GUIDE
QUESTIONS FOR FILM
Roots of a War
|
Trưng Sisters
Rebellion: revolt led by Trung Trac and Trung Nhi
against their Chinese masters that resulted briefly in an autonomous
Vietnamese state (fl. AD 39-43). Pham Van Dong (1906–2000): founding member of the
Viet Ming, prime minister of the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam
(1954–76) and of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976–87). Indochinese Union: The
French colonial entity consisting of Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam as Tonkin,
Annam, Cochinchina Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969): founder of the Indochina
Communist Party (1930) and its successor, the Viet Minh (1941), and president
of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) from 1945 to 1969. |
Bao
Dai (1913-1997): last
reigning emperor of Vietnam from 1926 to 1945. The Bao Dai emperor had tried to modernize Vietnam, but he was
unable to win French support for this effort. Charles de Gaulle
(1890–1970): French anti-Vichy military leader and later president of France
(1959–69). Viet Minh: shorthand for Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh (League for
the Independence of Viet Nam), a "united front" organization
initially set up by the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) and Vietnam Nationalist Party (VNQDD), under Ho Chi Minh during W.W.II. OSS
(1942-45):
Office of Strategic Services, precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. Archimedes
Patti (d. 1998): leader of OOS group dispatched to NW Viet Nam to assist the Viet Minh
in taking the Japanese surrender. Peter
Dewey:
OSS colonel, who became first American casualty in VN in 1945. |
#1.
What was the nature of the Sino-Vietnamese historical relationship?
#2.
How were the French able to colonize Viet Nam?
What were the earliest French colonial objectives in Viet Nam? How did French colonial policy foster Vietnamese
nationalism?
#3.
What historical events brought Ho Chi Minh to revolutionary politics?
#4.
What was the Japanese occupation’s impact on VN’s anti-colonial movement? How did the Viet Minh benefit from the
widespread famine of 1945? How did the
Viet Minh react to the Japanese withdrawal?
#5.
What was FDR’s policy toward the Viet Minh at the end of the Pacific War? How did the Truman policy change US-VN
relations?