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“One cannot fashion a credible deterrent out of an incredible action.”
― Robert McNamara
The Vietnamese Revolution represents one of the most interesting and insightful examples for studying revolutions in the modern era. Namely, the allure of this conflict is due to its somewhat rare revolutionary outcome and the many clear characteristics of the state that preceded its political violence as its revolutionary situation. Consequently, the Vietnam conflict offers valuable conclusions about the nature of revolutionary outcomes, especially as they pertain to theory. In particular, this revolution invigorates the utility of Counterinsurgency Theory and Mao’s Theory of Revolutions. It catalyzes Counterinsurgency Theory by providing several examples of unsuccessful counterinsurgent strategies. Additionally, the Vietnamese Revolution displays the outcome of a conflict when a force painstakingly adheres to Mao’s Theory of Revolutions in order to supplant a ruling power. As such, this prolonged period of political violence in Vietnam holds a strong position in history that is indispensable when analyzing the common features of revolutions.
Overview
Vietnam consists of a long narrow country on the Indochinese peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land consists of heavily forested mountains and plateaus with two major river deltas: the Red River Delta, Near Hanoi, North Vietnam, and the Mekong River Delta, near Saigon, South Vietnam. The country consists of a mostly rural population with about 85% of people concentrated on 20% of the land mass (Defronzo, 2011: p.149). People of Vietnam are mostly ethnic Vietnamese, holding a high percentage of the total population. Culture in Vietnam lived to be heavily influenced by 1000 years of Chinese domination: Confucianism, clothing, writing system, technologies. The language holds a strong Chinese influence. Before the unification in 1802 under Emperor Gia Long, a period of time characterized the country as being a mix of conflicting groups and an inability for unification to occur in Vietnam.
The build to the Vietnamese Revolution began when the presence of the French became more prevalent. The Vietnamese invited the French because of both countries’ interests. The French focused their attention on Christianization and colonization of the Vietnamese people, while Vietnamese gained access to advanced weaponry, technology, and products. Initially, the people of Vietnam tolerated Christianization and colonization; however, this tolerance did not last. Conflict began to arise more frequently between Vietnam and France due to Vietnamese campaigns against Christian missionaries, as well as British gains in China with the overall race of colonization. In 1847, France achieved naval victory and concessions from Vietnam. Then in 1883, after more concessions, the French completed their conquest of Vietnam (Defronzo, 2011: p.152). The French had a great impact: economically, socially, and politically. The Vietnamese economy tur