Quiet American, The

I never knew a man who had
better motives
for all the trouble he caused.

The Quiet American
Graham Greene

For about one hundred years - from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century - France ruled Vietnam as a colony.

During the Second World War, however, French soldiers fought elsewhere. Japan, taking advantage of Vietnam's excellent farmland, swept in to seize vast quantities of Vietnamese rice. It is estimated that millions of people died from starvation as a direct result of Japan's actions.

More suffering awaited both the Vietnamese people and the French Foreign Legion after World War II was over. "The First Indochina War," fought between France and Vietnam, would end a century of French colonial ties to Indochina.

Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.