Several generations of French leaders had high expectations for French Indochina’s usefulness as a symbolic resource for unifying the nation after times of disaster, but in fact the colony time and again proved to be little more than a burden.  This chapter explores how a variety of factors, not the least of which was poor planning on the part of the French métropole, dashed the high hopes French leaders had for Indochina’s symbolic and strategic importance throughout the period of colonization.