The First Indochina War Overview

The First Indochina War lasted from November 1946, with the French attacks on Haiphong
and lasted until July 1954, and the partitioning of Vietnam at the Geneva Conference.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt favored self-determination for the Vietnamese and the other
countries of French Indochina. He intended to establish an international trusteeship over
Indochina at the end of World War II. FDR proposed that China and the Soviet Union be
trustees along with the United States to prepare the Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, and
Thais for democratic self-rule. When Roosevelt died, Harry Truman became President.
Truman was a virulent anti-communist who did not trust the Soviet Union. Rather than
partner with the Soviets after the war, Truman believed that the United States should confront
their attempts to expand communism at all points. Truman favored allowing the French to
reestablish colonial rule in Indochina.
At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff decided that
Indochina south of the 16th parallel would surrender to the British Southeast Asia Command,
and north of the parallel to the Chinese Nationalist Army.
On September 2, 1945, the day the Empire of Japan officially surrendered, Ho Chi Minh
declared independence for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. His declaration was modeled
on Jefferson's Declaration of Independence in 1776. The Vietnamese declaration began,
''We hold the truth that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.''
 Ngyuen Ai Quoc, later Ho Chi Minh, wrote Vietnamese declaration of independence

The Chinese accepted Ho Chi Minh's declaration and the Vietnamese government that was
already actually functioning in Hanoi, but the British refused to recognize the Hanoi
government because of Ho Chi Minh's communist affiliations and declared martial law.
French military forces, aided by the British, entered Saigon with plans to occupy the country
to restore French colonial rule.

French Indochina War Background and Context.

From the 16th century to the mid-20th century, Southeast Asia was subjected to colonialism.
Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, The Netherlands, and France all imposed colonial regimes
upon countries in Southeast Asia.

The French Invasion of Vietnam

The initial French contact with the indigenous people of Indochina was through Catholic
missionaries sent to Vietnam. As resistance to missionaries grew in Vietnam, Napoleon III
sent French troops to Tourane (present-day Da Nang) and Saigon in 1857. Napoleon's purpose
was to protect the missionaries as they carried out their mission of proselytizing and
''civilizing'' the indigenous population. The French also set up a trading base at Tourane.

Naploeon III sent French military to Vietnam to protect French missionaries, which led
to colonialization of Vietnam

For the next three decades, through military campaigns and treaty-making, the French fully
occupied Vietnam and Cambodia in 1887, Laos in 1893, and designated the region as French
Indochina.

French Indochina and World War Two.

When Nazi Germany defeated France in 1940, Japan demanded access to Vietnam for the
purpose of establishing military bases there. The Japanese used the French colonizers as a
puppet government until March 1945 when they took direct control of governing Indochina,
which lasted until the Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945.

First Indochina War: History and Timeline

When FDR died in April 1945 the prospect of an independent Vietnam died with him. The
international trusteeship of China, the Soviet Union, and the United States overseeing the
development of the Republic of Vietnam envisioned by President Roosevelt never happened
due to President Truman's distrust of the Soviet Union and his policy of the containment of
communism.
With the surrender of Japan, the Chinese Nationalist Army took control of Vietnam north of
the 16th parallel, and the British Army south of it. When Ho Chi Minh declared the creation
of an independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945, the British
declared martial law in their administrative sphere. The British allowed the French to insert
military forces into Saigon.

 Early 1946, the French military occupied the port of Haiphong.

 November 1946, the French subject Haiphong to naval and artillery bombardment,
killing 6,000 civilians.
 December 1946, the Viet Minh and French military engage in combat in Hanoi.
 1947 to 1949, the French attempt to engage the Viet Minh in battles in which the
French can bring their superior firepower to their advantage, but the Viet Minh engage
in guerilla warfare, avoiding any major engagements with the French army.
 1948, French enlist the former emperor Bao Dai to head a puppet regime in Vietnam

Bap Dai installed as emperor by Elysee Agreement

The Establishment of the State of Vietnam

In establishing the State of Vietnam, the French were confronted with a problem. If they aided
Bao Dai in building a strong military with which to fight the communist Viet Minh, the
French faced the possibility that the Vietnam army they created would turn against them in
order to rid Vietnam of French colonizers.
  1949, the Elysee Accords are signed in which the French create an ''associated state''
of Vietnam within the French colonial empire with Bao Dai as its head and recognize
its ''independence.'' The Bao Dai regime was purely a French creation with little power
over its foreign and defense affairs. This state is denounced by the Viet Minh as
representative of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. However, the Elysee
Agreement moves the United States to move from neutrality in the First Indochina
War to support of Bao Dai.
 1950, with the victory of the Chinese Communists and the creation of the People's
Republic of China in 1949, Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh gain an important ally.
They reorganize the guerilla forces of the Viet Minh into regular army units. The
Democratic Republic of Vietnam is recognized by the Soviet Union and China. The
French-controlled State of Vietnam is recognized by the United States as the Korean
War creates U.S. fears of communist takeovers in Asia. President Truman sends
the Military Assistance Advisory Group to Vietnam.

French Offensive
In 1951, the French re-establish a defensive line from Hanoi to the Tonkin Gulf to control the
Red River Delta, and in a six-month period from January to June have some success against
the Viet Minh, which nevertheless does not result in any appreciable military advantage.

 1951-1953, the war between the French and the Viet Minh reaches a kind of
equilibrium.
 In late 1953, the Viet Minh invades Laos and attacks French forces there.
 The French halt effort to track down and attack Viet Minh forces and begin to
construct strategic points of defense which one French general described as
''hedgehogs.' One of these hedgehogs, built at a place called Dien Bien Phu, located
between Hanoi and the Laotian border, would serve as a fortified base for the French
military to block the movement of troops and supplies into Laos.

Dien Bien Phu

Vietnamese General Giap concentrated large numbers of artillery pieces to the Dien Bien Phu
area. On March 13, 1954, the Viet Minh launched a massive artillery attack on the French
destroying both airfields which were used to supply the base. In subsequent days, the Viet
Minh cut the only road with which the French could supply Dien Bien Phu thus completely
isolating the garrison there. The Viet Minh began a siege, conducting daily rocket attacks
against the French base.

 April 26, 1954, the Geneva Convention opens to negotiate an end to the war. The Viet
Minh does not attend.
 May 4, 1954, the French attempt an unsuccessful counterattack to break the siege, in
order to bolster their negotiating position.
 May 6, 1954, the Viet Minh respond by a full-frontal attack against the French base.
 May 7, 1954, the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu surrenders.
 Viet Minh soldiers raise a flag at Dien Bien Phu after French surrender

First Indochina War Aftermath

The French surrender at Dien Bien Phu was the last large military engagement of the First
Indochina War. However, another significant engagement took place as the French Group
Mobile 100 was ambushed by Viet Minh forces as the French abandoned their base at An
Khe. In a series of confrontations that lasted from late June to mid-July, later called the Battle
of Mang Yang Pass, the Viet Minh destroyed the French unit.

The Geneva Conference

On April 26, 1954, the Geneva Conference began. Its purpose was to negotiate terms related
to the Korean War which had ended a year earlier, and the Indochina War between the
French and the Vietnamese. The Korean negotiations between North and South Korea, the
Soviet Union, China, and the United States reached no conclusion.
Negotiators from France, the Viet Minh, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, and
the United States focused upon the war in Indochina. The Viet Minh negotiators did not arrive
at the conference until May 8, 1954, one day after the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu.
All the countries at the conference had different objectives.
  The French wanted to somehow hold onto their colony
 The Viet Minh wanted the French gone, and the independent Democratic Republic of
Vietnam.
 The British wanted a negotiated settlement.
 The United States wanted an unconditional surrender of Viet Minh forces but refused
to get militarily involved.
 China and the Soviet Union wanted an end to the war which would leave communists
in power in Vietnam.

Geneva Conference 1954 ended the First Indochina War

On July 21, 1954, the Geneva Conference announced the following provisions,

 Established a ceasefire between combatants.

o Set up the International Control Commission consisting of representatives from
Canada, Poland, and India to monitor the ceasefire.
 Split the country of Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel
o Established a demilitarized zone 3 miles on either side of the 17th parallel
demarcation line.
o French forces were to move south of that line, Viet Minh forces to the north.
 Neither the north zone controlled by the Viet Minh, nor the south zone controlled by
the French could form any military alliances.
 For 300 days, Vietnamese citizens would be allowed to relocate either in the north or
the south as they wished.
 In 1956, a free election would be held, monitored by an international commission, to
determine the government of Vietnam.

The Geneva Conference document was signed by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam,
France, China, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. The State of Vietnam rejected the
agreement and the United States merely ''took note'' of the ceasefire and pledged to refrain
from any use of force or threat of force to support the ceasefire.
Partitioning of Vietnam
The main outcome of the Conference was splitting Vietnam in half. Ho Chi Minh's negotiator
Pham Van Dong, despite the military victory over the French, could not convince other
countries at the Geneva Conference to form the unified Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh won the First Indochina War but did not achieve his goal of Vietnamese
independence

Ho Chi Minh had been fighting for a decade for an independent Vietnam. But the only
positive outcome of the Geneva Conference came in Article 6.
"The Conference recognizes that the essential purpose of the agreement relating to Vietnam is
to settle military questions with a view to ending hostilities and that the military demarcation
line is provisional and should not in any way be interpreted as constituting a political or
territorial boundary."
The partitioning of Vietnam became permanent when the Republic of Vietnam (South
Vietnam) refused to participate in the general elections scheduled by the Geneva Conference
for 1956.

American Presence
The French puppet Bao Dai appointed Ngo Dinh Diem Premier in 1954. In 1955, Diem called
for a referendum. As a result of the referendum, Bao Dai was removed as emperor, and Diem
was appointed President of the Republic of Vietnam. Diem, a Catholic, received support from
the American CIA during Operation Passage to Freedom, the free movement of Vietnamese
north and south stipulated by the Geneva Conference, to encourage Catholics in the north to
move south.
In spite of President Eisenhower's reluctance to get involved in Asian military conflicts after
the Korean War, he sent another Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in November
1955 to train the Republic of Vietnam army. This initial military presence would grow over
the next 14 years peaking in 1969 with over 500,000 American troops in Vietnam. Over
a twenty-year period from 1955-1975 over three million American troops would be
deployed to Vietnam.

First Indochina War Significance

The First Indochina War was the beginning of a thirty-year war for independence
of Vietnam first from French and then American military occupation. It was also a part of
the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, which began after World
War II, as the two major victors of that war sought global dominance.

Lesson Summary
The First Indochina War lasted for nine years from 1946 to 1954. It began with
the French bombardment of Haiphong which resulted in 6,000 Vietnamese civilian deaths.
Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the communist Viet Minh, and the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam. The emperor Bao Dai, installed by the French with the Elysee Agreement, was the
leader of the anti-communist State of Vietnam. Both Bao Dai and Ho Chi Minh declared that
they were the true leaders of Vietnam.
The Elysee Agreement led the United States to move its position from that of neutrality in the
First Indochina War to one of support for Bao Dai.
The First Indochina War ended with the Geneva Conference in 1954. The provisions of the
Conference

 Divided Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel.

 Put an end to hostilities with a ceasefire officially ending the war.
 Established that a reunification election would be held in 1956.

Although the French were removed from Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh did not achieve his goal of
an independent Vietnam. That did not occur until 1975.

What were the key factors that led the United States to support Bao Dai's State of Vietnam rather than
remaining neutral?
A
The Elysee Agreement convinced the U.S. to support Bao Dai. The U.S. also wanted to
contain communism during the Cold War.
2/10
How did the partitioning of Vietnam at the 17th parallel after the Geneva Conference impact Ho Chi
Minh's goal of an independent Vietnam?
A
The partitioning went against Ho's goal of a unified, independent Vietnam under his
leadership. It led to a divided Vietnam for the next 20 years.
3/10
What were the differing objectives of the major powers at the Geneva Conference regarding the future
status of Vietnam?
A
The French wanted to maintain control, the Viet Minh wanted independence, the U.S.
wanted communist defeat, China/USSR wanted communist control, Britain wanted a
settlement.
4/10
How did the refusal to hold reunification elections in 1956 by South Vietnam impact the legacy of the
Geneva Conference?
A
It made the division of Vietnam permanent rather than temporary as intended by the
Geneva Conference.
5/10
What was the strategic significance of the French building a base at Dien Bien Phu?
A
It was an attempt to create a fortified position to block Viet Minh supply lines and
movement between Vietnam and Laos.
6/10
How did the Viet Minh's artillery assault on Dien Bien Phu demonstrate their military capability?
A
It showed their ability to concentrate firepower and cut off French supply lines, leading
to the French surrender.
7/10
What options did the U.S. have regarding Indochina policy after WWII, and why did they choose the
path they did?
A
The U.S. could have supported independence or trusteeships per FDR's vision, but anti-
communism led them to enable French colonialism.
8/10
How did the outcome of the First Indochina War set the stage for greater U.S. military involvement in
Vietnam over the next 20 years?
A
The U.S. supported South Vietnam after the Geneva Conference and sent advisors there,
which grew into large scale military intervention.
9/10
What impact did Chinese and Soviet support have on strengthening the Viet Minh's ability to defeat
the French?
A
 Their material support and recognition of Ho's regime boosted the Viet Minh's
transition into a trained regular army.
10/10
Why did the partitioning of Vietnam at Geneva not represent the military defeat of the French by Ho
Chi Minh’s Viet Minh forces?
A
Though the Viet Minh won militarily, international politics still denied Ho his ultimate
goal of immediate reunification and independence.