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The Sino-Japanese War Seen from “Beyond the South” (1937-1940): Perceptions and Reactions of the French Colonial Authorities and the Colonized Vietnamese

  • Korean Review of French History
  • Abbr : KRFH
  • 2025, (52), pp.189~221
  • Publisher : KOREAN SOCIETY FOR FRENCH HISTORY
  • Research Area : Humanities > History
  • Received : February 10, 2025
  • Accepted : February 21, 2025
  • Published : February 28, 2025

JEOUNG Jaehyun 1

1국립목포대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

With the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War(1937-1940), the political order in East Asia underwent major upheavals. In Indochina, “beyond the South” of China’s border, the French colonial authorities and the Vietnamese sought to prepare for a potential Japanese invasion while exploring a reorganization of the colonial order. The moderate nationalist press and the Indochinese Communist Party agreed to cooperate with the defense policy of the colonial authorities in exchange for political reforms and the expansion of democratic rights. In contrast, Cuong De and the Caodaist sect sought to achieve Vietnam’s independence by relying on Japanese power. However, the hopes of these various Vietnamese political forces were shattered in 1940 when France capitulated to Japan, thus establishing an “imperial pact.” The French colonial regime continued to exist under Japanese imperial rule until 1945. This study aims to compare and analyze the perceptions and reactions of the French colonial authorities and various Vietnamese political forces to the shifting international situation in East Asia during the early years of the Sino-Japanese War(1937-1940), in order to shed new light on the transformations of the colonial nationalist movement at this historical turning point.

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