I.

Introduction

First Indochina War, armed conflict fought in Vietnam from 1946 to 1954 between the military forces of France and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), led by Ho Chi Minh. Also known as the Franco-Viet Minh War, it took place because of the failure of the two governments to reach a compromise agreement on France’s role in Indochina after World War II (1939-1945). By 1950 the war became entwined with the Cold War when the new Communist government in China began to support the DRV, while the United States, fearful of the spread of Communism in Asia, provided military support to the French.

II.

Origins of the War

In the latter half of the 19th century, France conquered Vietnam and neighboring Laos and Cambodia. In 1887 France combined its territories in Vietnam and Cambodia to create a colony known as French Indochina. (Laos was incorporated into French Indochina in 1893.) Nationalist movements seeking to overthrow the French soon began to emerge in Vietnam, but they lacked focus and coherence and were easily suppressed by colonial authorities. Among the nationalist movements, the most effective was the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP), founded in 1930 by the Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh. When Japanese military forces occupied Indochina during World War II, the ICP took advantage of the turmoil caused by the power struggle between French and Japanese administrations to create a broad nationalist alliance called the Viet Minh. The group’s goal was to seek independence for Vietnam at the end of the war.

When Japan surrendered to the Allies in August 1945, Viet Minh forces occupied northern Vietnam and founded the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), which had its capital at Hanoi. Shortly afterward, liberated French troops reoccupied territory in the south and threatened to invade the north as well. Negotiations led to an agreement under which the French government secured the right to post a military presence in the north in return for recognizing the DRV as a free state within a French federation. Neither side was happy with the arrangement, however, and after French troops arrived in the north, talks on the future of Vietnamese independence resumed. On December 19, 1946, after lengthy negotiations failed to reach a compromise, Viet Minh units attacked French installations throughout northern Vietnam. The First Indochina War had begun.

III.

Course of the War

The well-armed forces fighting for the French included members of the French foreign legion, units drawn from France’s colonies in Africa, and Vietnamese allies of the French, in addition to the all-volunteer French army. Lacking the firepower of the French, DRV leaders adopted the strategy of “people’s war” borrowed from Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong. During the first stage, Viet Minh units retreated into the mountains north of the Red River delta to organize guerrilla forces and seek broad support from the population. Once the Viet Minh achieved military equilibrium with the enemy, they began to launch attacks on French posts in vulnerable areas. The Viet Minh hoped then to complete their victory with a major counteroffensive against French-held areas in the lowlands and along the coast.

At first, the war went according to Ho Chi Minh’s plan. Viet Minh forces successfully evaded French assaults, and Mao Zedong's new government in China strengthened Ho’s forces with growing military assistance. Meanwhile, to obtain U.S. support and gain approval among the local population, the French established an autonomous Vietnamese government led by former emperor Bao Dai in 1949. Bao Dai agreed to cooperate with France to defeat the Communist-led Viet Minh. In 1950 Ho’s chief strategist, Vo Nguyen Giap, began to prepare a major campaign to seize the Red River delta and drive the French to their knees. But Giap miscalculated. French troops, armed with military equipment that had recently arrived from the United States, were able to blunt the offensive and drive the Viet Minh back into the mountains.

For the remainder of the war, Viet Minh strategists concentrated on attacking vulnerable French outposts throughout Indochina, while avoiding direct confrontation on an open battlefield. Lacking the military strength to defeat the enemy, Ho Chi Minh counted on the French public growing weary with the war effort and on increasing support for his movement among the Vietnamese people. In early 1954, with the conflict at a stalemate, France agreed to open negotiations on a cease-fire later that spring in Geneva, Switzerland. Seizing the opportunity, Ho Chi Minh and his colleagues decided to attack an isolated French military post at Dien Bien Phu in mountainous northwest Vietnam. They hoped that a decisive victory on the battlefield would strengthen their position as peace talks opened. Dien Bien Phu fell to a concerted Viet Minh assault on May 7, one day before the opening of talks at Geneva.

IV.

Peace Talks

The humiliating defeat at Dien Bien Phu disheartened France, and after intense discussions French negotiators agreed to withdraw their troops from Vietnam. The resulting agreement, known as the Geneva Accords, temporarily divided Vietnam into two separate cease-fire zones, roughly representing the positions of the two sides in the war. The supporters of the DRV were to assemble in the north, and non-Communist elements were to unite under Bao Dai in the south. The country was to be unified after national elections, scheduled for 1956. The accords also established independent non-Communist governments in neighboring Laos and Cambodia. Some of Ho Chi Minh’s colleagues were reluctant to accept a compromise peace, but the DRV was under intense pressure from its allies in China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to reach an agreement. These governments feared, as did Ho, that prolonging the war would provoke the United States to become directly involved in the conflict.

V.

The War in Retrospect

Negotiators at Geneva had hoped that the compromise peace would lead to a political solution in Vietnam and would prevent any future Cold War confrontation in the area. Many people in Vietnam and France undoubtedly welcomed the accords, for both countries had endured heavy losses in the conflict. The forces fighting for France lost at least 30,000 people, while Vietnam suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties. Unfortunately, the agreement was never fully implemented. The new government in the south, led by Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem, refused to hold national elections on the grounds that a free vote was impossible under the Communist government in the north. The United States encouraged this violation of the accords, supporting the development of an independent South Vietnam in order to resist the further spread of Communism in Southeast Asia.

The failure of the Geneva Accords to resolve the future of Vietnam set the stage for a Second Indochina War (also known as the Vietnam War), which proved to be even more destructive than the first. Deprived of its expectation that peace would lead to unification under Communist rule, the DRV began in 1959 to support dissident elements in South Vietnam. DRV leaders hoped that the conflict would topple the southern government in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and bring about national unity on their terms. The war escalated when the United States dispatched combat troops to prevent a collapse of the Saigon regime in 1965, and North Vietnamese leaders countered by sending their own forces south to take part in the fighting. The Vietnam War lasted until 1975. The following year North and South Vietnam were reunified under a Communist government.