At first, French imperialism, then in full expansion, was attacking a decaying feudal monarchy which lost the support from its people. At that time, The Nguyen dynasty, which had ascended the throne after repressing a large-scale uprising, restored the feudal system and all of its repressive institutions. Peasant revolts, however, continued unabated, driving an administrative apparatus, essentially made up of a body of mandarins trained in very conservative and ritualistic Confucian ideology and duplicated in the villages by a body of notables born into the landlord class, into a tight corner. With a rudimentary infrastructure, the royal court was unable to effectively rule over a territory stretching from north to south for more than 2,000 kilometers. This, coupled with the misleading objectives of the French prompted the king and high-ranking court dignitaries to compromise.

The French government sanctioned the decision to conquer Vietnam in 1857. However, their domination over the country was only realized 30 years later due to the strong resistance of Vietnamese patriots.

In 1887, in compliance with the decree of the French King, Indochinese Union, consisting of Vietnam , Cambodia and Laos , was established. At that time, French social and economic policies were expedited on a small scale, and a policy on the exploitation of colonies was imposed on a larger scale at the beginning of the 20th century. French economic and social activities boosted the country in many ways. The French concentrated investments in the mining industry, as well as several other industries. A number of large plantations, apart from rice, appeared and economical crops, such as tea, coffee, and rubber, were developed. Agricultural products were being considered as commodities. These changes in the economy resulted in a division between the Vietnamese bourgeoisie and the working class.

Accordingly, the education system was modified into three levels of general education, infant, primary, and secondary. The old examination system was abolished in 1915, and schools for training administrative officers in the French style were officially launched in 1917.

Moreover, the Governor General of Indochina decreed to restructure the mechanism of village organization in 1904. This resulted in a strong resistance against the French who wanted to create a new class of French style landlords. The French colonialists imposed an austere policy for the working class, especially for tillers, and high taxes for farmers. They also practiced a policy of obscurantism as well.

With an aching heart, many Vietnamese patriots with different ideologies struggled to liberalize the country forming various nationalist resistance movements. Among the pioneering ones was the Dong Du movement led by Phan Boi Chau. Those who followed the policy of raising intellectual standards included Phan Chu Trinh and the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Group. However, their plans of unseating the French colonialists failed to become true. Nguyen Thai Hoc and his fellows were sentenced to death as a result of these protests.

Another one, that fell into the same situation with the above mentioned, was the Quang Phuc movement.  Their plan of seizing Hanoi through the combined action of patriots within the country and a revolutionary army trained abroad had been revealed by a betrayer. Therefore, the secret operation was cracked on by the French; many members were arrested.

Moreover, there are also lots of patriotic movements throughout the country. Though still vigorous, they were terribly defeated because of lacking a unified nationwide organization. The need for a political party gathering all social classes is very urgent. In 1930, Nguyen Ai Quoc (or Ho Chi Minh) founded Vietnam 's Communist Party (the Indochinese Communist Party at that time). Since then, Communist was the primary leaders of the national liberation movement. To sum up, the colonial administration, while harshly suppressing the national movement, sought to appease the elite by introducing a few paltry reforms, with promises of important postwar reforms from the more generous "liberal" governors. These promises were never fulfilled. The fact that France succeeded in holding on to Vietnam during the war years was mainly due to the weakness of the national movement. There were of' course patriots to carry on the fight for national independence, but the new and still embryonic social forces failed to give the movement the necessary vigor and direction. Not until these forces had further developed over subsequent decades was the national movement able to be revitalized.