Vietnamese Famine of 1945 The Vietnamese Famine of 1945 ( - Famine of the Yiyou Year ) was a famine that occurred in northern Vietnam from October 1944 to May 1945 , during the Japanese occupation of French Indochina in World War II . Between 400 , 000 and 2 million people are estimated to have starved to death during this time . Causes . There were many causes of this famine . The direct cause was the effects of World War II on French Indochina . The involvement of France and Japan in Vietnam caused detrimental effects to the economic activities of the Vietnamese . Military and economic changes caused the northern part of the country to plunge into famine . Indirectly , the mismanagement of the French administration in Vietnam played a role . The French reformed the economy in order to serve the administration and to meet the needs of war , because they were being invaded themselves . Natural causes included natural disasters such as droughts and floods destroying northern crops . Effect of the colonial administration . After the Great Depression in the 1930s , France returned to its policy of economic protectorate and monopolized the exploitation of natural resources of Indochina . The people in Indochina had to increase the economic value of the area by growing cash crops in place of lower - value agricultural produce , but only the French and a small minority of Vietnamese and Hoa and some people in the cities benefited . When the war started , France was weakened . In East Asia , Japan began to expand and viewed Indochina as a bridge into Southeast Asia and a means to isolate and further weaken the Nationalist government China . In mid - 1940 , metropolitan France was occupied by Nazi Germany and Japan increased pressure on France and entered Indochina the following year . Vietnam was pulled into a wartime economy , with France and Japan competing in administration . Many people blame the famine on Japanese troops hoarding foodstuff from farmers , forcing them to grow jute instead of rice , thus depriving them of needed food , but in reality France had started the same policy earlier . They had decreased the land set aside for growing staple crops such as maize and potatoes to make land for growing cotton , jute , and other industrial plants . Because of the decreased land available for growing , harvests of staple crops decreased considerably . Effects of World War II . During the occupation of French Indochina by Japan , the Allies made frequent air strike s against roads , warehouse and transportation facilities . This made the transport of rice from the south to the north extremely difficult . The prices of essential goods , especially foodstuff , skyrocketed . The militaries of both France and Japan forcibly seized food from farmers to feed their troops . In the meantime , the French civilian administration was dysfunctional , unable to distribute remaining food stocks to areas where needed . In March 1945 , Japanese - sponsored Empire of Vietnam headed by Trần Trọng Kim supplanted the French administration . While this new government made efforts to alleviate the famine , the inadequate food supply coupled with hoarding of food by the Japanese Army , made their efforts futile . Natural disasters . In northern Vietnam , a drought coupled with pests caused the winter - spring harvest of 1944 to decrease by 20 % . After that there was a flood during the harvest season , causing the crisis to occur . Consequences . The exact number of deaths due to the 1944 - 1945 famine is unknown and is a matter of controversy . Various sources estimate between 400 , 000 to 2 million peopled 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 . The French Governor General Jean Decoux wrote in his memoirs " A la barre de l ' Indochine " that about 1 million northerners 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 2 million figure . The famine played a part in the coming war between the French and Viet Minh . 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 refuse to pay their taxes . Between 75 and 100 warehouses were consequently raided . This rebellion against the effects of the famine and the authorities that were seen as responsible for it bolstered the Viet Minh ' s popularity and they recruited many members during this period .