The Vietnam War

Made in 1944, this map documents a hiatus in French colonial rule over Vietnam by showing the extent of Japanese conquests in the early years of the Second World War, a period during which, for Vietnam, one type of imperialism replaced another. With the Allied defeat of Japan in 1945, the French sought to reassert control over Vietnam leading to an eight-year-long war and ultimately the division of the country into North and South. [National Library of Australia, Map RM 3942]