It should be accepted as a fact (and it shouldn't surprise anyone) that the Nguyen dynasty and the Empire of Vietnam fell as a result of foreign incursion and the effects of imperialism. Many people, for obvious political reasons, would be quick to blame HM Emperor Gia Long for bringing the French into Vietnam who supported his efforts to defeat the Tay Son and unite Indochina into a strong and prosperous monarchy built on the Confucian principles of duty and ethics. However, the Emperor paid back in full any support he ever recieved from France, in fact he was victorious without their help, and he fulfilled his obligations according to the treaty of alliance and gave the French officials money, titles, commercial rights and freedom to introduce Christian missionaries. It was later that the rising trend of European imperialism led to France breaking the treaties and taking more and more power from the Vietnamese government. His recognized too late the mistake he had made and tried to stop the involvement of the foreigners in Viet Nam. It was his friend who had helped him, not the French government, but that fact did not stop them from claiming control of Viet Nam.
The French had taken Cochinchina (the area around Saigon) as a colony but later extended what they referred to as a "protectorate" over Annam and Tonkin. There were military confrontations, but French technology proved superior to the courage of the recently formed Vietnamese army. Although the French kept up the facade of independence, it soon became clear that the power of the sword had prevailed over the power of justice and Southeast Asia was a territory of the French 2nd Empire and later the French Republic. This unscrupulous colonialism undermined the exalted position of the Son of Heaven and the way in which the French deposed emperors at their whim greatly undermined respect for the monarchy among the public. This is important to remember since it was not the Nguyen dynasty that actually did anything that upset or disillusioned the people but rather the way in which the French imperialists dictated policy at gun-point.
However, French rule was not the worst aspect of colonialism; that would be doomed to fail as the Vietnamese have always defeated every conqueror who came to occupy their country. Instead, it was corrupt foreign thinking which caused the most damage to Viet Nam. Ideas like party politics, communism, cruel weapons, political ideology, disloyalty, disrespect for the ways of the ancestors, all of this was imposed on Viet Nam and would be a deep scar and cause of all subsequent troubles in the future. Many people in Vietnam were taken in by the culture of France and were genuine Francophiles, however that did not mean they approved of them controling their country. If the Republic of France had allowed Vietnam to operate as an independent country the two nations would surely have remained fast friends despite all of their bad history. However, too many die-hard imperialists in France refused to treat the Vietnamese as equals and allow their government control of their own destiny. When the French were finally forced out of Indochina by the Vietminh their role was effectively taken over by the Americans who were also set upon replacing the traditional Vietnamese monarchy with a western-style republic. The United States made a major mistake in supporting the political rule of President Ngo Dinh Diem, a former monarchist, and later came to regret their mistake. Diem refused to allow any foreign power to influence his decisions, this had always been his greatest criticism of the Emperor, but his minority religion gave his enemies a weakness to attack him. He was later assassinated by his own military also with U.S. support. It is clear that by foreign powers constantly using their power not to defend Vietnamese independence but to set up and tear down rulers they undermined their own efforts. Many Vietnamese people fought in the Vietminh and other groups not out of love for communism but for Vietnamese independence under any government and to drive out the foreign super-powers once and for all.
The only foreign power to support at least the name of independence and the correct system of imperial government was the Empire of Japan, looked upon for years with great admiration by their brother Asians. However, the Japanese made a big mistake to make enemies by dealing first with the French regime, but still many Vietnamese could see Japan would go and the independent "Empire of Viet Nam" would stay, these were pro-Japanese groups like the Dai Viets, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai and all former supporters of Marquis Cuong De. However, the Japanese brutal exploitation of the famine in the north and helplessness of the only very new regime of Emperor Bao Dai caused the monarchy to crumble away before the Viet Minh and the United States, full of immense hatred of Japan, would tolerate no one who cooperated with them, so this was used to force the abdication of the Emperor Bao Dai who really did not know what exactly was going on.
Now today, because of all of this, Viet Nam is more foreign than Viet, with a foreign socialist republic style government, foreign tastes and foreign thinking. It is the vital task then of all parents to pass on the proper respect to their children so that the sacred cause of the ancestors will not be forgotten completely. |
