Manawatu Exhibition: Peace

The spark that lit the fire of anti-war protest

In 1858–86, France defeated Vietnam and China to secure control over Vietnam and the Indochina region. In 1945, a general uprising brought Ho Chi Minh’s nationalist Viet Minh into power in Hanoi. Ho Chi Minh proclaimed all of Vietnam an independent republic. But France claimed itself the legal ruler of Vietnam and attempted, unsuccessfully, to defeat the Viet Minh militarily. 

 

 

 

Flotillas of small boats harassing the warships

After World War II, the United States, France and Britain frequently tested nuclear weapons in the Pacific. In 1959, groups opposed to nuclear weapons, particularly the testing and use of atomic bombs, formed the New Zealand Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

 

Manawatu Photographs