French Phase of Vietnam War Begins
The French phase of the Vietnam War began on December 19, 1946, when Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the communist rebels, initiated attacks against French colonial forces. This marked the start of a protracted guerrilla warfare campaign, as the Viet Minh sought to liberate Vietnam from French colonial rule. Following years of conflict, the French were ultimately defeated at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954, which led to a cease-fire and the Geneva Accords that partitioned Vietnam into North and South. Despite receiving significant financial and military aid from the United States to support the French efforts, the French could not suppress the independence movement.
Vietnam, located along the coast of Indochina, had a complex history of colonialism, with France establishing control over the region in the 19th century. Ho Chi Minh, influenced by communist ideology, had previously worked with American operatives during World War II but found himself opposing French efforts to re-establish colonial authority after the war. The U.S. involvement in Vietnam intensified as the Cold War narrative framed the struggle against communism, leading to increased support for the South Vietnamese government. This intricate background set the stage for further conflict, as hostilities would eventually escalate, leading to the full-scale Vietnam War.
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French Phase of Vietnam War Begins
French Phase of Vietnam War Begins
The first stage of the Vietnam War, between Vietnamese rebels and the French colonial authorities, began on December 19, 1946, when communist rebel leader Ho Chi Minh launched attacks against French forces. Years of guerrilla warfare followed in which the French were eventually defeated, but their withdrawal did not end the war, since the United Stated decided to enter the conflict in the name of its ongoing Cold War struggle against communism.
The modern-day nation of Vietnam lies along the coast of Indochina in Southeast Asia. It is not a large nation, but its ocean-front location and abundance of fertile land has enabled it to support a substantial population which has grown to approximately 80 million. The capital is Hanoi, with more than 1 million inhabitants, and the largest city is Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) with some 3 million people. China, which borders Vietnam to the north, tried but failed to conquer the region prior to the arrival of European colonial powers. During the 19th century France dominated the region, taking southern Vietnam in the 1860s and northern Vietnam in the 1880s. Together with what are now the neighboring nations of Cambodia and Laos, the area became known as French Indochina.
In the 1920s various independence movements began to arise, the most important of which was headed by Nguyen Tat Thanh, who adopted the name Ho Chi Minh. Ho had been trained in communist doctrine and revolutionary tactics in Moscow, Russia, but ironically, given the evolution of the war in future decades, he was a great admirer of the United States. He quoted the American Declaration of Independence frequently in his appeals for Vietnamese freedom and worked with American intelligence operatives during World War II when Vietnam was invaded and occupied by the Japanese. After the war, however, the French returned and attempted to resume their former colonial authority.
Ho and his organization, the Viet Minh, or League for the Independence of Vietnam, sought negotiations with France but the French were uncooperative. Therefore, Ho's forces began a series of military campaigns and attacked French forces beginning on December 19, 1946. Although the French drove the rebels from the cities, the Viet Minh began a protracted guerrilla campaign. Realizing that neither the United States nor the powers of Western Europe would support a war to stifle a movement for Vietnamese independence, French leaders decided to transform the image of their military efforts into a fight against communism. They were successful, and the United States came to endorse the domino theory, a doctrine that set forth that, if the communists were victorious in South Vietnam, all of Southeast Asia would fall to the enemy.
After the French set up a quasi-independent government in 1949 headed by their former puppet emperor Bao Dai, the Americans believed that the new French-supported Vietnamese government was a bulwark against communism. Thus, on February 7, 1950, the United States not only recognized the Bao Dai government but also provided some $2.6 billion to assist France in Vietnam over the next four years. Despite this aid and their enormous military commitment, the French were unable to put down the revolution. In the spring of 1954 France committed its best troops to the defense of the fortress of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam's northern province of Tonkin, hoping to lure the Viet Minh into a trap, but the rebels besieged Dien Bien Phu and captured it on May 7, 1954.
The fall of Dien Bien Phu marked the end of French military efforts in Vietnam. The Geneva armistice and agreements of July 20– 21, 1954, provided for a cease-fire in Vietnam and partitioned the nation at the 17th Parallel into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Ho and the communists were given control of the North and the government of Bao Dai was recognized in the South. However, the South reneged on an agreement to hold free elections to decide the question of Vietnamese unification. Guerrilla warfare resumed, this time against the forces of the South, and despite growing military and economic assistance from the United States, insurgents known as the Viet Cong came to dominate most of the countryside. By the early 1960s, with the South on the verge of collapse, American military participation escalated dramatically. Ho's forces would emerge victorious after over a decade of bloody struggle both on the battlefield and in the international political arena.