The Great Downfall During The First Indochina War

First, communication – the French influence is readily observable in the Vietnamese communication patterns and use of language (Lewis, R. D.). “Facial expression is much more evident than in [other countries], and some body languages reminiscent of the French is to be seen. Emotional factors can be used in argument. Good education and a high rate of literacy lends people confidence in communication. The literary tradition is strong particularly in poetry (Lewis, R. D.).” Next, behavior at meetings and negotiations – “in essence the style is a combination of French rationality and Vietnamese tenacity. Though basically courteous, negotiations are cautious and give little away. Bureaucracy is, however, still tortuous and corrupt, according to most standards (Lewis, R. D.).” Third, the French introduced many materialistic things such as “Western values of individual freedom and sexual quality, which undermined the traditional Vietnamese social system. In urban areas, Western patterns of social behavior became increasingly common, especially among educated and wealthy Vietnamese attended French schools, read French books, replaced traditional attire with Western-style clothing, and drank French wines instead of the traditional wine distilled from rice. Adolescents began to resist the tradition of arranged marriages, and women chafed under social mores that demanded obedience

The pacific war ended in august 1945 and by the 20th of August Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh took control of the government buildings. This was due to the fact that there was a French absence in the colony. The ‘August revolution’ spread across Vietnam and Viet Minh groups’ accessed control of all

The Battle of Bien Dien Phu was the first crucial engagement in the first Indochina War. It took place in March 13, 1954 - May 7, 1954. This battle was a symbolic turning point in Indochina. The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was fought between French forces and the Viet Minh communists. The French wanted to convert Vietnam as one of their colonies, but on the other hand, Vietnam wanted their independence. After the French forces took over the Dien Bien Phu valley in late 1953, Viet Minh commander, Vo Nguyen, deported and placed heavy artillery. The Viet Minh soldiers set up the artillery in caves of mountains overlooking the French camp, to break the French lines. When the French were defeated, there was a formal negotiation.

When, on August 25, Bao Dai, the puppet emperor of the Japanese, abdicated, Ho proclaimed independence for the new “Republic of Vietnam” and looked to America for support and to recognize his government. He was inspired by America’s history – their revolutionary war – and because of the promises they had delivered after being made in World War II. An example of this was the way that Ho used phrases from the US Declaration of Independence in his speech on 2 September 1945, during the Vietnam Declaration of Independence in Hanoi, as a gesture, to seek the support of the Americans.

How significant was the Tet Offensive in achieving a communist victory in Vietnam by 1975?

The Vietnamese victory against the French at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 brought about dramatic changes to Indochina. These changes took place in the Geneva Conference which shortly happened after the battle of Dien Bien Phu. General Vo Nguyen Giap and Ho Chi Minh who were the Vietminh’s leader had only one goal and that was to unify Vietnam and declare independence from colonial rule but however their goals were not achieved at the end of the Geneva Conference due to a number of reasons.

French who still wanted to keep hold of Vietnam as it was very rich in

Ho Chi Minh used the analogy of “the elephant and the tiger” frequently during his presidency. Minh applied this theory to the war between the Vietnamese and French, claiming that the French were the elephants and the Vietminh troops were tigers, reinforcing the guerrilla warfare tactics that the Vietminh used to great success. Minh stated that time and resources were not of issue, the war was a fight for nationalism and self-determination, regardless of the duration of the war or the amount of troops and resources lost, the Vietnamese would come out as victors. Ho Chi Minh said at a speech in Paris in 1946 “you can kill 10 of our men for every one we kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and we will win” and “we have a secret weapon, don’t smile when I tell you this, our secret weapon is nationalism” which emphasizes the desire and desperation the North Vietnam were willing to go to in order to self-determine. The battle at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 was the culmination of the First Indochina War and as a result of North Vietnam’s victory, French forces left and a sense of nationalism was prevalent. The Vietnamese were at war with the French due to the Communist forces in the North of Vietnam desiring the expulsion of French forces and colonisation to promote nationalism and self-determination. In March 1954, General Giap, the principal commander of the Vietminh army at the time, ordered a siege against

David Mar in the, Vietnam 1945 The Quest for Power, explained how significant this year was for the Vietnamese, while the French, Japanese, Chinese, British, and Americans fought for control over Indochina. The Vietnamese quickly discovered they could publish, organize, and demonstrate in favor of a national independence, as long as they did not hinder Japanese defense preparations. As a result of the multiple countries trying to gain control of Vietnam, Vietnam went from a colonial state, a royal government to a democratic republic. By the end of 1945, these political convolutions finally became things of the past. For eighty years, the French worked to seemingly transform Vietnam into a Paris-replica, calling it Indochina and taking advantage of all its peoples and resources. Ho Chi Minh declared himself president on September 2 and announced the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Marr, 1997). Once Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence, he called on the allies to recognize the Vietnamese people’s rights to independence and to be a liberated country. However, not long after Vietnam gained their independence did the United States declare war.

The history of recent years in the Indochina conflict has been an eventful one. It will exhibit to the eyes of the future student some of the most remarkable instances of a ruthlessness and indifference to common humanity. Moreover, it will, I believe, demonstrate that North Vietnam has, for a long time, steadily pursued a communist regime which was deliberately designed to produce a subjugation of other countries by the threat of communism.

Huong briefly talks about the French colonialism of Vietnam. Which I found to be interesting and now understand her point in doing this. This points out that Vietnam had been fighting one power or another for nearly 30 years. For generations Vietnam had been under siege and occupied by outsiders. Cultivating a country of mistrust of foreigners and a hatred towards them. Killing generations of young men and terrorizing a civilian population caught in the middle. Galvanizing a country and its culture in a us against the world mentality. In reality the Vietnam war was just a proxy war of U.S.S.R versus the U.S.A. in which the Vietnam people were used as pawns in a bigger game. This was the first war of great media coverage and carnage of war was available for all to see every night on

This report mainly focuses on aspects involving foreign nations. Vietnam predominantly were pessimistic due to their northern neighbors, China. During the Vietnam War,

One of the key points that the war experts in this period did not measure is why France was defeated so significantly. What was the crucial advantage that Minh`s small army had? The Vietnam conflict can be reviewed like unconventional and insurgency war.

To justify the French conquest over Indochina, the French claimed that they were conducting a “civilizing mission” in Indochina, “France would introduce the fruit of the Western civilization—democratic institutions, capitalist economies, modern technology, and French culture—to its subject peoples in Indochina, thus enabling them to complete in a social-Darwinist world of ‘survival of the fittest’” (Duiker 11). In actuality, the French wanted to establish a solid base in Southeast Asian in order to compete economically and militarily with other nations such as Great Britain and the United States, who controlled respectively, India and Guam, “The original impulse for French expansion into the

Profit gains acted as the main factor triggering French colonization of Indochina to be in their presence. The French companies and the colonial officials engaged in the transformation of the Vietnam subsistence economy to a system that is proto-capitalist on the bases of low wages and exports, increased production, and land ownership (Kolko 7). Thus, the Vietnamese never worked for their profits, but for the benefit of the colonies of the French.