ABSTRACT

The French government of Napoleon III used the reports of persecution of Catholics as an opportunity for intervention in and acquisition of territory in South Vietnam. In the process of placating its neighbors, Cambodia lost much territory to both of them. Concerned over the survival of his kingdom, Ang Duong wrote to Napoleon III in 1853, seeking intervention and assistance, little realizing at the time that France also had territorial designs in Southeast Asia. The British success in "opening" China emboldened the French, who employed similar tactics in opening up Vietnam by using the excuse of religious persecution. Despite the long history of French presence in Vietnam going back to the beginning of the seventeenth century, major French territorial conquests had to await the second half of the nineteenth century. With the conquest of Cochin China in 1862, France claimed to have succeeded Vietnam as overlord of Cambodia.