Franck Michelin
I am Professor at Teikyo University (Tokyo) since April 2017. I am also Research Associate at Paris-Sorbonne University (Centre Roland Mousnier), and the Maison franco-japonaise (Tokyo). I have been visiting professor at the Université de Montréal from March to April 2016, and Sciences Po Lyon from February to March 2019.
I have been doing research on Japanese modern history, and especially on the policy of Japan towards French Indochina in relation to the process that led to the Pacific War. This had led to the publication of a book in French in 2019 (La Guerre du Pacifique a commencé en Indochine, 1940-1941), book that, I hope, will be soon published in English.
I am especially interested in the Japanese foreign policy and military, as well as the evolution of Japanese society between pre-war and post-war periods. I am writing a new book on the history of Japanese armed forces since 1853. I am also launching a project on the influence of Shibusawa Eiichi on the development of the capitalist economy in the North of Japan (Akita prefecture).
I received my Ph.D. from Paris-Sorbonne University. I have been elected member of the Académie des Sciences d'Outre-Mer in 2018.
Supervisors: Dominique Barjot (Paris-Sorbonne University, Vice-Dean of the Roland Mousnier Research Center) and Yoshiharu Tsuboi (Waseda University)
Phone: tel : (+81) 426 78 3609
Address: Teikyo University, Faculty of Economics
359 Otsuka, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, JAPAN
I have been doing research on Japanese modern history, and especially on the policy of Japan towards French Indochina in relation to the process that led to the Pacific War. This had led to the publication of a book in French in 2019 (La Guerre du Pacifique a commencé en Indochine, 1940-1941), book that, I hope, will be soon published in English.
I am especially interested in the Japanese foreign policy and military, as well as the evolution of Japanese society between pre-war and post-war periods. I am writing a new book on the history of Japanese armed forces since 1853. I am also launching a project on the influence of Shibusawa Eiichi on the development of the capitalist economy in the North of Japan (Akita prefecture).
I received my Ph.D. from Paris-Sorbonne University. I have been elected member of the Académie des Sciences d'Outre-Mer in 2018.
Supervisors: Dominique Barjot (Paris-Sorbonne University, Vice-Dean of the Roland Mousnier Research Center) and Yoshiharu Tsuboi (Waseda University)
Phone: tel : (+81) 426 78 3609
Address: Teikyo University, Faculty of Economics
359 Otsuka, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo, JAPAN
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The subject is the role played by the occupation of French Indochina by Japan in the process that led to the Pacific War outbreak.
Books by Franck Michelin
Nevertheless, if Japan did not create the independence movements in Vietnam, nor even the conditions that led the Vietnamese to seek independence, its role was essential. Its occupation of the Western colonies in Southeast Asia not only destroyed the domination system of the Western countries, it also annihilated their prestige and gave confidence to the local populations in their ability to conquer their independence and access to modernity.
If the case of Vietnam is particular, since French colonial apparatus was left untouched until 1945, the victory against French forces in September 1940, the presence of Japanese military on Vietnamese soil and the Japanese cultural propaganda towards Vietnamese population played an important role in eroding French might. If Japanese occupation does not explain everything, it was the real starting point of the process that led Vietnam to independence.
Japan began to put pressure on French Indochina from 1938, when the front of the Sino-Japanese War moved southward. Because Chiang Kai-shek refused to give up, Japan decided to blockade China. After Canton felt the 21 archOctober 1938, the main route that linked China to the outside world was the “French Indochina route”, a railway route that was linking the Indochinese harbor of Haiphong to the Chinese city Yunnan, Kunming. Under Japanese pressure, French government accepted officially to forbid the transit of goods from Indochina to China, but accepted in fact its continuation since it wanted to help China to resist Japanese move in the direction of Indochinese border.
France opposed Japanese pressure until German victories in Europe, from May 1940, disrupted the situation in Southeast Asia. France, isolated because of its separate armistice with Germany, could not defend Indochina anymore since British alliance was necessary against any external threat. Suffering a rebuff from the United Sates, the Governor General, Georges Catroux, had to close the Chinese border and to accept a Japanese control mission in Indochina, under general Nishihara Issaku. Catroux was replaced by the admiral Jean Decoux who, despite strong words, had accept Japanese demands. Despite several treaties and agreements, Japanese forces attacked French army in Indochina the 23 September and defeated them easily. This coup, often seen, till nowadays, as a local initiative, was in fact directed from Tokyo.
Japanese army got the right to station troops in the North of Indochina, to use air fields and to remove troops from Southern China through Indochinese territory. From this time, France will have to yield to every Japanese demand : the integration of Indochinese economy to Japanese empire sphere, the lost of two territories to Thailand, the occupation of the rest of its territory and, finally, a Japanese dominion over Indochina after the Pacific War broke out. Japan had decided, from July 1940, to enforce the new policy of Southward expansion, accepting the risk of going to war with the English speaking powers. The occupation of Indochina was a part of this policy and it played an essential role in the deterioration of the relations with the United States.
Japan needed French Indochina territory to attack British colonies. This is why Vietnam played a crucial role during the first campaign of the Pacific War, especially against British Malaya – which was attacked before Pearl Harbor. After the first phase of the war, Indochina lost its strategic position, but still provided rice and raw material. Despite its anti western propaganda, Japan decided to let France continuing its domination on Indochina. This situation was not an anomaly, but a rational choice based on the fact that the best and cheapest way to administrate Indochina was to leave the task to French authorities.
During most of the Pacific War, Indochina was under a dual domination, French and Japanese. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shigemitsu Mamoru, preached for the elimination of French presence. Despite the suppression of the Vichy regime and its replacement by an enemy of Japan – the Free France –, this is only the 9 March 1945, seven months later, that Japanese army attacked. The threat of an American landing and the will of Japanese army to secure a continental road from Southeast Asia to Korea led to the decision to put an end to French administration.
By making the three nations of Indochina proclaiming their independence and by annihilating French armed forces, Japan created a watershed. Japan, being seen as a defeated country, was not successful in administrating the country, lacking time and support. The Vietminh was able to fill the void left by French administration and to get the support of a large part of the population by acting against Japan. The latter played a last important act, after its surrender the 15 August 1945, by letting the Vietminh taking the power.
What would have happened if Japan had not destroyed French domination? Since independence movements were not in position to overthrow the French colonizers, and Japan had good reasons to consider keeping the status quo, this question is not a petty one. To think of it as an alternate history can be useful in letting us understand that everything was not decided from the start, that France could have left Vietnam differently, that non communist forces could have played a more important role and, last but not least, that the Japanese attack the 9 March 1945 was the decisive defeat that France could never overcome.
This is why, after having developed its relations with Southeast Asia during the 16th century, Japan closed itself during next two centuries. When the “Black Ships” of the Commodore Perry arrived in 1853, seclusion was not an option anymore and Japan decided to get modernized according to western rules and using western technology. From the end of the 19th century, she followed her new models in becoming a military and colonial power. However, despite the conquest of Taiwan from China in 1895, Japan continued to focus on Northeast Asia. This is only her failure against the USSR at the end of the 1930s, the evolution of the war in China as a quagmire and, above all, the opportunities created by the defeats in Europe of France, the Low Countries and the United Kingdom that opened to her the “southern seas”. Until the middle of the year 1942, Japanese armies were unstoppable and conquered an immense area from the Indian border to Australia and the Aleutian Islands.
Nevertheless, she was unable to resist the US counter-attack and, in August 1945, had to accept the defeat. Japan became a kind of American dominion, and it was only in 1972 that she recovered her last territory, Okinawa. Since this time, Japan had to face a new challenge with the rise of Chinese ambitions and naval capabilities. The security of Japan is still nowadays determined by the US protection, However, the uncertainty brought by the new Trump administration could lead Japan to reshape her policy in the Pacific.
Papers by Franck Michelin
The subject is the role played by the occupation of French Indochina by Japan in the process that led to the Pacific War outbreak.
Nevertheless, if Japan did not create the independence movements in Vietnam, nor even the conditions that led the Vietnamese to seek independence, its role was essential. Its occupation of the Western colonies in Southeast Asia not only destroyed the domination system of the Western countries, it also annihilated their prestige and gave confidence to the local populations in their ability to conquer their independence and access to modernity.
If the case of Vietnam is particular, since French colonial apparatus was left untouched until 1945, the victory against French forces in September 1940, the presence of Japanese military on Vietnamese soil and the Japanese cultural propaganda towards Vietnamese population played an important role in eroding French might. If Japanese occupation does not explain everything, it was the real starting point of the process that led Vietnam to independence.
Japan began to put pressure on French Indochina from 1938, when the front of the Sino-Japanese War moved southward. Because Chiang Kai-shek refused to give up, Japan decided to blockade China. After Canton felt the 21 archOctober 1938, the main route that linked China to the outside world was the “French Indochina route”, a railway route that was linking the Indochinese harbor of Haiphong to the Chinese city Yunnan, Kunming. Under Japanese pressure, French government accepted officially to forbid the transit of goods from Indochina to China, but accepted in fact its continuation since it wanted to help China to resist Japanese move in the direction of Indochinese border.
France opposed Japanese pressure until German victories in Europe, from May 1940, disrupted the situation in Southeast Asia. France, isolated because of its separate armistice with Germany, could not defend Indochina anymore since British alliance was necessary against any external threat. Suffering a rebuff from the United Sates, the Governor General, Georges Catroux, had to close the Chinese border and to accept a Japanese control mission in Indochina, under general Nishihara Issaku. Catroux was replaced by the admiral Jean Decoux who, despite strong words, had accept Japanese demands. Despite several treaties and agreements, Japanese forces attacked French army in Indochina the 23 September and defeated them easily. This coup, often seen, till nowadays, as a local initiative, was in fact directed from Tokyo.
Japanese army got the right to station troops in the North of Indochina, to use air fields and to remove troops from Southern China through Indochinese territory. From this time, France will have to yield to every Japanese demand : the integration of Indochinese economy to Japanese empire sphere, the lost of two territories to Thailand, the occupation of the rest of its territory and, finally, a Japanese dominion over Indochina after the Pacific War broke out. Japan had decided, from July 1940, to enforce the new policy of Southward expansion, accepting the risk of going to war with the English speaking powers. The occupation of Indochina was a part of this policy and it played an essential role in the deterioration of the relations with the United States.
Japan needed French Indochina territory to attack British colonies. This is why Vietnam played a crucial role during the first campaign of the Pacific War, especially against British Malaya – which was attacked before Pearl Harbor. After the first phase of the war, Indochina lost its strategic position, but still provided rice and raw material. Despite its anti western propaganda, Japan decided to let France continuing its domination on Indochina. This situation was not an anomaly, but a rational choice based on the fact that the best and cheapest way to administrate Indochina was to leave the task to French authorities.
During most of the Pacific War, Indochina was under a dual domination, French and Japanese. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shigemitsu Mamoru, preached for the elimination of French presence. Despite the suppression of the Vichy regime and its replacement by an enemy of Japan – the Free France –, this is only the 9 March 1945, seven months later, that Japanese army attacked. The threat of an American landing and the will of Japanese army to secure a continental road from Southeast Asia to Korea led to the decision to put an end to French administration.
By making the three nations of Indochina proclaiming their independence and by annihilating French armed forces, Japan created a watershed. Japan, being seen as a defeated country, was not successful in administrating the country, lacking time and support. The Vietminh was able to fill the void left by French administration and to get the support of a large part of the population by acting against Japan. The latter played a last important act, after its surrender the 15 August 1945, by letting the Vietminh taking the power.
What would have happened if Japan had not destroyed French domination? Since independence movements were not in position to overthrow the French colonizers, and Japan had good reasons to consider keeping the status quo, this question is not a petty one. To think of it as an alternate history can be useful in letting us understand that everything was not decided from the start, that France could have left Vietnam differently, that non communist forces could have played a more important role and, last but not least, that the Japanese attack the 9 March 1945 was the decisive defeat that France could never overcome.
This is why, after having developed its relations with Southeast Asia during the 16th century, Japan closed itself during next two centuries. When the “Black Ships” of the Commodore Perry arrived in 1853, seclusion was not an option anymore and Japan decided to get modernized according to western rules and using western technology. From the end of the 19th century, she followed her new models in becoming a military and colonial power. However, despite the conquest of Taiwan from China in 1895, Japan continued to focus on Northeast Asia. This is only her failure against the USSR at the end of the 1930s, the evolution of the war in China as a quagmire and, above all, the opportunities created by the defeats in Europe of France, the Low Countries and the United Kingdom that opened to her the “southern seas”. Until the middle of the year 1942, Japanese armies were unstoppable and conquered an immense area from the Indian border to Australia and the Aleutian Islands.
Nevertheless, she was unable to resist the US counter-attack and, in August 1945, had to accept the defeat. Japan became a kind of American dominion, and it was only in 1972 that she recovered her last territory, Okinawa. Since this time, Japan had to face a new challenge with the rise of Chinese ambitions and naval capabilities. The security of Japan is still nowadays determined by the US protection, However, the uncertainty brought by the new Trump administration could lead Japan to reshape her policy in the Pacific.
largest colonial empire in the world, although far behind the much richer British Empire.
Nevertheless, up until the First World War, France benefited from an extremely stable currency
and an exceptional banking network organised around powerful deposit banks (in 1914, Crédit
Lyonnais was the world's leading commercial bank in terms of the size of its balance sheet) and
merchant banks (Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas, Banque de l'Union parisienne), although the
boundary between the two types of bank was not totally watertight, as shown by the example
of Société Générale, which was particularly active in the Far East. Thanks to its engineers,
French companies were also very active in public works (2nd in the world after Great Britain)
and in the operation of public services. The situation was less rosy in industry, but France also
had a number of strong points in this area: silk from Lyon, the luxury goods sector (champagne,
jewellery) and cutting-edge technological activities (world's leading exporter of cars, aviation).
The First World War had a lasting and profound effect on the international expansion of French
capitalism, with the country's balance of payments shifting from a creditor to a debtor position.
While the depreciation of the French currency boosted exports (cars, textiles), the investment
capacity of the French business community was increasingly focused on the Empire, as in
Indochina, a particularly attractive territory. Benefiting from major infrastructure works (road
network, Transindochinois, ports), Indochina became a major exporter of rice and rubber,
ensuring the expansion of the Michelin family group, for example. In the 1920s, French
merchant banks remained very dynamic, such as Paribas and the Banque de l'Indochine, which
became the heart of a constellation of companies holding the Indochinese economy in their
hands, while concession companies continued to operate in China. On the other hand, the crisis
of the 1930s was accompanied by a further weakening of the banks and, correlatively, of French
capitalism. In the Far East, French interests suffered severely from the scale of the Indochina
crisis, then from the consequences of Japanese expansion in China, and finally from the
Japanese occupation of Indochina, which had been cut off from France following the defeat of
1940. The aim of this paper is to use company archives to reconstruct the stages of expansion,
followed by an increasingly marked decline in the influence of French capitalism after the First
World War and the crisis of the 1930s.
2022年11月14日 14時~18時
概要
2022年2月24日、ロシア軍がウクライナに侵攻し、全世界に衝撃を与えました。この紛争は早期終結の期待を裏切 り、長期化・泥沼化の恐れがあります。今回、帝京大学冲永総合研究所の共催を受け、本学経済学部国際経済学科 設立5周年を記念して、有志教員がこの紛争の原因と影響を議論します。ロシアとウクライナというかつてはソ連で同じ 国を構成した両国がなぜ衝突したのでしょうか。この紛争をきっかけに、エネルギー価格が高騰し、穀物供給の不安も 高まっています。こうした動きは日本や世界に今後どのような影響を与えるのでしょうか。今後の行方は全く予断を許し ませんが、早期の平和回復を祈りながら、我々の議論がこれらの問題に何らかの示唆を与えることができればと考 え、ここに緊急シンポジウムを開催します。
私は、この研究を1995年フランスで行い始め、2014年博士論文、2019年単著として発表した。最初は2カ国関係の歴史として考えていたが、段々多国が関わった出来事、そして太平洋戦争への道の中で重要な出来事だと理解してきた。日仏両国の史料を中心に国際関係史の問題として研究をしてきた。また、仏印進駐の過程の中で日本軍は圧倒的な役割を果たしたため、この研究は次第に軍事史の問題として扱うようになった。
本日の発表は下記の構造に基づき行う予定である。
研究の背景
北部仏印進駐の謎
ランソン事件という岐路
仏印進駐は１つ
日英米危機の転換期
日・仏・米の史料及び多量の文献を収集し、比較しながら進めてきた。結果は国際関係史の問題として仏印進駐再考ができ、特に太平洋戦争勃発への道における仏印進駐の重要さを把握できた。太平洋戦争終戦以降、日米両国を初め、太平洋戦争の原因を考察すると、目的論のように真珠湾攻撃を枢軸として位置させる傾向がある。私の研究方法はあくまでも過去から将来へ、年代順に沿って史料を調査しながら進むものである。結果として、視野を広げ、日本と英米の間の外交危機は、1941年夏期における「南部仏印進駐」から始まったわけでなく、より前に1940年6月から始まった「北部仏印進駐」から開始したと証明できた。また、北部仏印進駐、そして日本による仏印への侵入と関わるその他の出来事は、日独伊同盟と並べて太平洋戦争勃発の要因であるだけでなく、同じ政策、同じ戦略の両足だとわかった。
2019年にフランスで出版された文献は上述の研究の成果を示した。「日中戦争は日米外交危機を引き起こし、結果として太平洋戦争が勃発した」、あるいは「多くの誤解の結果として急に1941年の夏から日米関係が悪化して戦争が始まった」という歴史観を乗り越え、その危機の開始を1940年6月から始まった「北部仏印進駐」から始まり、1年半の間に関係が一歩ずつ悪化し、最終的に太平洋戦争勃発に達した。
We conducted this long-term research by gathering and analyzing archive documents for Japan, France, and the USA, as well as a large number of books and research papers, and by making comparisons between them. Through this method, we could reconsider the question of the policy of Japan towards French Indochina as an international relations question and get closer to an understanding of the process that led to the Pacific War. However, there was one very common pitfall to avoid: considering the attack on Pearl Harbor as the principal axis, as the unavoidable issue of the international relations in East Asia and the Pacific. By starting the survey with the invasion of Northern French Indochina, it was possible to avoid the teleological approach that makes Pearl Harbor, not one mere possible consequence, but a necessary result.
Le Japon d’après 1945 a suivi un chemin différent de celui qu’il avait emprunté avant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, mais l’on peut considérer que les continuités l’emportent sur les ruptures. À la différence de le l’Allemagne, le Japon n’a connu ni changement de régime dans les années 1930, ni épuration profonde après le conflit. En effet, bien que les réformes imposées par les autorités d’occupations américaines aient largement contribué à démocratiser et stabiliser la société japonaise, et alors que l’armée impériale a disparu, la continuité du corps politique et administratif n’en est pas moins est à l’origine de continuités indéniables. L’historien peut, grâce à son travail sur les archives, tenter de décerner les particularités du processus de décision au cours de l’histoire et, ainsi, contribuer à éclairer le présent.