In September 1940 Vietnam was occupied by Japanese forces, which were expanding throughout south-east Asia and seeking greater control over China’s southern borders. 

Who was Vietnam occupied by during ww2?

In 1940, the French controlled 23 million Vietnamese with 12,000 French soldiers, about 40,000 Vietnamese soldiers, and the Sûreté, a powerful police force. At that time, the U.S. had little interest in Vietnam or French Indochina as a whole.

Which country occupied Vietnam in 1940?

September 1940: Japanese troops invade French Indochina and occupy Vietnam with little French resistance.

Who occupied Vietnam in 1945?

General Lu Han’s 200,000 Chinese soldiers occupied north Vietnam starting August 1945. 90,000 arrived by October, the 62nd army came on 26 September to Nam Định and Haiphong.

What country controlled Vietnam in the 1940s and 1950s?

In early 1945, Japan ousted the French administration in Vietnam and executed numerous French officials. When Japan formally surrendered to the Allies on September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh felt emboldened enough to proclaim the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Why did France give Vietnam to Japan?

With the Allied invasion of France in 1944, Japan suspected that the French authorities in Indochina might assist Allied operations in the region. Therefore, Japan deposed the French authorities in the spring of 1945, imprisoning the French administrators and taking direct control of Indochina until the end of the war.

Who occupied Vietnam originally?

The first dynasty that many consider to be the start of the Vietnamese state was the Hong Bang Dynasty which was ruled by the legendary Hung kings. In 111 BC, the Han Dynasty from China absorbed Vietnam into their empire. Vietnam would remain a part of the Chinese empire for over 1000 years.

Who occupied Vietnam in 1941?

Japanese forces

In September 1940 Vietnam was occupied by Japanese forces, which were expanding throughout south-east Asia and seeking greater control over China’s southern borders. 2.

Why did France abandon Vietnam?

The French lost their Indochinese colonies due to political, military, diplomatic, economic and socio-cultural factors. The fall of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 signalled a loss of French power. General Vo Nguyen Giap and his Viet Minh had triumphed on the eve of the Geneva Conference.

Who owned Vietnam before France?

Before the French came to Indochina, Vietnam, the Khmer Empire (Cambodia), and the Laotian Kingdom (Laos) were independent countries. Vietnam had been ruled by neighboring China for hundreds of years, but after centuries of resistance the Vietnamese people overthrew their Chinese rulers and became independent.

Who owned Vietnam before ww2?



Roots of the Vietnam War



Vietnam, a nation in Southeast Asia on the eastern edge of the Indochinese peninsula, had been under French colonial rule since the 19th century. During World War II, Japanese forces invaded Vietnam.

Did Japan occupy Vietnam?

However, while short-lived, the Japanese occupation of the country not only stoked the fires of Vietnamese independence but also elevated Ho Chi Minh to the forefront of Vietnamese politics. It may have only lasted 5 years, but imperial occupation ultimately shaped Vietnam’s contemporary history.

When did China occupy Vietnam?

On February 17, 1979, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops crossed Vietnam’s northern border to invade the country, waging a bloody strike along the 600-kilometer border that the two nations share.

Who occupied Vietnam 1858 1940?

the French



After 900 years of independence and following a period of disunity and rebellion, the French colonial era began during the 1858–83 period, when the French seized control of the nation, dividing it into three parts: the north (Tonkin), the center (Annam), and the south (Cochinchina).

Did anyone fight in ww2 and Vietnam?

John Lavra cannot make such a claim. Lavra enlisted in the Navy June 6, 1944 as a combat aircrewman. He was called to active duty two days later and went on to become one of only 171,000 U.S. servicemembers to see service in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.

Did the US occupy Vietnam?

Troop involvement peaked in April 1969, with 543,000 American combat troops stationed in Vietnam. By the conclusion of the United States’s involvement in 1973, over 3.1 million Americans had been stationed in Vietnam.

Why did US invade Vietnam?

The U.S. entered the Vietnam War in an attempt to prevent the spread of communism, but foreign policy, economic interests, national fears, and geopolitical strategies also played major roles. Learn why a country that had been barely known to most Americans came to define an era.

Did the US lose the Vietnam War?

The conventional view remains that the United States lost the Vietnam War because our opponent, North Vietnam, conquered the side we backed, South Vietnam, which surrendered in April 1975.