Conflict in Indochina 1954-79 Notes

Resource Description

Conflict in Indochina 1954-79 Notes by C.M

Decolonisation in Indochina

Conflict in Vietnam 1946-54

• France took over Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) in the 1800s -> economic benefits and prestige.
• 1945: Ho Chi Minh (head of Vietminh—communist nationalist movement) seized power and declared the birth of the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). This wasn’t recognised by France or the US.
• Ho: ‘[the] Vietnamese people… are determined to fight to the bitter end against any attempt by the French colonialists to reconquer their country.’
• 1945-46: French reoccupied parts of Vietnam, agreement was signed, this didn’t last and French proclaimed colony of Cochin-China (southern Vietnam).
• French bombed port of Haiphong -> 6000 deaths, Vietminh attacked European districts of Hanoi -> killed dozens.
• 1947: First Indochina War broke out.
• Communist China and Russia supported Vietminh through weapons, equipment, etc.
• US supported France -> containment.

Nature of Vietnamese victory against the French in 1954

• Vietminh fought guerrilla war with peasant support, also received aid from USSR and China.
• French relied on US aid.
• Vietminh opened the Ho Chi Minh Trail—a series of trails along the Vietnam border in Laos and Cambodia -> moved troops and supplies into the south.
• Dien Bien Phu, 1954: Vietnamese defeated France in a conventional battle in the mountainous region, where the US chose not to support the French.
• Significance of the Geneva Conference for Indochina in July 1954
• Chaired by Britain, USSR, France, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, US -> Geneva Accords
• Ended conflict in a ceasefire.
• France had to leave Vietnam -> lost colonial prestige.
• Vietnam split into two by DMZ—communist North and nationalist dictatorship South.
• Laos and Cambodia officially recognised as independent and neutral.
• 900,000+ refugees relocating between North and South.
• Elections to be held in 1956 to decide if South wanted unity with North.
• US saw defeat as a setback to containment.