The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China Class 10 Questions and Answers Provided helps you to answer complex Questions too easily. You can use them while preparing for board exams and all of them are given by subject experts. Reading NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Social Science History Chapter 2 The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China familiarizes you with the kind of questions appearing in the board exams. Students are advised to read these solutions on a regular basis to score well.
The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China Class 10 Questions and Answers History Chapter 2
Make your learning experience enjoyable by preparing from the quick links available on this page. Use the Class 10 SST History Chapter 2 NCERT Solutions and get to know different concepts involved. All the Solutions are covered as per the latest syllabus guidelines. Knowing the NCERT Class 10 History Chapter 2 Questions and Answers helps students to attempt the exam with confidence.
The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China NCERT Intext Questions and Answers
Question 1.
What does the 1903 plague and the measures to control it tell us about the French colonial attitude towards questions of health and hygiene?
Answer:
Plague is a disease caused by rats. Sometimes the disease takes the form of an epidemic. In 1903, the modem part of Hanoi was struck by bubonic plague. The chief cause for this was the increasing number of rats in sewers which were laid out in the French part of Hanoi to keep the city beautiful and clean. The French, in order to put a check on this menace hired Vietnamese workers and paid them for each rat they caught. This rat hunt was started in 1902 and on 30 May 20,000 rats were caught but the problem of rats did not end. However, the Vietnamese workers were in benefit. They were paid for each tail of the rat.
They did not actually kill the rats but just clipped their tails and released them, so that the process could be repeated over and over again. Some people, in fact, began raising rats to earn a bounty. Defeated by the resistance of the weak, the French scrapped the bounty programme. Thus, the Vietnamese workers collectively deceived the French.
This incident clearly reveals the ruthless attitude of the French towards the Vietnamese in general. They exploited the Vietnamese by deputing them inside the sewers to catch the rats. It was the most inhuman act. This shows that the French were least bothered about the health and hygiene of the Vietnamese. They were so careful for their own health and careless for the health of the native people.
Question 2.
What ideas did Phan Boi Chau and Phan Chu Trinh share in common? What did they differ on?
Answer:
The goal of both the leaders was the same. Both wanted freedom of Vietnam from the French colonial rule but their ways to gain it differed from each other:
(i) Phan Chu Trinh wanted to overthrow the monarchy in order to create a basis for the promotion of popular rights by establishing a democratic republic. On the other hand, Phan Boi Chau, believed that firstly the foreign enemy should be driven out, and after their nation’s independence was established they could talk about other things.
(ii) The plan of Phan Boi Chau was to make use of the monarchy which Phan Chu Trinh opposed ab-solutely. His plan was to raise people to abolish monarchy, with which Phan Boi Chau absolutely disagreed.
(iii) Phan Chu Trinh did not want to boycott Western civilisation. He also liked democratic ideals of the West. He was much influenced by the French revolutionary’s ideal of liberty and so he accepted it. But Phan Boi Chau was profoundly influenced by the Confucian tradition and was in favour of driving out the French, using the monarchy. Thus, both the leaders were pursuing one and the same goal, but their means were considerably different.
History Class 10 Chapter 2 NCERT Textbook Questions and Answers
Question 1.
Write a note on:
(a) What was meant by the ‘civilising mission’ of the colonisers?
(b) Huynh Phu So
Answer:
(a) The colonisers thought that it was the mission of the ‘advanced’ European nations to civilise the backward people. They thought their culture to be superior than the culture of the natives in the colonies. The French claimed that they were bringing modern civilisation to Vietnamese. They took for granted that Europe had developed the most advanced civilisation. So it became the duty of the Europeans to introduce these modern ideas to the colonies even if this meant destroying local cultures, religions and traditions, because these were seen as outdated and prevented modern development.
(b) Huynh Phu So: Huynh Phu So was the founder of a nationalist movement called the Hoa Hao movement. The movement began in 1939 and gained popularity in the fertile Mekong delta area. It drew on religious ideas popular in anti-French uprisings of the nineteenth century.Huynh Phu So performed miracle and helped the poor. His criticism against useless expenditure had a wide appeal. He also opposed the sale of child brides, gambling and the use of alcohol and opium. The French tried to suppress the Hoa Hao movement inspired by Huynh Phu So. They declared him mad and put him in a mental asylum. Later on, he was exiled to Laos and many of his followers were sent to concentration camps.
Question 2.
Explain the following:
(a) Only one-third of the students in Vietnam would pass the school-leaving examinations.
(b) The French began building canals and draining lands in the Mekong delta.
(c) The government made the Saigon Native Girls School take back the students it had expelled.
(d) Rats were most common in the modern, newly built areas of Hanoi.
Answer:
(a) The French authorities deliberately failed the Vietnamese students in the final year of the examination. They did not want the Vietnamese to qualify for the better-paid jobs. Usually, as many as two-thirds of the students failed. In 1925, in a population of 17 million, there were less than 400 who passed the school-leaving examinations.
(b) The French wanted to increase cultivation and for this purpose they built canals to irrigate lands in the Mekong delta. This helped in increasing rice production and allowing the export of rice to the international market. The area under rice cultivation went up from 274,000 hectares in 1873 to 1.1 million hectares in 1900 and 2.2 million in 1930. Vietnam exported two-thirds of its rice production and by 1931 had become the third largest exporter of rice in the world.
(c) In 1926, a major protest occurred in the Saigon Native Girls School when a Vietnamese girl sitting in one of the front seats refused to move to the back of the class for a local French student. The principal got angered and expelled the girl. When angry students protested, they too were expelled, leading to a further spread of open protests. Seeing the situation getting out of control, the government made the school to take the students back.
(d) The large sewers in the modern newly built areas of Hanoi were an ideal and protected breeding ground for rats. The sewers also served as a great transport system, allowing the rats to move around the city without any problem. The rats could also easily enter the well-cared-for homes of the French through the sewer pipes. Hence, rats were most common in the modern part of the city.
Question 3.
Describe the ideas behind the Tonkin Free School. To what extent was it a typical example of colonial ideas in Vietnam?
Answer:
The Tonkin Free School was set up in 1907 to impart a Western-style education to the Vietnamese. Students were taught science, hygiene and French were encouraged to adopt Western styles of dressing along with a short haircut.
This school was a typical example of colonial ideas in Vietnam. It rejected traditional Vietnamese education and lifestyle and promoted western ideals of living. Like typical colonists, the French tried to control the Vietnamese identity, culture and tradition besides controlling their territory. They also tried to change the values, norms and perceptions of the people of Vietnam, to make them believe in the superiority of French civilisation and the inferiority of the Vietnamese.
Question 4.
What was Phan Chu Trinh’s objective for Vietnam? How were his ideas different from those of Phan Boi Chau?
Answer:
(i) The textbooks are biased. They are glorifying the French people and justifying colonial rule. In these books, the Vietnamese are represented as primitive and backward, capable of manual labour but not of intellectual reflection. The textbooks propagate the myth that the Vietnamese are not able to rule their nation. The only work they can do is farming. They are skilled copyists but not creative. School-children are told that only French rule can ensure peace in Vietnam. Being a Vietnamese student in the Tonkin Free School, I don’t agree to what the textbooks say and condemn them.
(ii) The school encourages us to adopt Western styles such as having a short haircut so as to look modern. This is against our culture. For us, this means a major break with my own identity since we traditionally keep long hair. Keeping a particular hairstyle is a highly personal matter and the school has nothing to do with it.
Discuss
Question 1.
With reference to what you have read in this chapter, discuss the influence of China on Vietnam’s culture and life.
Answer:
- China influenced Vietnam’s culture and life in many ways before the French established its rule in Vietnam. The early history of this region shows many different groups of people living in this area under the shadow of the powerful empire of China.
- Even when Vietnam emerged as an independent country, its rulers continued to maintain the Chinese system of government as well as Chinese culture.
- The elites in Vietnam were greatly influenced by Chinese culture and life, as has been highlighted in Phan Boi Chau’s book The History of the Loss of Vietnam.
- Chinese language and Confucianism were followed by the upper classes in Vietnam.
- In 1911, when the Chinese Republic came into being, Vietnamese students organised the Association for the restoration of Vietnam.
- People in Vietnam also kept long hair which was an old Chinese tradition.
Question 2.
What was the role of religious groups in the development of anti-colonial feeling in Vietnam?
Answer:
Religious groups played a major role in the development of anti-colonial feeling in Vietnam:
(i) Vietnam’s religious beliefs were a mixture of Buddhism, Confucianism and local practices. When French introduced Christianity here, the Vietnamese reacted sharply.
(ii) From the eighteenth century, many religious movements were started. These movements were hostile to the Western presence. The Scholars Revolt was one such movement which started in 1868 against French control and the spread of Christianity.
(iii) This revolt was led by officials at the imperial court angered by the spread of Catholicism and the French power. Although the movement was suppressed, it served to inspire other Vietnamese patriots to rise up against the foreign rule.
(iv) The role of the Hoa Hao movement, started by Huynh Phu So in 1939 in the fertile Mekong delta area is also significant in the development of anti-colonial movement in Vietnam. Unfortunately this movement was also suppressed by the French.
Question 3.
Explain the causes of the US involvement in the war in Vietnam. What effect did this involvement have on life within the US itself?
OR
“The US entry into the war in Vietnam marked a new phase that proved costly to Vietnamese as well as to the Americans.” Analyse the statement.
OR
Examine the reasons that forced America to withdraw from the Vietnam war.
Answer:
There were three important causes of the US involvement in the war in Vietnam
- The US was worried about Communists gaining power in Vietnam.
- It wanted to save the prestige of French which was an ally of the US during the Second World War.
- The National Liberation Front or NLF tried to unite North and South Vietnam with the help of the Ho Chi Minh government. The US watched this alliance with fear. Finally, it decided to intervene decisively.
Effects on the US: The US entry into the war marked a new phase that proved costly to the Vietnamese as well as to the Americans-
(i) Even though the US had advanced technology and medical supplies, casualties were high. About 47,244 American soldiers died in battle and 303,704 were wounded.
(ii) The widespread attacks and use of chemical weapons like Napalm, Agent Orange and phosphorous bombs destroyed many villages. As a result, civilians in the US died in large numbers.
(iii) The effect of the war was felt within the US as well. Many were critical of the government for getting involved in a war that they saw as indefensible.
(iv) When the youth were summoned for the war, the anger spread. Compulsory service in the armed forces, however, could be waived for university graduates. This meant that many of those sent to fight were minorities and children of working-class families.
(v) The war grew out of fear among US policy-planners that the victory of the Ho Chi Minh government would start a domino effect i.e. communist governments would be established in other countries in the area. They underestimated the power of a small country to fight the most technologically advanced country in the world. This caused great humiliation for the people of the US.
Question 4.
Write an evaluation of the Vietnamese war against the US from the point of
(a) a porter on the Ho Chi Minh trail
(b) a woman soldier
Answer:
(i) The Ho Chi Minh trail proved a major factor in the war between Vietnam and the US. The trail was an immense network of footpaths and roads that used to transport men and materials from the north to the south. As a porter, I felt proud to be deputed on this important lifeline of the army. I, used to carry material for our revolutionary troops to far distances through mountains and valleys on this trail. I usually carried about 25 kilos on my back, or about 70 kilos on my bicycle. The trail was bombed regularly by the US forces in order to disrupt supplies but this did not discourage me and other porters. We rebuilt the damage quickly.
(b) I joined the army as a soldier as there were a large number of casualties among our men. I helped in nursing the wounded, constructing underground rooms and tunnels and fighting the enemy. I was trained in using rifles and was involved in one battle against the troops of the USA, in which I shot dead one soldier of the enemy. I showed immense courage and did whatever required with full devotion and commitment. I am very proud that I did something good for my country.
Question 5.
What was the role of women in the anti-imperial struggle in Vietnam? Compare this with the role of women in the nationalist struggle in India.
Answer:
(i) Women played an equally important role as the men in the anti-imperial struggle in Vietnam. Women who rebelled against social norms were idealised. Rebel women of the past were similarly celebrated.
(ii) In 1913, the nationalist Phan Boi Chau wrote a play based on the lives of the Trung sisters who had fought against Chinese domination in 39-43 CE. In this play, he depicted these sisters as patriots fighting to save the Vietnamese nation from the Chinese. They were depicted in paintings, plays and novels as representing the indomitable will and the intense patriotism of the Vietnamese.
(iii) Trieu Au was another woman rebel of the past who lived in the third century CE. She went into the jungles, organised a large army and resisted Chinese rule. Finally, when her army was crushed, she drowned herself. She became a martyr who fought for the honour of the country.
(iv) In the 1960s, women were represented as brave fighters and workers. They were shown with a rifle in one hand and a hammer in the other.
(v) As casualties in the war increased in the 1960s, women in large number joined the resistance movement. They helped in nursing the wounded, constructing underground rooms, and tunnels and fighting the enemy. Between 1965 and 1975, of the 17,000 youths who worked on the Ho Chi Minh trail, 70 to 80 percent were women.
Compared to the direct and active participation of Vietnamese women in the anti-imperial struggle, Indian women played a small role in the nationalist struggle of India against the British. They participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement as well as in Gandhi’s Salt March in large number. They also boycotted foreign goods and picketed liquor shops but they were far from the mainstream politics, which was controlled by the men only. The main duty of Indian women was still restricted to home and hearth.
Project
Find out about the anti-imperialist movement in any one country in South America. Imagine that a freedom fighter from this country meets a Vietminh soldier, they become friends and talk about their experiences of the freedom struggles in their countries. Write about the conversation they might have.
Answer:
Do it yourself.
Class 10 History Chapter 2 NCERT Intext Activity Questions and Answers
Question 1.
Imagine a conversation between a French coloniser and a Vietnamese labourer in the canal project. The Frenchman believes he is bringing civilisation to backward people and the Vietnamese labourer argues against it. In pairs act out the conversation they may have had, using evidence from the text.
Answer:
Do yourself.
Question 2.
Imagine you are a student in the Tonkin Free School in 1910. How would you react to:
(i) What the textbooks say about the Vietnamese?
(ii) What the school tells you about hairstyles?
Answer:
(i) The textbooks are biased. They are glorifying the French people and justifying colonial rule. In these books, the Vietnamese are represented as primitive and backward, capable of manual labour but not of intellectual reflection. The textbooks propagate the myth that the Vietnamese are not able to rule their nation. The only work they can do is farming. They are skilled copyists but not creative. School-children are told that only French rule can ensure peace in Vietnam. Being a Vietnamese student in the Tonkin Free School, I don’t agree to what the textbooks say and condemn them.
(ii) The school encourages us to adopt Western styles such as having a short haircut so as to look modern. This is against our culture. For us, this means a major break witis mr own identity since we traditionally keep long hair. Keeping a particular hairstyle is a highly personal matter and the school has nothing to do with it.
Hope the data shared above regarding the NCERT Class 10 Social Science History Chapter 2 The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China PDF has aided in your exam preparation. If you ever need any assistance you can always reach us and our team will guide you at the soonest possibility.