Germany and Indochina, WWI
From: Charles Keith
Date: Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 8:41 AM
Hi folks,
I've seen several claims, unfortunately poorly substantiated (or not at all), that German agents in China encouraged (and maybe even helped finance) attacks on French military outposts in the area of Lang Son/Cao Bang led by the Viet Nam Quang Phuc Hoi in 1914-1915. Can anyone point me to a source that could help me substantiate this, or sources on broader German espionage efforts in Asia during WWI?
Thanks,
Charles Keith
Michigan State University
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From: Shawn McHale
Date: Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 8:55 AM
Charles,
I do not know about published sources, but I seem to remember that the Gaston Liebert papers (at Cornell) contain French governmental documents on the perceived German threat to Indochina, including fears of German spies in S China.
Shawn
Shawn McHale
Director
Sigur Center for Asian Studies
Associate Professor of History and International Affairs
George Washington University
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From: Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Date: 2009/1/23
For myself, I remember reading about the Indochinese government's concern about pro-German propaganda coming in from Siam. Alas, I do not remember where I read this.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
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From: John Kleinen
Date: Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 10:32 AM
For my research on the Dutch oil merchant Mulder who worked for the German firm Speidel&Co I found a number of indications that the French in Indochina feared internal enemies and extradited them to the Pacific or to Australia.
With the outbreak of World War I, Germans living in several Asian places like Saigon, Hong Kong and Haiphong were interned and the liquidation of their business operations ordered. Speidel's firm had to stop operations during WWI, which ultimately led to his demise. French-German relationships in the colony were also influenced by the war of 1870. Germans who served as Dutch consuls in Saigon were sometimes excluded from the French elite circles.
John Kleinen Ph.D
Associate Professor of Anthropology
University of Amsterdam
Department of Anthropology and Sociology
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From: Frank
Date: 2009/1/23
Is this not covered in Chris Goscha's book?
Thailand and the Southeast Asian Networks
of the Vietnamese Revolution, 1885-1954. Richmond Surrey,
UK:
Curzon Press, 1999
Frank Proschan