What if France adopted schemes it considered to annex Laos to Vietnam?

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
During the colonial era, the French considered annexing Laos to its Vietnamese possessions twice, in 1902-1903 and again in the 1920s.

There was a debate among colonial officials about how to administer Laos.

Some parts of the French Indochina administration proposed absorbing Laos into the adjacent territories of Annam and Tonkin to further encourage Vietnamese immigration, mainly because they thought Vietnamese were harder working than Lao, that the Vietnamese could economically develop the sparsely populated land more thoroughly, and it would provide more tax revenue for the colonial administration and be a good way to demonstrate the benefits for the Vietnamese of being part of the French Empire.

I imagine a division would have looked something like this in terms of major colonial territories
French_annex_Laos_to_Vietnam.jpg



At the provincial level, the provinces of what became independent Laos instead become additionprovinces of Annam and Tonkin. In Annam, possibly some of the very skinny provinces are just extended west across the Annamese Cordillera to the Mekong.

How would this change in colonial boundaries, if it took place in the early 1920s, have altered the demography, culture, economy and politics of Vietnam and Laos to the present day? Note that if history went down a different path than ours only in 1923, most later leaders of North and South Vietnam would have been born already and many would be grown men already.

Shout-out to @ComradeH and @LaRougeBeret while I am at it.
 
How would this change in colonial boundaries, if it took place in the early 1920s, have altered the demography, culture, economy and politics of Vietnam and Laos to the present day? Note that if history went down a different path than ours only in 1923, most later leaders of North and South Vietnam would have been born already and many would be grown men already.

Thanks for tagging me in.

I can say for any Laotian or Cambodian, but the important leaders of Vietnam would have little issue with that. Their then-pressing concern would be to liberate French out of their country. With a more "equal" population density within Indochina, I would say that the effort would be pushed more equally among three countries (OTL, Vietnam saw the most bloodshed). The hard part is the friction (if it existed) between newly-immigrated Vietnamese population and the local population of Laos... If there is sufficient amount of racism, the revolution would be hampered greatly, but if there is enough understanding, I expect the French would be removed sooner.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
I think there will be at least as much racial division and tension between the Viet and the Lao as there was between ethnic Vietnamese and montagnards. The Siamese would likely be alarmed by this development as well, and members of old royal Lao houses with any political ambition may take asylum in Siam.

This is going to change the process of decolonization somewhat. Presuming there is still a WWII and Japanese occupation, and then a war of French reclamation, the post "Geneva" borders of the Viet Minh and remaining French client states will be different from OTL.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
Siam would be probably be a more willing ally with Japan.

At what point in time?

In OTL Siam resisted the Japanese for a few hours, then made peace and allied with them until late in the war.

In what manner do the Siamese do things differently?
 

BigBlueBox

Banned
At what point in time?

In OTL Siam resisted the Japanese for a few hours, then made peace and allied with them until late in the war.

In what manner do the Siamese do things differently?
I'm not an expert on Siamese politics. But Siam would be very offended by the annexation of Laos into Vietnam because it wanted Laos for itself. I can imagine that Siam would partition French Indochina with Japan after the Fall of France, and could join Japan as a co-belligerent soon after.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
I'm not an expert on Siamese politics. But Siam would be very offended by the annexation of Laos into Vietnam because it wanted Laos for itself. I can imagine that Siam would partition French Indochina with Japan after the Fall of France, and could join Japan as a co-belligerent soon after.

I could certainly see that happening.
 
During the colonial era, the French considered annexing Laos to its Vietnamese possessions twice, in 1902-1903 and again in the 1920s.

There was a debate among colonial officials about how to administer Laos.

Some parts of the French Indochina administration proposed absorbing Laos into the adjacent territories of Annam and Tonkin to further encourage Vietnamese immigration, mainly because they thought Vietnamese were harder working than Lao, that the Vietnamese could economically develop the sparsely populated land more thoroughly, and it would provide more tax revenue for the colonial administration and be a good way to demonstrate the benefits for the Vietnamese of being part of the French Empire.

I imagine a division would have looked something like this in terms of major colonial territories
View attachment 380483


At the provincial level, the provinces of what became independent Laos instead become additionprovinces of Annam and Tonkin. In Annam, possibly some of the very skinny provinces are just extended west across the Annamese Cordillera to the Mekong.

How would this change in colonial boundaries, if it took place in the early 1920s, have altered the demography, culture, economy and politics of Vietnam and Laos to the present day? Note that if history went down a different path than ours only in 1923, most later leaders of North and South Vietnam would have been born already and many would be grown men already.

Shout-out to @ComradeH and @LaRougeBeret while I am at it.
This increases the likelihood that French Indochina becomes a single country after decolonization in Asia. The Vietnamese can grant Cambodia the same deal in regards to whatever autonomous status they would offer Laos after they become independent.

It also increases the likelihood of a war between this Indochina and Thailand/China after that happens if that deal falls through.
 

BigBlueBox

Banned
This increases the likelihood that French Indochina becomes a single country after decolonization in Asia. The Vietnamese can grant Cambodia the same deal in regards to whatever autonomous status they would offer Laos after they become independent.

It also increases the likelihood of a war between this Indochina and Thailand/China after that happens if that deal falls through.
When Indochina became independent, Vietnam had a population of about 31 million, Laos had less than 2 million, and Cambodia had 5.5 million. Vietnam could colonize and assimilate Laos but not both Laos and Cambodia. I doubt there would be any interest in Paris or Hanoi/Saigon to have 5.5 million rebellious Cambodians in Greater Vietnam, autonomy or no autonomy.
 
Last edited:
Vietnam might try to treat the Laotians as it did the Montagnards. Whether it could, given geography and the strength of Laotian identities, is another question entirely.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
If the outcome of WWII ends up the same, there's a decent chance the French Indochina war will start and conclude roughly parallel to OTL's result.

Only the Geneva map could look different - like this:
vietnam-map- Laos.gif



Postwar Thailand could resent both South Vietnam and North Vietnam's control of historic Lao territory. But Thailand would probably still lean to collaboration with the south because the only thing worse to them than two oversized Vietnams would be a single oversized Vietnam.
 
Top