Relation of the first Indochina War to the American War

The so called first Indochina war was fought between the Vietminh
(Vietnamese Nationalists lead by Ho chi minh) and the French
following the end of WWII. The war lasted from19 December 1946
until 1 August 1954.
Note: The Quiet American is set around this time.
Negotiations between France and the Vit Minh started in Geneva in
April 1954 at the Geneva Conference, even as the French Union and
the Vit Minh were fighting what would become the final battle at
Dien Bien Phu (which the Vietminh win).
The war ended with the Geneva Conference on July 21, 1954, where
colonial rule of France in Vietnam was ended and Indochina was
split up. The former states of Tonkin, Annam and Cochin China
became North and South Vietnam, as split by the 17th parallel
(called the "provisional military demarcation line" by the UN). North
Vietnam went under the control of the Vietminh and South Vietnam
became a non-communist state under Prime Minister Ngo Dinh
Diem. Laos and Cambodia were also made into individual countries.
The Geneva Accords also promised elections in 1956 to determine a
national government for a united Vietnam.
The French had accepted the proposal of the Viet Minh, who
proposed that Vietnam would be united by elections under the
supervision of "local commissions". The United States, supported by
South Vietnam and the United Kingdom, had counter proposed with
what became known as the "American Plan," where unification
elections would be supervised by the United Nations, but this was
rejected by the Soviet Union delegation.
These Vietnamese unification elections never took place (The
Vietminh and United States blamed each other for this).
Ngo Dinh Dim, supported by the Americans, began an anticommunist campaign and, in 1955, removed the former (French)
Emperor and declared himself president of the Republic of Vietnam
(South Vietnam) in a referendum that was said to be rigged. Two
years later, remaining Vietminh groups in South Vietnam started to
fight Diems government in guerilla warfare, while the Vietminh
government in North Vietnam, supported by China, was pressured
for help. Eventually, the Vietminh invaded and occupied portions of
Andy You

Laos, also sending military supplies to the south to assist what

became the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (also known
as the Viet Cong). This gradually escalated into the Second
Indochina War, more commonly known as the Vietnam War in the
West and the American War in Vietnam.

Andy You