The resistance against French rule was launched by Ho Chi Minh, a communist who had benefitted from French assimilation. Ho Chi Minh founded the Communist Party of Vietnam, and began his work, but he was forced to flee when the Japanese began to occupy Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, upon his return to Vietnam, formed a guerilla group called the Viet Minh to fight occupation. Eventually, the Viet Minh became a large and effective army that made the war a difficult fight. To gain aid in the war effort, France reworked the Indochina War as a war on communism, not a war to maintain the French Empire. This new image resulted in the United States aiding the French, since the United States Cold War policies trumped their anti-imperialist beliefs. Even the American assistance was not enough to prevent the French's defeat. The French army was defeated at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. The peace treaty that officially ended the war was signed at Geneva. The French were removed from Indochina and Vietnam was split into the communist north and the independent south; the two separate entities were to be reunited in 1956, but this did not occur as
The resistance against French rule was launched by Ho Chi Minh, a communist who had benefitted from French assimilation. Ho Chi Minh founded the Communist Party of Vietnam, and began his work, but he was forced to flee when the Japanese began to occupy Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, upon his return to Vietnam, formed a guerilla group called the Viet Minh to fight occupation. Eventually, the Viet Minh became a large and effective army that made the war a difficult fight. To gain aid in the war effort, France reworked the Indochina War as a war on communism, not a war to maintain the French Empire. This new image resulted in the United States aiding the French, since the United States Cold War policies trumped their anti-imperialist beliefs. Even the American assistance was not enough to prevent the French's defeat. The French army was defeated at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. The peace treaty that officially ended the war was signed at Geneva. The French were removed from Indochina and Vietnam was split into the communist north and the independent south; the two separate entities were to be reunited in 1956, but this did not occur as