Thank you for listening to Power Corrupts. We make this show because we think it's important not to make money,

but it does cost money to make episodes. If you want to help us stay editorially independent,

please consider supporting our work in one of two ways.

First, pre-order my new book, Corruptible, Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us,

which comes out on November 9, 2021.

It's an exploration of the bizarre fascinating ways in which humans relate to

power that ranges from everything from corrupt beehives to the time I took a ski lesson with a man who

once ruled Iraq. If you like this

podcast I promise you love the book. Second, join a community of

supporters and get access to exclusive bonus content by going to Patreon.com slash power corrupts.

For just three dollars a month you'll get access to early episodes and at different tiers

you can get bonus content like uncut interviews as well as the possibility of a

Zoom meet and greet with my producer George and myself. If you don't support the

show I'll be forced to bombard you with ads about socks and job recruitment schemes and mortgage websites and nobody wants that.

But seriously, thank you for listening and for your support. In 1918, World War I was raging. The French war effort was strained, and the French Empire was running out of money.

At the same time, a revolution was brewing halfway across the world in French Indochina,

a colonial territory that encompasses modern day Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

As the costs of World War I mounted,

the French government decided to pay for it with heavy taxation

on remote outposts in its far-flung empire.

The tax fell particularly heavily on the Hmong people

because they were marginalized in French Indochina by the dominant local groups,

...