Otis Mayfield
Diamond Member
- Sep 17, 2021
- 4,904
- 4,828
- 1,893
So France was humiliated during WWII. The Germans crushed France in a matter of days, with the French offering little resistance.
After WWII, France and Britain tried to keep control of the Suez Canal, the canal that joins the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific. Egypt wanted it and the Canal does run through Egyptian land. America sided with Egypt and Britain and France were too weakened by WWII to do anything about it so Egypt got the Suez Canal. This was another big humiliation for France.
France colonized Vietnam in the 1800's, occupying the country for over a 100 years. To stay in power, France played different factions in Vietnam against each other, "divide and conquer".
France took the minority Vietnamese Catholic population and put them in charge of the military, the police and other government functions, giving the Catholics all of the power in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese Catholics made up about 20% of Vietnam. 80% of Vietnam was Buddhist. To keep the Buddhists subjugated, the Catholics terrorized them with torture and prison sentences.
Meanwhile, like all colonizers, the French raped Vietnam for everything they could.
At the end of WWII, Vietnam wanted to overthrow the French. It asked American six times to help, but America was busy elsewhere or the message never made it to the right people.
But Russia helped the Vietnamese Buddhists out. Russia trained the Vietnamese Buddhists and gave them money and military equipment.
The Vietnamese drove the French out of Vietnam in a humiliating war for the French.
The Cold War was on. America was struggling against communism.
The Vietnamese Catholics pointed out the the Buddhists were communists.
And America got sucked into a war it knew it could win.
After WWII, France and Britain tried to keep control of the Suez Canal, the canal that joins the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific. Egypt wanted it and the Canal does run through Egyptian land. America sided with Egypt and Britain and France were too weakened by WWII to do anything about it so Egypt got the Suez Canal. This was another big humiliation for France.
France colonized Vietnam in the 1800's, occupying the country for over a 100 years. To stay in power, France played different factions in Vietnam against each other, "divide and conquer".
France took the minority Vietnamese Catholic population and put them in charge of the military, the police and other government functions, giving the Catholics all of the power in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese Catholics made up about 20% of Vietnam. 80% of Vietnam was Buddhist. To keep the Buddhists subjugated, the Catholics terrorized them with torture and prison sentences.
Meanwhile, like all colonizers, the French raped Vietnam for everything they could.
At the end of WWII, Vietnam wanted to overthrow the French. It asked American six times to help, but America was busy elsewhere or the message never made it to the right people.
But Russia helped the Vietnamese Buddhists out. Russia trained the Vietnamese Buddhists and gave them money and military equipment.
The Vietnamese drove the French out of Vietnam in a humiliating war for the French.
The Cold War was on. America was struggling against communism.
The Vietnamese Catholics pointed out the the Buddhists were communists.
And America got sucked into a war it knew it could win.