User:Phaisit16207/sandbox/French Indochina

French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China; Indochine française), officially the Indochinese Union prior to 1947 and the Indochinese Federation thereafter, was a grouping of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia until its demise in 1954. It comprised of, in the west and predominantly, Cambodia, Laos (from 1899), and, in the east, the Vietnamese regions of Tonkin in the north, Annam in the centre, and Cochinchina in the south, with the Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan (from 1898 until 1945). The capital for most of its history (1902–1945) was Hanoi; Saigon was the capital from 1887 to 1902 and again from 1945 to 1954.

The Second French Empire annexed Cochinchina in 1862 and established a protectorate in Cambodia in 1863. After the French Third Republic took over northern Vietnam through the Tonkin campaign, the various protectorates were consolidated into one union in 1887. Two more entities were incorporated into the union: the Laotian protectorate and the Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan. The French exploited the resources in the region during their rule, but also contributed to improvements of the health and education system in the region. Nevertheless, deep divides remained between the native population and the colonists, leading to sporadic rebellions by the former. After the Fall of France during World War II, the colony was administered by the Vichy government and was under Japanese occupation until March 1945, when the Japanese overthrew the colonial regime. After the Japanese surrender, the Viet Minh, a communist organization led by Hồ Chí Minh, declared Vietnamese independence, but France subsequently took back control of French Indochina with the help of the British. An all-out independence war, known as the First Indochina War, broke out in late 1946 between French and Viet Minh forces.

To counter the Viet Minh, the State of Vietnam, led by former Emperor Bảo Đại, was proclaimed by the French in 1949. French efforts to retake Vietnam were unsuccessful, culminating in defeat at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ. On 22 October and 9 November 1953, the Kingdom of Laos and Kingdom of Cambodia proclaimed their respective independences. Following the Geneva Accord of 1954, the French were forced to withdraw from Vietnam, which had been split into the two countries (until 1976), and French Indochina was no more.

Names
The name of Indochina refered to the region in Southeast Asia that was a complex web of cultures and languages, since it was located on the influence of the Indian and Chinese civilisations. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century to refer the area of both civilisation met and later, during the New Imperialism that France had controlled parts of comtemporary Vietnam, the term was popularised.

The French rule in Indochina was composed of, in the east, Vietnamese protectorates—Tonkin and Annam—and the colony of Cochinchina, and two western protectorates—Cambodia and Laos—as a bulwork against Siam. In 1887, French authorities formally described these controlled area as the Indochinese Union (Union indochinoise), due the diverse culture, the name was refered in Vietnamese Liên bang Đông Dương (聯邦東洋 in Chữ Nôm); Laotian ສະຫະພັນອິນດູຈີນ; Khmer សហភាពឥណ្ឌូចិន; Siamese, after 1939 Thai, สหภาพอินโดจีน; and Chinese 印度支那聯邦.

Despite their efforts to impose the centralised government system, the French found themselves struggling to maintain control over the diverse populations of Indochina, and is the home to a wide variety of ethnic groups, many of whom had long histories of resistance to foreign rule, especially after World War II that plagued French overseas territories, including the Indochinese Union, which was struggling to gain independence from French control. To prevent an all-out war, thus, in 1947 the Indochinese Federation (Fédération indochinoise; Liên đoàn Đông Dương; សហព័ន្ធឥណ្ឌូចិន; ສະຫະພັນອິນດູຈີນ; สหพันธรัฐอินโดจีน) was in placed of the former union, with member possessions were each given themselves a degree of self-governance. However, the situation in Indochina continued to deteriorate, with the Viet Minh trying to gain strength in Tonkin and northern Annam, the French responded with military force, leading to a long and brutal conflict.