Dien Bien Phu
Introduction
Following the official surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, the Allied powers began occupying the war torn nations of Asia and the Pacific Rim. Among these countries were those in Indochina. In Vietnam as Japanese occupiers stepped aside, southern portions of the state were occupied first by the British and within a few months, by troops of the new French Fourth Republic (1946-1959). It seemed natural since Free French forces had supported the British and Americans in World War II (WWII) and Indochina had been a French colony since the 1880s.
However, no one had asked the indigenous forces of charismatic leader Ho Chi Minh. Thousands of Viet Minh troops, led by General Vo Nguyen Giap, had spent the previous four years fighting a bloody insurgency war with the Japanese. What is more they had been winning the conflict in spite of receiving precious little materiel support from the Allies, short of what was conjured up by a handful of Organization of Strategic Services (OSS) agents. Initially, Ho believed that since some Americans had helped him, that all the Allies might be supportive of an independent Vietnam. Soon after the Japanese surrender, Ho and his followers, who controlled northern Vietnam, held an Independence Day celebration. Not yet having a national flag, they decided to raise a U.S. flag which one of the OSS agents had. This was the high point of Vietnamese-Western cooperation.
During WWII, this alliance had been fervent and sincere. In hindsight larger geopolitical considerations would render it short-lived. But, for that one brief moment U.S. agents and the Viet Minh shared a common righteousness and a common enemy. Ho’s mix of nationalism and Marxism appeared the best way to defeat the Japanese and Vichy French fascists. Inside Franklin D. Roosevelt’s White House advisers embraced the President’s enthusiasm for bringing an end to colonialism. This was particularly true in Indochina where the French colonial
Following the official surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, the Allied powers began occupying the war torn nations of Asia and the Pacific Rim. Among these countries were those in Indochina. In Vietnam as Japanese occupiers stepped aside, southern portions of the state were occupied first by the British and within a few months, by troops of the new French Fourth Republic (1946-1959). It seemed natural since Free French forces had supported the British and Americans in World War II (WWII) and Indochina had been a French colony since the 1880s.
However, no one had asked the indigenous forces of charismatic leader Ho Chi Minh. Thousands of Viet Minh troops, led by General Vo Nguyen Giap, had spent the previous four years fighting a bloody insurgency war with the Japanese. What is more they had been winning the conflict in spite of receiving precious little materiel support from the Allies, short of what was conjured up by a handful of Organization of Strategic Services (OSS) agents. Initially, Ho believed that since some Americans had helped him, that all the Allies might be supportive of an independent Vietnam. Soon after the Japanese surrender, Ho and his followers, who controlled northern Vietnam, held an Independence Day celebration. Not yet having a national flag, they decided to raise a U.S. flag which one of the OSS agents had. This was the high point of Vietnamese-Western cooperation.
During WWII, this alliance had been fervent and sincere. In hindsight larger geopolitical considerations would render it short-lived. But, for that one brief moment U.S. agents and the Viet Minh shared a common righteousness and a common enemy. Ho’s mix of nationalism and Marxism appeared the best way to defeat the Japanese and Vichy French fascists. Inside Franklin D. Roosevelt’s White House advisers embraced the President’s enthusiasm for bringing an end to colonialism. This was particularly true in Indochina where the French colonial