Điều gì tạo ra sự khác biệt trong cách nhìn về chiến tranh của người Việt và người Pháp?

Firstly, when it comes to the French’s attitude towards the conquest of Vietnam, they see colonialism as a lofty “civilizing mission” rather than an immoral invasion. A series of changes in France’s economic status, political and ideological conditions has laid foundation for their imperialism. They tend to see themselves as being superior to other countries. In Ferry’s book, there’s a detail that goes like “We (The French) must say openly that indeed the higher races have a right over the lower races” and “I repeat, that the superior races have a right because they have a duty. They have the duty to civilize the inferior races”. Additionally, Goscha in “ Rethinking Vietnam” also mentions Sarraut’s idea of civilizing Vietnam “Sarraut believed deeply in republican exceptionalism and its colonial mission, convinced that a unique humanism distinguished French colonialism from other (inferior) types in the past and present”. 

On the other hand, in contrast to the French’s perspective, Vietnamese people see the imperial expansion of French as evil and unacceptable. In Ho Chi Minh Biography, the author describes the context in which Uncle Ho grows up is like “The French invaders, faced with stubborn resistance, had just barely managed to conquer the Northern provinces of the Kingdom of Vietnam. They had completely taken over the southern part of the nation in 1872 and had established their protectorate over the kingdom of Cambodia in 1863”. The French’s intention do not stop there. “They began by securing a foothold over part of the nation’s territory, then forced the Huế Court to make concessions in the form of a treaty. The scenario was repeated in this way until the total annexation of the country had been achieved.” To fulfill their dream about “civilizing”, the Franch also brings about many brutal laws and policies to dominate and rule Vietnamese people. Like Goscha writes about Phan Boi Chau’s thinking: “He focused on the evils of French colonialism, detailing the terrible effects of Doumer’s tax and labor demands on the common people”

So there’s a huge difference between the way by which French and Vietnamese address the problem. After researching and investigating the historical context at this period, I think there are three main reasons as will now be discussed.
   First of all, we may need to discuss on two terms “nationalism” and “democracy”. According to Ghia Nodia “democracy, moreover, has become a term linked to adjectives like good, civilized, progressive, rational and so on, while nationalism is associated with backwardness immaturity (non nớt lạc hậu), barbarism (man rợ), irrationality (phi lý) and the like”[11] In this context, while the French view their broad expansion as a sensible way to modernize Vietnam, Vietnamese people do not see eye to eye with them on this. While the French believed that they had reformed Vietnam in some aspects such as building the railway, bringing about electricity, Vietnamese people thought that France had invaded their motherland. This is mainly because the French choose to look in a democratic side when Vietnamese people praise nationalism.
    Secondly, Social Darwinism and Pan-Asianism theories have an impact on the way people address this problem. To the best of my understanding, the Social Darwinism theory believes that human groups and races are subjected to the same laws of natural selection as Darwin perceived in plants and animals so if anyone does not evolve or adapt to natural selection, they would be removed. And when it comes to the Pan-Asianism, this ideology promotes the unity of Asian people and enlightens the sense of protecting our Eastern country. When the two ideologies entered Vietnam’s society, they created multiple streams of conflicting opinions within society. Like Mark Bradley describes “Social Darwinism entered Vietnam indirectly as part of the transnational circulation of Western though and civilizational discourse in East Asia”[12]. “To Vietnamese reformers, Spencerian conceptions of social Darwinism offered a powerful explanation for the weaknesses in traditional society that had lead to Vietnam’s domination by the French. It also pointed to the strengths of the West that offered a potential path for Vietnam’s future development.” (Các quan niệm của Spencerian về chủ nghĩa Darwin xã hội đã đưa ra một lời giải thích mạnh mẽ cho những điểm yếu trong xã hội truyền thống đã dẫn đến sự thống trị của Việt Nam bởi người Pháp). 

   Last but not least, we have to mention “Confucian education” – an important factor that contributes to enlarging the gap between France and Vietnamese mindset. Dated back to the time when Confucius entered Vietnam, it quickly becomes a major framework in Vietnam educational system and all young intellectuals at that time were taught to believe in Confucian norms and had no chance to interact with outside ideas. As what human beings have learned in early childhood will soak into their vein and become a fixed ideology that can not be changed, Vietnamese people at this time follow two fundamental principles: the necessity of correct behaviors and the importance of loyalty and obedience.. For them, the King and the country are the two most imperative things to worship so when those two things are in jeopardy, the citizens must do everything, including sacrifice themselves to protect them. For example, we can clearly see that through the discourse of civilization of earlier generation of Vietnamese “members of the reform generation, who came of age in the 1880s at the time of French conquest of northern Vietnam, watched as the slow French enervation of Vietnamese political, economic, and social life undermined the neo-Confucian premises that had shaped their view of the world”. (Thế hệ cải cách vào những năm 1880 tại thời Pháp chinh phục miền bắc Việt Nam, đã xem sự chậm chạp của Pháp đối với đời sống chính trị, kinh tế và xã hội Việt Nam làm làm tổn hại đến Nho giáo - thứ đã định hình quan điểm của họ về thế giới trong suốt nhiều năm.)
Regarding all the things above, we can see that the difference in ideology of the French and Vietnamese people is not natural. It is the result of a series of education and historical background elements that each independent nation experiences. So I personally think that we – Vietnamese of a new generation now, should rely on the context at this time to assess or give any label to France. What’s more, as human can not predict all the consequences of a historical context, there is no exact standard about what should be called “civilizing” or “invading” nor an accurate answer to the question whether or not Vietnam will be degraded if France continues to colonize until now. Therefore, we should analyze history in a multi-dimensional way. It gives people new insights and multi-aspects of the subject, unconsciously or partly based on their belief. Our mission is not just to stand firmly on our ground but to embrace the diversity of historical events with a skill of critical thinking with an aim to rebuilding the best part of history as accurately as we can.nguồn: https://www.pbslearningmedia.org

     

References

- Bradley, Mark. March 2004. "Becoming Văn Minh: Civilization Discourse and Visions." Journal of World History 15:1: 65-83.
- Ferry, Jules. 1884. Speech Before the French Chamber of Deputies. Paris.
- Goscha, Christopher. 2006. Rethinking Vietnam. Basic Books.
- Nodia, Ghia. 1992. "Nationalism and Democracy." Journal of Democracy 3: 3-22.
- Nguyễn, Part II, Chapter 1: “Viet Nam Loses Its Independence,” pp. 133-147