Nguyễn Thái Học

[5][6] Hoc had previously tried to initiate peaceful reforms to French colonial rule by making written submissions to authorities, but these were ignored, and his attempt to foster policy change through the publication of a magazine never materialized due to the refusal of a license.

[7] In 1925-26, a small group of young Hanoi-based intellectuals, started the Nam Đông thư xã (Southeast Publishing House).

[5][6] The Việt Nam Quốc dân Đảng (VNQDD) was formed at a meeting in Hanoi on December 25, 1927, with Hoc as the party's first leader.

[12] The French reacted by apprehending as many party members as possible; Hoc and Nhu were among the few senior leaders who escaped from a raid on their hideout at the Vietnam Hotel.

[11] After the crackdowns, Hoc argued for a change in strategy in favour of a general uprising, citing rising discontent among Vietnamese soldiers in the colonial army.

[13] One of the arguments presented for large-scale violence was that the French response to the Bazin assassination meant that the party's strength could decline in the long term.

[14] The plan was to provoke a series of uprisings at military posts around the Red River Delta in early 1930, where VNQDD forces would join Vietnamese soldiers in an attack on the two major northern cities of Hanoi and Haiphong.

[15] On December 25, 1929, the French authorities attempted to arrest the whole VNQDD leadership in a raid on a planning meeting at Vong La, having been tipped off by Military Affairs Minister Pham Thanh Duong.

[21] In the first case, the VNQDD fighters disguised themselves as colonial troops and managed to trick their opponents, before seizing the military post in the town.

[23] Five wooden Potez 35 biplanes dropped 60 10 kg bombs on the village and raked machine-gun fire indiscriminately, killing 200, mostly civilians.

[24] The insurrection was officially declared over on February 22, after Hoc and his lieutenants, Pho Duc Chinh and Nguyen Thanh Loi, were apprehended while trying to flee into China.