The August Revolution of 1945 In Cochinchina: The Nationalist Movement and the French Reoccupation

Abstract

The August Revolution of 1945 marked a turning point in modern Vietnamese history, for it was the first revolutionary movement with a broad popular base in both the North and the South to succeed in taking control of the government and establishing an independent Vietnam. The movement had been legitimized in the eyes of the Vietnamese by the abdication of Emperor Bao Dai and his transfer of power to the Viet Minh-headed Democratic Republican Government. However, the Revolution was not as successful in the South as it was in the North. The Revolution in the South was characterized primarily by the multiplicity of major political parties, including the United National Front-- consisting of the Struggle Groups of the Trotskyists, the Cao Daists, the Hoa Hao and various other minor groups--the Viet Minh, and the bandits of Binh Xuyen. This, combined with the relative weakness of the Viet Minh party in the South resulted in the ineffectiveness of the Cochinchinese attempts to defend their newly-won independence against the French reoccupation. The French had for the most part completely misunderstood the nature of the revolutionary movement throughout the country, and had begun their campaign of reoccupation with the attitude that they were merely reclaiming what was rightfully theirs. With the aid of the British, they were able to overwhelm the Cochinchinese forces, and by the end of 1945, succeeded in crushing the organized revolutionary movement in Cochinchina and re-establishing their authority.