The Mường Autonomous Territory (french: Territoire Autonome Muong; vi, Khu tự trị Mường; Muong: ), or the Mường Country (French: ''Pays Muong''; Vietnamese: ''Xứ Mường'') or the Mường Federation (French: ''Fédération Muong''), abbreviated as TAM, was an autonomous territory created by the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

during the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

as a homeland for the Mường people in an effort to get indigenous "Montagnard" support against the

Kinh The Vietnamese people ( vi, người Việt, lit=Viet people) or Kinh people ( vi, người Kinh) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day Northern Vietnam and Southern China (Jing Islands, Dongxing, Guangxi). The native lang ...

-dominant,

Việt Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Front ...

-led

Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

. The Mường Autonomous Territory was an autonomous homeland within the

French Union The French Union () was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial empire system, colloquially known as the " French Empire" (). It was the formal end of the "indigenous" () status of French subje ...

and covered the Hòa Bình Province. The French hoped that granting the Mường more autonomy would allow them to recruit more soldiers to fight against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as the French didn not have enough French soldiers in their Indochina to maintain control over the territory. The Mường Autonomous Territory became a part of the

Domain of the Crown The Domain of the Crown ( vi, Hoàng triều Cương thổ; Chữ Hán: 皇朝疆土; french: Domaine de la Couronne; Modern Vietnamese: ''Đất của vua'') was originally the Nguyễn dynasty's geopolitical concept for its protectorates and ...

within the

State of Vietnam The State of Vietnam ( vi, Quốc gia Việt Nam; Chữ Nôm: 國家越南; french: État du Viêt-Nam) was a governmental entity in Southeast Asia that existed from 1949 until 1955, first as a member of the French Union and later as a country ...

in 1950, this area consisted of autonomous territories made up of

ethnic minorities The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

that nominally were under the direct control of the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...

Emperor

Bảo Đại Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , lit. "keeper of greatness", 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was em ...

.Anh Thái Phượng. ''Trăm núi ngàn sông: Tập I''. Gretna, LA: Đường Việt Hải ngoại, 2003. Page: 99. (in

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

).Lê Đình Chi. ''Người Thượng Miền Nam Việt Nam.'' Gardena,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

: Văn Mới, 2006. Pages: 401-449. (in

). Despite the French efforts to hold back the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

Việt Minh, the Hòa Bình Province was reconquered by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1952 and the Mường Autonomous Territory was dissolved. Despite the loss of their territory to the Việt Minh, Mường battalions could continue to serve for the French for the remainder of the First Indochina War.

History

A Hoa Binh, les notables Muong accueillent Bao Dai le 21 décembre 1951 au Vietnam

The Mường people are indigenous to the hilly areas in the South-west of the Red River Delta and share an ethnic roots to the Vietnamese (Kinh) people. The Mường polities had a special autonomous status within the

, unlike other Vietnamese provinces which had a ''Tổng đốc'' (總督) or a ''Tuần phủ'' (巡撫) the Hòa Bình Province was governed by a hereditary mandarin titled the ''Quan-Lang'' (官郎), the ''Quan-Lang'' was an indigenous Mường rather than a Kinh. Unlike the

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

meritocratic Meritocracy (''merit'', from Latin , and ''-cracy'', from Ancient Greek 'strength, power') is the notion of a political system in which economic goods and/or political power are vested in individual people based on talent, effort, and achieve ...

system where government officials were selected through centralised examination, the Mường communities were under the jurisdiction of hereditary lords. The lord held both legal authority and religious authority over his subjects, as the lords oversaw both local legal affairs as well as the

ancestor worship The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...

ceremonies of the Mường tribes. The colonial French government also regarded them as "

Montagnards Montagnard (''of the mountain'' or ''mountain dweller'') may refer to: * Montagnard (French Revolution), members of The Mountain (''La Montagne''), a political group during the French Revolution (1790s) ** Montagnard (1848 revolution), members of t ...

" and created a separate province for them where they retained more autonomy. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

, the French lost control of French Indochina and attempted to regain it from the

-led

. In order to counter the calls for unification of Vietnam, the government of French Indochina established the Mường Autonomous Territory in the Hòa Bình Province in 1947. From the start of the

First Indochina war The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

, two problems arose for the French, first was dealing with the lack of personnel and second was involving the local populations in order, among other things, benefit from their knowledge. In the year 1946, General Leclerc called on the colonial French Indochinese government and proposed to incorporate the ethnic minority population into the French Expeditionary Force of the Far East (''Corps Expéditionnaire Français d’Extrême-Orient'' or ''CEFEO''). Thus, thousands of men, coming mainly from ethnic minorities in the mountains of

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, includi ...

, hostile to the aims of the Communist partisans, enlisted in this French army, and formed Companies of Military Supplements. They were not the only colonial troops serving on this front as the French used Algerians,

Moroccans Moroccans (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Kingdom of Morocco. The country's population is predominantly composed of Arabs and Berbers (Amazigh). The term also applies more broadly to any people who are of Moroccan nationality, s ...

, and

Senegalese Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

as well. At this time the Lords of the Mường sent their legions to aid the French in their struggle against the

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

forming the Mường Battalions. In 1948, the Mường country obtained a certain level of independence within the framework of the new Vietnamese state. A flag was selected for the territory, this was depicted a white five-pointed star on a green background. The colour white was meant to symbolise purity and the five-pointed star symbolised the five "

Châu Chu ( or Châu () is a Vietnamese surname. It is transliterated as Zhou (surname), Zhou (for ''Chu'') and Zhu (surname), Zhu (for ''Châu'') in Chinese language, Chinese, and Ju (Korean name), Ju in Korean language, Korean. Chau is the anglicized ...

" (州,

Districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

) of the Mường country. In 1948 the Việt Minh began setting up camps made from straw huts in the Hòa Bình Province and began attacking the French in minor skirmishes. On 15 April 1950 it was nominally placed under the authority of the

with the enactment of the ''Dụ số 6/QT/TG'' decree by Chief of State

.Luong, Hy. ''Postwar Vietnam: dynamics of a transforming society''. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003. Page 134. In mid-November 1951 the Mường country's defenses began being tested by constant offenses by the Việt Minh following a battle at

Nghĩa Lộ Nghĩa Lộ is a town in Yên Bái Province, in the north-east region of Vietnam. It is bordered by Văn Chấn District and Trạm Tấu District. In 1951, the Viet Minh 312 Division fought French forces in the area as part of the First Indo ...

, the French and Mường forces were starved of cash and were dependent on financial aid from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to keep their military equipped to continue handling the Communist advance. The Việt Minh had much trouble holding on to occupied lands in Hòa Bình as the Mường populace largely remained loyal to the French. The Việt Minh captured Hòa Bình, but on 14 November 1951 three French battalions landed in Hòa Bình by parachute commanded by Colonel Clément and a day later the Mường country was under French control again. Despite the French efforts to hold back the

Việt Minh, the Hòa Bình Province was reconquered by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in February 1952 and the Mường Autonomous Territory was ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' dissolved while continuing to exist on paper. After the loss of their territory to the Việt Minh, Mường battalions could continue to serve for the French for the remainder of the First Indochina War until the French officially recognised Việt Minh control over North Vietnam with the Geneva Accords in 1954.

References

Sources

* Thabaut, André - ''Médecin lieutenant au 1er bataillon muong: Indochine (1954-1955)'' (Médecine des conflits armés) (in

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muong Autonomous Territory States and territories established in 1947 Former polities of the Indochina Wars States and territories disestablished in 1952 First Indochina War 1947 establishments in Asia 1952 disestablishments in Asia

History

See also

References

Sources

External links