North & South Vietnam is an Old, Old Story

South East Asia

The division of Viet Nam into the North and South was a fact of life long before the Post WWII era.  Well back in the history the Red River Valley of the North and the Delta region of the south were the de facto headquarters of the social, agricultural and economic structure of the areas.  Toward the latter part of the last millennium two large families or clans ruled the halves of what we now call Vietnam.  The Nguyen clan ruled the South and the Trinh family the North.  There was even a Nguyen-Trinh War in the country’s past.

For some years European nations tried to gain influence over the Vietnamese factions.  The Portuguese supported the Nguyen side and the Dutch the Trinh.  Both of these countries had been active in the region since the end of the 15th century but did not make a special effort to control Vietnam.  The possibility that China would push back was likely the reason they held off and concentrated in other areas where they had a better chance of taking advantage of the place with little likelihood of a strong, armed response from any major power.

Notre Dame Cathedral HCM City

Franciscan and Dominican priests from the Philippines went to Viet Nam in the 17th and 18th Centuries and began the struggle to introduce Catholicism into Vietnam.  They were, of course, from Spain but it was the clergy from France that played a major part in the history of the country.  In the 1800’s a Catholic Bishop got very involved in local politics and was responsible for French interests, private as well  as French government affiliated, to provide arms and fighting men in a struggle to shape the Vietnamese national political structure.

Most of the Church’s operations and strength were in the South of the country so it is no surprise that the Church helped a Southern General called Nguyen An capture Hanoi and eventually become the Emperor Gia Long, the first Nguyen Dynasty ruler.  Surely the reason the Church worked so hard at interfering with Vietnam’s internal affairs was to gain a preferred place in the country.  It didn’t work quite that way.  Over time Catholic priests and followers were harassed and attacked by the new rulers.  The inside track was bumpier than the Bishop expected.  Rather than wait for Heavenly intervention the French Government used the treatment of the priests as a justification to wage war on the Vietnamese Government and to send troops and administrators to the North.  The French began to turn Vietnam into a colony.  The French incorporated a number of separate geographical parcels that are now parts of Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, China and Thailand into something they called French Indochina and held it as an overseas province  until they lost it after their defeat by the Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.

More on this as we go along