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Introduction Indochine, la colonisation ambiguë (1858-1954) Pierre BROCHEUX, Daniel HEMERY, 2001 (Première partie – S. Pautet) Le travail de Pierre BROCHEUX et de Daniel HEMERY souhaite appréhender « l’ambiguïté de la situation coloniale » par la complexité des contacts coloniaux (dans leurs dimensions politiques et militaires, économiques et sociales, culturelles). Autrement dit, leur ouvrage est consacré à « la rencontre, sous le signe de la violence et de l’exploitation » d’une « mise en contact quotidien d’une société européenne sûre d’elle-même avec des peuples, des systèmes de pouvoir, des civilisations d’Asie du SE » elles- mêmes en quête d’identité (Pierre BROCHEUX, Daniel HEMERY). Introduction : [Ne sont retenus ici que les éléments mettant en relief la société précoloniale et les éléments explicatifs de lʼaffaiblissement de la région à la veille de la colonisation. NB : le Dai Nam est le nom du pouvoir vietnamien] La société précoloniale : Au milieu du XIXe s, l’Indochine constitue une « mosaïque de sociétés ». Elles ont pour traits communs : des écosystèmes, des méthodes et outils de travail, l’appartenance à une « civilisation du végétal » avec pratiques agricoles communes (riziculture dominante, pratique de la cueillette, de la chasse, de la pêche, artisanat spécialisé), des échanges mettant en relations peuples des plaines et ceux des hautes terres forestières et l’extérieur de la péninsule (Singapour, Hong Kong, S de la Chine, Bangkok), des communautés villageoises généralement placées sous l’autorité oligarchique des gérontes qui servent de relais à des pouvoirs centraux (au Cambodge le monarque porte le titre de « dieu-roi », au Vietnam il y a un empereur mandataire du Ciel) Mais les divergences sont importantes : démographies inégales (10 millions de Vietnamiens vers 1875 contre 1 million de Cambodgiens), différentes formes d’organisations (clans, tribus autonomes, communautés villageoises fédérées en principautés plus ou moins vastes et durables, Etats), diversité religieuse (bouddhisme du Theravadda au Cambodge et au Laos ; bouddhisme Mahayana au Vietnam mêlé confucianisme doctrine officielle du gouvernement des hommes ; on notera aussi la présence de musulmans et de chrétiens – environ 400 000 chrétiens vietnamiens à la veille du débarquement des Français) ; il y a aussi des divergences internes dans les sociétés paysannes (dans les communes du centre et du N du Dai Nam : communautés exploitant la terre d’après un régime foncier associant propriété communale et propriété privée pour que chacun dispose d’une exploitation minimale, vif sentiment d’appartenance à la famille et au village, culte du génie tutélaire du village ; dans les communautés villageoises khmères et lao : communautés fondées sur un système moins collectif, plus lâche, moins de discipline contraignante, vie sociale sous forme de festivités au monastère, réseaux hiérarchiques marqués malgré tout). Par ailleurs le Vietnam a une organisation centrale très efficace (bureaucratie de lettrés fonctionnaires qui assurent la levée du cadastre, le recensement, contrôle les impôts – les mandarins cambodgiens ont une organisation bien moins efficace) soutenant son hégémonie régionale (le Nam tien ou « marche vers le Sud » au XIXe est une sorte de conquête agricole accompagnée de vietnamisation des populations qui affaiblit notamment le Cambodge voisin) toutefois limitée par des rivalités de pouvoirs et des conflits internes multiples. La mise sous dépendance après 1850 de la péninsule résulte de la convergence de 3 facteurs : 1/ le facteur chinois. La France a pour projet d’acquérir un accès privilégié à l’immense marché chinois en assurant un contrôle exclusif des bouches du Mékong et des rivages vietnamiens de la mer de Chine (open door policy des anglais vs river policy des Français). La Chine – qui contrôlait plus ou moins la région indochinoise par son tribut, sa force militaire, son influence économique, politique et culturelle – est affaiblie : Pierre BROCHEUX et Daniel HEMERY écrivent que « l’Indochine n’a été française que par acceptation, résignée, de la Chine » (en particulier par le compromis franco-chinois de 1885) 2/ les tensions internes à la région. La France exploite les tensions de la région auprès de la cour khmère et des principautés lao : face à la double menace d’absorption par le Siam et par le Dai Nam, dans le cadre de l’hégémonie vietnamienne, elles se résignent au protectorat français. En revanche il faudra plusieurs chocs militaires directs (1858-1862, 1873, 1882-1885) pour que l’Etat vietnamien, Dai Nam, cesse de résister. Les mandarins vont longtemps tenter de résister à l’influence occidentale (et l’empereur Tu Duc est un bel exemple de traditionalisme) mais ce traditionalisme va condamner le pouvoir vietnamien à « une perpétuelle oscillation entre l’intransigeance hautaine et les capitulations humiliantes » (BROCHEUX et HEMERY). 3/ l’entrée en jeu de l’impérialisme français en Asie orientale : Les discontinuités de l’impérialisme français en Asie orientale à partir de la première guerre de l’Opium (1839-1841) jouent un rôle important. L’Asie apparaît comme un marché de substitution aux capacités d’absorption inépuisables (ce sera un espoir déçu puisque l’Asie n’absorbera que 3,5% des exportations françaises en 1910). La France souhaite aussi préserver sa puissance politique en concurrençant l’Angleterre (« faire de Saigon un Singapour français » propose en 1865 la chambre de commerce de Marseille) et l’Allemagne (notamment après Sedan). Au final, pour Pierre BROCHEUX et Daniel HEMERY, l’histoire de l’entreprise coloniale indochinoise est celle d’une « histoire en train de se défaire, celle de l’Asie, et de se faire, celle des rapports de forces internationaux contemporains ». I. Le moment colonial : la formation de l’Indochine française (1858-1897) 3 moments dans la conquête : 1858-1867 : le bassin inférieur du Mékong, les provinces méridionales du Dai Nam (ie le Vietnam actuel) et le royaume du Cambodge passent sous le contrôle de la France 1867-1882 : lʼentreprise indochinoise piétine, une tentative dʼoccupation du nord du Vietnam échoue en 1873 1882-1897 : lʼexpansion reprend avec vigueur : le nord et le centre du Dai Nam ainsi que les Etats lao deviennent des protectorats ; une sphère dʼinfluence française sʼesquisse dans les provinces de Chine du S, au Yunnan, au Guangxi, au Guangdong La conquête de l’Indochine méridionale (1858-1867). Dans le contexte de la seconde guerre de l’Opium (1856-1860), la France annexe les pays du bas-Mékong. Pourquoi la conquête ? Daniel HEMERY met en avant trois La France agit au nom de la défense des chrétiens facteurs : d’Extrême-Orient (depuis 1832, une dure persécution * 1/ lobbying des missionnaires (qui donnent des renseignements touche les missionnaires Européens de la péninsule ; pour lʼexpédition via une Commission spéciale pour la Cochinchine en 1857) l’exécution d’un évêque espagnol au Tonkin en 1857 met * 2/ impérialisme des amiraux français (la puissance navale française le feu au poudre). Un traité de Saigon (1862) est signé en donne à lʼempire une dimension mondiale, jusquʼen 1879 ce sont des faveur des Français. Dans les années 1860, des activités amiraux qui seront à la tête des territoires indochinois – « époque des de guérillas soutenues par le pouvoir central de Huê Amiraux ») poussent l’amiral de La Grandière à passer à l’offensive : * 3/ pression des milieux dʼaffaires (Daniel HEMERY a pour thèse que la Marine et lʼEglise sont entendues parce quʼil y a une dynamique les provinces vietnamiennes du S tombent. Le traité expansionniste du capitalisme français sous le Second Empire soutenu franco-siamois (juillet 1867) impose le protectorat par un « imaginaire économique » : depuis la première guerre de français sur le Cambodge et le contrôle du S de la lʼOpium, de multiples études publiées font rêver à un « Hong Kong Péninsule (Cochinchine). français », tandis que les débuts des travaux du canal de Suez en 1859 confortent le projet dʼune expansion française au-delà de lʼInde). La pause (1867-1878) Les catastrophes au Mexique, Sadowa, Sedan, la Commune, le conflit entre républicains et monarchistes après 1871 paralysent la politique coloniale française pendant une dizaine d’années (peu d’évolution avant l’arrivée au pouvoir des opportunistes en 1877). Il y a toutefois une crise très importante au Tonkin en 1873. La découverte des potentialités du Yunnan pousse les Français à convoiter le Tonkin voisin. L’amiral Dupré saisit l’affaire Dupuis (arrêt du trafiquant Jean Dupuis par les autorités tonkinoises) pour mettre la main sur Hanoi et les provinces alentours, mais il fait face à une très forte résistance (puissant mouvement antichrétien qui incendie des villages chrétiens au Tonkin) qui pousse la France à évacuer le Tonkin (mais obtient les provinces occidentales de la Cochinchine, des douanes mixtes, des concessions et l’implantation de consulats au Tonkin, ainsi que la liberté de commerce sur le fleuve Rouge). La France a toutefois été déstabilisée par cet épisode au moment même où se développe l’idée coloniale en métropole (moment où on « invente » l’Indochine par des récits d’explorateurs comme Jules Harmand, et qu’un mythe indochinois se développe chez les élites françaises). La crise du Tonkin et le protectorat sur l’Annam-Tonkin (1883-1885) En 1883, le N du Vietnam est dans une situation difficile : inondations, famine, banditisme (avec l’arrivée de rebelles « Capitalisme français et expansion coloniale » : les motivations chinois et les célèbres Pavillons Noirs, ainsi
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