It was ruled by the Nguyễn dynasty and created when Emperor Bảo Đại declared independence for Vietnam (Tonkin and Annam) from French protection.

[2] On March 10, 1945, a senior Japanese diplomat named Yokoyama Masayuki entered the royal palace to tell Bảo Đại that Tokyo expected him to head a government dedicated to 'maintaining social order.'

Yokoyama also told him that Japan "was prepared to acknowledge an Annamite declaration of independence within the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Undoubtedly much relieved, Bảo Đại instructed Phạm Quỳnh, his minister of the interior (and de facto premier), to draft a proclamation in French and show it to Yokoyama, who found it proper except for a clause expressing gratitude to the Japanese armed forces.

That passage deleted, Phạm Quỳnh scheduled a meeting of the full cabinet for the next morning, 11 March, where he read out the text solemnly in the presence of the monarch.

Nguyễn Xuân Chữ, a leader of the Vietnamese Patriotic Party (Viet Nam Ái quốc Đảng) and one of the five members of Cường Để's National Reconstruction Committee, refused the offer of replacing Toại.

Chương wanted credit for arranging the integration of the three ceded cities and southern Vietnam to Kim's government and was regarded as having Prime Ministerial designs himself.

From August 8 onward, Phạm Khắc Hòe, Bảo Đại's office director, was instructed by Tôn Quang Phiệt (the future chairman of the Viet Minh's Revolutionary Committee in Huế) to persuade the Emperor to abdicate voluntarily.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Nam, cited the communist uprisings in Thanh Hóa and Quảng Ngãi in central Vietnam to discourage Kim from traveling to Saigon.

[6] On August 14, Bảo Đại appointed Nguyễn Văn Sâm, former president of the Journalists' Syndicate, to the post of Imperial Commissioner of the South.

However, he was delayed en route as the Viet Minh had taken advantage of the military power vacuum caused by the Japanese surrender to launch a general insurrection with the aim of seizing control of the country.

Kim asked Bảo Đại to issue an imperial order on August 14 repealing the treaties of Saigon of 1862 and 1874, thus removing the last French claims to sovereign rights over Vietnam.

In Nam Bộ, on August 17, it was announced that all non-Viet Minh factions, including Trotskyists and the southern religious sects of Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo, had joined forces to create the Mặt trận Quốc gia Thống nhất (National Unified Front).

[7] Trần Quang Vinh, the Cao Đài leader, and Huỳnh Phú Sổ, the founder of the Hòa Hảo, also issued a communique proclaiming an alliance.

The next day, Hồ Vân Nga assumed the interim office of Imperial Commissioner and appointed Kha Vạn Cân, the Vanguard Youth leader, commander of Saigon and Chợ Lớn.

Two days later on August 25, Bảo Đại officially abdicated, and Nguyễn Văn Sâm handed over power to the Viet Minh in Saigon.

Given that the French colonial authorities emphatically distinguished the three regions of "Tonkin", "Annam", and "Cochinchina" as separate entities, implying a lack of national culture or political integration, Kim's first acts were seen as symbolic and the end of generations of frustration among Vietnamese intelligentsia and revolutionaries.

[10] Kim's government strongly emphasised educational reform, focusing on the development of technical training, particularly the use of Vietnamese alphabet (chữ Quốc Ngữ) as the primary language of instruction.

His reforms took more than four months to achieve their results, and have been regarded as a stepping stone for the successor Viet Minh government's launch of compulsory mass education.

In July, when the Japanese decided to grant Vietnam full independence and territorial unification, Kim's government was about to begin a new round of reform, by naming a committee to create a new national education system.

In memorial ceremonies, Kim honoured all national heroes, ranging from the legendary national founders, the Hùng kings to slain anti-French revolutionaries such as Nguyễn Thái Học, the leader of the Vietnamese Nationalist Party (Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng) who was executed with twelve comrades in 1930 in the aftermath of the Yên Bái mutiny.

On August 1, the new mayor of Hanoi, Trần Văn Lai, ordered the demolition of French built statues in the city parks in his campaign to Wipe Out Humiliating Remnants.

In Hanoi, the General Association of Students and Youth (Tổng hội Sinh viên và Thanh niên) was animated by the fervor of independence.

The Kempeitai (Japanese MP and also secret police) retaliated, arresting hundreds of pro-communist Vietnamese youths in late June.

Tsuchihashi agreed to transfer control of Hanoi, Hải Phòng, and Đà Nẵng to Kim's government, taking effect on July 20.

After protracted negotiation, Tsuchihashi agreed that the south (Cochinchina) would be united with the Empire of Vietnam and that Kim would attend the unification ceremonies on August 8 in Saigon.

The Vietnamese Imperial Army was under the control of Japanese lieutenant general Yuitsu Tsuchihashi, who served as adviser to the Empire of Vietnam.