and guarded 2,500 key points. They built six airstrips (runway), neutralized tens of
thousands of bombs, transported tens of thousands of kilograms of cargo, weapons and food and shot down fifteen planes.
iii. When the war ended, they are shown working in agricultural cooperatives, factories and production units, rather than as fighters.
iv. Indian women also fought bravely against imperialist domination in India. Many of them sacrificed their life for the cause of independence in India. Rani Lakshmi Bhai,
Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Sarojini Naidu etc. were some important freedom fighters of India.
28. What were the features of Vietnam War?
i. This was a war that has been called the first television war. Battle scenes were shown on the daily news programmes.
ii. Many became disillusioned with what the US was doing and writers such as Mary McCarthy, and actors like Jane Fonda even visited North Vietnam and praised their
heroic defence of the country.
iii. The scholar Noam Chomsky called the war ‘the greatest threat to peace, to national selfdetermination, and to international cooperation’.
iv. This was the war that led to worldwide condemnation after the Spanish Civil War.
29. Give any four features of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the Vietnamese war against the U.S.
i. It symbolizes how the Vietnamese used their limited resources to great advantage. The trail, an immense network of footpaths and roads, was used to transport men and materials from the north to the south.
ii. The trail was improved from the late 1950s, and from 1967 about 20,000 North Vietnamese troops came south each month on this trail.
iii. The trail had support bases and hospitals along the way. In some parts, supplies were transported in trucks, but mostly they were carried by porters, who were mainly women. These porters carried about 25 kilos on their backs, or about 70 kilos on their bicycles.
iv. Most of the trail was outside Vietnam in neighboring Laos and Cambodia with branch lines extending into South Vietnam.
v. The US regularly bombed this trail trying to disrupt supplies, but efforts to destroy this important supply line by intensive bombing failed because they were rebuilt very quickly.
30. Write any three points about Trie Au, the rebel women.
i) Trieu Au lived in the 3rd Century CE.
ii) Orphaned in childhood she lived with her brother
iii) She went to Jungles and organized an army to resist Chinese rule.
iv) Her army was crushed. She became a sacred figure. Nationalist popularized her image.