elite, since both saw their positions
threatened. By the 1920s, students started
forming various political parties, such as
the Party of Young Annam. They also
started publishing nationalist journals such
as the Annamese Student.
In early 20th century, Vietnamese
students went to Japan to acquire modern
education. For many of them, the primary
objective was to drive out the French from
Vietnam through education. They also
wanted to overthrow the puppet emperor
and re-establish the Nguyen dynasty that
had been deposed by the French.
After the republican revolution of Sun
Yat-sen in China, the Vietnamese too were
inspired to establish a republican and
democratic rule in Vietnam. Many students
now went to China, France and later to
USSR to study and learn about new political
ideas.
The Great Depression of the 1930s had a deep impact on Vietnam. The prices
of rubber and rice came down. This led to rising rural debts, unemployment and
rural uprising. The French suppressed these uprisings with great cruelty. They even
used planes to bomb the demonstrators.
In February 1930, Ho Chi Minh (who spent time in France and the USSR)
established the Vietnamese Communist Party (Vietnam Cong San Dang) and later
renamed it as Indo-Chinese Communist Party. He was inspired by the militant
demonstrations of the European communist parties.
Japan wanted to increase its control
in Southeast Asia. So, it occupied
Vietnam in 1940. The Vietnamese
nationalists now had to fight against the
Japanese as well as the French. However,
the French had become weak in Vietnam
because the entire France had been
occupied by Hitler during the Second
World War. The League for the
Independence of Vietnam (Viet Nam Doc
Lap Dong Minh), also known as the
Vietminh, fought the Japanese and
women as rebels
Women in Vietnam traditionally enjoyed
greater equality, particularly among the
lower classes. But they had only limited
freedom to determine their future and
played no role in public life.
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 idealising women
who rebelled against social norms. 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.
DO YOU KNOW?
Why did the fall in price rice lead to the
rise of rural indebtedness?
The youth and students played an
important role in the emergence of
nationalism in both Vietnam and China.
Discuss the similarities and differences
between them
Why do you think land rent reduction was
one of the first steps taken by the
independent government in Vietnam?