First Indochina War (1946-1954)

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First Indochina War

The First Indochina War began in French Indochina on December 19, 1946, and lasted until July 20, 1954 and was fought between French forces and the Viet Minh. Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in northern Vietnam, although the conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia.

FIRST INDOCHINA WAR - Timeline

1600s – French Catholic missionaries arrive in the southern part of present-day Vietnam
1893 - France establishes the Indochinese Federation (French: Union indochinoise), more commonly known as French Indochina

Early 20th century - many clandestine Vietnamese nationalist groups form

World War II - Japanese forces occupy Indochina but allow the French to continue administering the colony

May 1941 - Ho Chi Minh organizes the Viet Minh, a communist militia aimed at ending both French and Japanese rule

August 15, 1945 - Japan announces its surrender in World War II, and the Viet Minh seizes power in Vietnam

September 2, 1945 - Ho proclaims Vietnam’s independence as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), which is ignored by the Allied Powers who decide that France would restore colonial rule in Indochina; the Allies also partition Vietnam into two zones north and south of the 16th parallel, with Chinese Nationalist forces occupying the northern zone and British forces administering the southern zone

September 1945 - The British cede administration of the southern zone to the French

February 1946 - Chinese Nationalists and French authorities sign an agreement, and the former withdraw from Vietnam

March 1946 - France and the DRV sign the Ho-Sainteny Agreement

July-August 1946 - Ho and French officials hold talks regarding Vietnam’s future, which go nowhere

September 1946 - tensions rise between the French and Viet Minh

November 1946 – French forces expel the Viet Minh from Haiphong

December 19, 1946 – Start of the battle for Hanoi, where after two months, French forces force the Viet Minh to withdraw to their traditional stronghold in the Viet Bac

October-November 1947 - French forces launch major operations in the Viet Bac

1948 - France realizes it can not anymore restore colonial rule in Indochina and opens talks with former Vietnamese emperor Bao Dai, which lead to the formation of the State of Vietnam

1950 – The conflict turns into a Cold War battleground between the United States and Soviet Union

January 1950 - China and the Soviet Union recognize the DRV, and begin delivering large quantities of military hardware that allows the Viet Minh to reorganize as a conventional army

February 1950 - The United States recognizes the French-backed State of Vietnam and begins delivering large quantities of military hardware to the French

September-October 1950 - The Viet Minh launches successful offensives in northern Vietnam

December 1950 and through 1951 - French authorities construct the De Lattre Line

1951 - The Viet Minh launches unsuccessful attacks on the De Lattre Line

1953 to January-March 1954 - French forces launch several successful offensives; in turn, the Viet Minh use effective guerilla tactics to force the French to abandon recently captured territory

March to May 1954 – The decisive Battle of Dien Bien Phu, where the Viet Minh deals a stunning defeat on the French

May 8, 1954 – Start of the Geneva Conference, where the United States, Soviet Union, Britain, China, and France, and the Indochina states: Cambodia, Laos, and the two rival Vietnamese states, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and State of Vietnam, try to work out a peace settlement for Indochina

July 21, 1954 – “Final Declaration of the Geneva Conference on the Problem of Restoring Peace in Indo-China” is signed; France and the DRV agree to a ceasefire; Vietnam is partitioned at the 17th parallel, with the northern zone allocated to the DRV and the southern zone to the State of Vietnam; French Indochina is dissolved and Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam gain their independences; a planned reunification elections for Vietnam ultimately is not held, and Vietnam remains partitioned; both the DRV in the north and the State of Vietnam in the south become de facto separate countries, both Cold War client states, with the former backed by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist countries, and the latter by the United States and other Western democracies

[eagleman]

I lived in Viet Nam for several years (long after the war) and saw many of the old French buildings/architecture; the history alone was enough to keep me fascinated. Thank you for your videos, I subscribed.

[parchee]

What's strange about the Vietnam War is that during World War II, Ho Chi Minh and Viet Minh and Allied Powers formed a tactical alliance against the Japanese.. The Americans provided Ho Chi Minh with intelligence information, while the U.S. military provided the Vietnamese fighters with training and some weapons.

Then after World War II, the U.S. even appeared opposed to restoring French rule in Indochina because Ho Chi Minh had been a U.S. ally in the war; pre-war French colonial rule had been repressive; and the United States was averse to colonialism. But with the restoration of French rule, the United States kept a hands-off policy in Indochina. But the rise of the Cold War in the 1940s changed U.S. policy toward Indochina and Asia.

[schoolssection]

I was (officially) not in Lao during 1972-73....and then returned as a tourist in about 2016. The overall. situation hadn't changed all that much - still very confusing (a public building flying the hammer and sickle next door to a small Christian church is an example. Of all the material I've read on the topic, this brief video history is head and shoulders above even the most scholarly for its directness and clarity. It is obviously anti -Vietminh, Pathet Lao and Vietnam - but then so am I. Well done!!

[johnpaulwebb]

During the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, France asked the U.S. for military assistance. The United States considered many options to relieve the trapped French forces - launching a massive aerial attack at the Viet Minh using 60 B-29 bombers and 150 fighter planes from the U.S. Seventh Fleet from the Philippines; becoming directly involved in the war by sending American troops; or even intervening with nuclear weapons. However, the United States stated that its becoming involved in the war was contingent on the support of its other allies, particularly Britain. But as this was not forthcoming, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower decided not to intervene.