How did french suppress the movement inspired by huynh phu so? or explain the hoa hao movement?
Answers
Hoa hao was a Buddhist organization, founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ , at Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam. The founders of these traditions were considered by Hòa Hảo followers as living Buddhas primarily destined to serve and save mankind from suffering and protect the Vietnamese as nation. Hòa Hảo is believed to have two million followers throughout Vietnam.The main agenda of this movement was its emphasis on peasant farmers. Hòa Hảo stressed the practice of Buddhism in home, rather than focusing mainly on temple worship and ordination.
Huỳnh Phú Sổ had to face lot of trouble when he began to spread the ideas of his religion, a large part of which was Vietnamese nationalism, which was considered a dangerous idea in that time of French colonial rule. He was put in a lunatic asylum because of his preaching.With gaining popularity of Hòa Hảo grew, Huỳnh Phú Sổ made a series of prophecies about the political future of Vietnam. He stressed that the "true king" would return to Vietnam to bring freedom and prosperity, which resulted in most Hòa Hảo to support the Nguyễn pretender: Marquis Cường Để, who then was in Japan .
During World War II, the Hòa Hảo fuly supported the Japanese occupation and planned for Cường Để to become Emperor of Vietnam. However, this never happened and the Hòa Hảo came into ideology rift with the communists both because the Vietnamese were anti-Japanese and because of their Marxist opposition to all religion. During the State of Vietnam (1949–1955), they made arrangements with the Head of State Bảo Đại, similar to those made by the Cao Đài religion and the Bình Xuyên gang, which were in control of their own affairs in favor for their support of the Bảo Đại regime. Since , the control of this government was under France meant that most Hòa Hảo opposed it.
When America began advocating for Ngô Đình Diệm to run South Vietnam, the most influential groups to concern the Americans were the Cao Đài, the Bình Xuyên and the Hòa Hảo, which had formed a small private army under General Ba Cụt. O.S.S. Colonel Edward Lansdale bribed with CIA funds to split the Hòa Hảo and in 1956 General Dương Văn Minh thrased the Hòa Hảo and General Ba Cụt was taken into custody and then beheaded in public. This was the end of the Hòa Hảo as an armed group although someof them later joined the Viet Cong in opposition to the Diệm regime. After Diệm was deposed and killed, the Hòa Hảo changed their motto from anti-Diệm to anti-Communist. During the early years of the Vietnam War in the 1960s, An Giang Province and its capital Long Xuyên were among the few places in the Mekong Delta where Viet Cong activity was minimal and American and South Vietnamese troops could move without fear of sniper attack. After the war, the Hòa Hảo were allowed to remain, but like all religions, under strict Communist control.