Colonial Hanoi and Saigon at War: Social Dynamics of the Viet Minh’s ‘Underground City’,1945–1954

Abstract

Because much of the existing literature on the Indochina War (1945–54) remains focused on its diplomatic and military aspects, scholars have tended to overlook the transformative impact of this violent war of decolonization on the Vietnamese city ‘down below’. This article shifts our view of the Viet Minh’s war against the French in this direction by exploring how the colonial cities of Hanoi and Saigon were a vital part of the rural-based Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s war and state-building efforts. Of particular concern are two socio-economic phenomena and one related military one. On the economic front, the colonial city exported badly needed manufactured goods, electronic products, people, and medicines to the isolated and unindustrialized guerrilla state. Second, in order to build ‘underground cities’, to connect them to the maquis state, and to obtain and export hard-to-find materials, the Viet Minh cultivated a complex set of social relations going into and out of the cities. Third, these social relations involved civilians from the start, which was essential to the DRV’s ability to transform the colonial city into a major battle zone first in Hanoi, then in Saigon. The urban–rural divide was never a sharp one during the Indochina War.