French public opinion and the Indochina War. Poils and testimonies - Alain Ruscio

Thèmes abordés

L'opinion française et la guerre d'Indochine, 1945-1954, Sondages et témoignages, Alain Ruscio, public opinion, Indochina war, France, Viet Minh

Résumé du document

The document I will present is an article from the french history review, entitled « French public opinion and the Indochina War. Poils and testimonies » published in Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire in 1991. It was written by Mr. Ruscio Alain, specialist of french colonial history. Today, he's managing an association bringing to the public a large amount of documents about Vietnam. In other words, he's supporting the fact that history has to be popularized and shared to everyone
interested in.

His article focuses on the point of view of the public opinion about the Indochina war between 1945 and 1954, opposing France and the Viet Minh, fighting for independence.

Extraits

[...] Nobody knew what they lived there until Diên Biên Phu. But above all, a gap has been created between the army and the nation. Mr. Jean Hougron who lived 5 years in Indochina noticed that many soldiers were no more recognized by their families, their friends, even their wife. In fact, they became strangers. But Mr Navarre knew that this war was too far to concern the french people, to make her participate. As time passed by, other priorities took place like war in Algeria. [...]

[...] It was written by Mr.Ruscio Alain, specialist of french colonial history. Today, he's managing an association bringing to the public a large amount of documents about Vietnam. In other words, he's supporting the fact that history has to be popularized and shared to everyone interested in. His article focuses on the point of view of the public opinion about the Indochina war between 1945 and 1954, opposing France and the Viet Minh, fighting for independance. First, the author shows that the population is mainly indifferent to this distant war. [...]

[...] Paul Coste Floret said that there were no more military problem in Indochina and as a matter of fact it was a total success. With the disaster of Diên Biên Phu, people believed that politics have in fact hidden the reality of the war. In 1954, the french opinion is irritated and morally down. Defaitism was also denounced by Mr Navarre, the general who leaded the operation. With the circumstances, politic parties not very talkative until this date asked the negociation about the end of the war. [...]

[...] Indeed, this war was made by career officers, by professionals and recruitement was based abroad. This war didn't concern directly the population. II- The active opinion and the war. This war was not misunderstood by everyone. A few tried to denounce or defend it. This part of the population evolved during the war and statistics prove it. For instance, in considered that the order had to be restored in Indochina but this percentage drops to in 1954 against 60% of opponents to the war. [...]

[...] But there was opposition and approval even they did'nt get massive followers. At the end, the historian is describing a divergence between army and nation as the defeat was inevitable. Finally how the Indochina war perception evolved in the public opinion between 1945 and 1954 ? As a first part, I will demonstrate that this war was misunderstood although an active opinion existed, secondly. Finally, we will analyse the impact of the end of the war on this opinion who radically changed and became less indifferent. [...]