INDEPENDENCE IN INDIA AND VIETNAM

© 2011 Clairmont Press

NATIONALISM

• Defined: loyalty to a group that one shares a common history, culture, and/or religion.

• An intense desire to be a nation ruled by the people who share a national pride in the region that they live.

• Nationalism was the primary factor in the moves by India and Vietnam to overthrow European rule.• India was a British colony• Vietnam was a French colony (French Indochina)

India• Before World War I, the British grip

on India was very tight.

• After the disasters of World War I, in which many Indians would fight for Britain and lose their lives, promises for a move to self govern were broken by the British.

• From 1918-1921 agriculture took a major hit in India leading to famines and an epidemic and civil unrest. • The Indian-British relationship was

faltering.

• Mohandas Ghandi led the cry for independence with the Satyagraha Movement.• The Amritsar massacre in 1919 ignited

nationalist furor around India.

• Ghandi led a movement of civil disobedience and peace to overthrow British rule.

• The Indians would refuse to obey unjust laws and hurt the British economically, refusing to import textiles from Britain.

• In 1935, the British gave in and passed the Government of India Act; this made India a self-governed dominion, not unlike Canada.

• India would not gain full independence until August 15, 1947 when Britain withdrew from India.

Mohandas Ghandi• Born in 1869

• Studied and practiced law

• His time in South Africa opened his eyes to the racial segregation and unfair practices of British rule.

• Believed in equality and justice

• He taught to take the moral high ground and use peaceful civil disobedience to overthrow British Rule

• His movement was called the Satyagraha (Force of Truth) Movement.

• His followers called him “Mahatma” or “Great Soul.”

Vietnam• Vietnam was controlled by France in

the early 1900s.• The region was known as French

Indochina.

• Nationalism was a major factor in the region. The people felt separate among groups in the region of Asia.

• The people directed their nationalist energy at the French colonialists.

• Ho Chi Minh, a young man, led protests against French rule.

• He felt that Communism was the best way to lead the protest. He was forced to leave the country under penalty of death.

Vietnam• After World War II, Ho Chi Minh would lead

a revolt for a new group called the Vietminh League. He led the fight against France for nine years.

• In 1954, the French surrendered control of the country to Ho Chi Minh.

• At the Geneva Conference in Switzerland, 1954, the United States became alarmed at the spread of Communism into Indochina. The United States used its influence to divide the country into two parts, North (Communist) and South (Capitalist).

• The United States entered the Vietnam War after the country was divided; U.S. forces would remain in the country until 1975 when they withdrew.

• The Communists took over the rest of Vietnam but at a cost of thousands of lives.

U.S. troops rely on helicopters during a search and destroy mission in South Vietnam in 1966.

Ho Chi Minh

• Born 1890

• Vietnamese Communist Revolutionary

• Led the revolt against French Colonial rule

• Later led the Vietcong against the United States during the Vietnam War until his death in 1969

• The capital of South Vietnam would be renamed Ho Chi Minh City from Saigon after the North Vietnamese took control.