page_title: Vietnamese famine of 1945
section_title: Consequences
hierarchical_section_title: Vietnamese famine of 1945 / Consequences
caption_attribution_description: English: Famine in Vietnam, 1945
context_page_description: The Vietnamese famine of 1945 was a famine that occurred in northern Vietnam in French Indochina during World War II from October 1944 to late 1945, which at the time was under Japanese occupation from 1940 with Vichy France as a puppet government. Between 400,000 and 2 million people are estimated to have starved to death during this time. The demographics vary from French estimates of 600,000-700,000 dead, to official Vietnamese numbers of 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 victims.
  According to a 2018 study, the primary cause of the famine were typhoons that reduced the availability of food, Japan's occupation, American attacks on the Vietnamese transport system, and French colonial administration hindered an effective famine alleviation response.
context_section_description: The exact number of deaths caused by the 1944–1945 famine is unknown and is a matter of controversy. Various sources estimate between 400,000 and 2 million people starved in northern Vietnam during this time. In May 1945, the envoy at Hanoi asked the northern provinces to report their casualties. Twenty provinces reported that a total of 380,000 people starved to death and 20,000 more died because of disease. In October, a report from a French military official estimated half a million deaths. Governor General Jean Decoux wrote in his memoirs A la barre de l'Indochine that about 1 million northerners had starved to death. Modern Vietnamese historians estimate between 1 and 2 million deaths. Ho Chi Minh, in his Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945, used a figure of 2 million.
  In March 1945 the Viet Minh (a communist-controlled common front fighting for the independence of Vietnam) urged the population to ransack rice warehouses and to refuse to pay their taxes. Between 75 and 100 warehouses were consequently raided. The rebellion against both the effects of the famine and the authorities that were seen as responsible for it bolstered the Viet Minh's popularity which helped it recruit many members at the time.
caption: Severely malnourished village children in Hải Hậu, Nam Định Province, August 1945. Impoverished villagers suffered the most from the famine, with various sources estimating the number of people starving to death at approximately one to two million.
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