1. How do you think their long history of fighting would make the Vietnamese react to being conquered by the French in the nineteenth century?
Given the amount of times Vietnam had been invaded and conquered by foreign countries and then thrown off their control, the Vietnamese would not have taken kindly to being conquered by yet another foreign country. Given how they continued resistance against the French for 20 years after they were conquered, it is reasonable to believe they didn’t want to be conquered.
2. Study Source A. Which kingdoms and empires were Vietnam’s neighbours and rivals in the fourteenth century?
In the fourteenth century Vietnam was neighboured by the Empire of the Great Khan, Thai and Laotian Kingdoms, Champa and the Khmer Empire.
3. From Source B, which…show more content… From Source A, how did the Vietnamese peasants react to the French invasion of their land?
The Vietnamese peasants reacted aggressively and put up a long, hard fight for the French soldiers as they had a long tradition of armed struggles against invading forces. The peasants fought the French using guerrilla tactics and were fiercely patriotic.
5. Read Source B and answer the following questions:
a) How does it describe the conduct of the French soldiers?
It describes the conduct of the French soldiers as appalling. They felt that they could go around Vietnam doing what they wanted, be it executing people or raping them, and taking what they please. They forgo trials for the Vietnamese for even the smallest crime and continued in a reign of terror. The French conducted themselves without honour or dignity.
b) What would be the effects of such behaviour on the attitude of the Vietnamese toward the French?
The effects of the atrocious behaviour of the French only achieved stirring up the people against them, ‘to stir up even the most peaceful of the Annamites against us’. Their behaviour acted as a rallying call to the Vietnamese and made their attitudes far less tolerant and
