How the battle of Dien Bian Phu led to the decline of French Imperialism in Indochina.
...tnamese village life was disrupted as people moved to cities. French business men were minor civil servants in France, but living a life of opulence and self indulgence in Vietnam. Apart from a small army of Vietnamese domestic workers to manage the chores and prostitutes to provide the male administrators and the French army entertainment, the colonialists lived a carefree and gracious life. Education for Vietnamese was minimal, and health provision non existent. Opium addiction was introduced and encouraged, and provided a lucrative enterprise. The Indochinese people were defiantly seen to be inferior. Vietnamese citizens had many reasons for advocating a return to an independent and free Vietnam. Resistance to French rule in Indochina was based on the concept of nationalism 6. The French conquered Vietnam and made it a protectorate. The Vietnamese had a long history of rebellion and they made no exception in the case of French colonialism. Vietnamese resistance started as early as 1859 after the French had taken over Saigon. The Vietnamese had to take the rights steps toward independence. The people of Vietnam utilized the right tactics at the right times. The Vietnamese suffered much torture and confusion brought about from alienating countries. The Vietnamese resisted the French because they wanted to be free to make their own decision without the interference of an outside entity. The only reason why the resisting occurred was because the slavery and brutality the French were inflicting on the Vietnamese was intolerable. Vietnamese nationalism was an important factor in determining the Vietnamese people's motives for defending their country against the French and later the United States. Vietnamese people yearned for independence, even to the point of giving their lives for it. In 1885, the Vietnamese emperor, Han Nghi 7, began a revolt to rid his country of the French invaders. This was the first serious rebellion called the Scholars Revolt. They fought for a return to the traditional Vietnamese way of life 7. In the early 1900’s a nationalist leader, Phan Boi Chau, emerged. He formed Duy Tan Hoi (Reform Association), the first nationalist organisation in Vietnam. He organized several uprisings from his base in Canton until his betrayal and arrest in 1925. By 1920 a new urban class of educated young Vietnamese with idea from the west were becoming a serious threat to French control. Ho Chi Minh 8 was the most significant person in Vietnamese history. He was a Vietnamese Nationalist who was determined to regain his country’s independence at any cost. Ho Chi Minh’s chief political aim was the independence of Vietnam by the revolutionary action of the workers. He saw parallel’s between the Russian revolution and aspirations of Vietnamese nationalists. He believed his nation, provided they were well organised, could defeat the French capitalists via a Vietnamese worker revolution which also eliminate the French Government. In May 1941, he formed the Viet Nam Doc Lap Doung Minh (the Vietnamese independence League) better known as the Viet Minh 9. The Viet Minh pledged themselves to total struggle against the Japanese and the French. The Viet Minh were clearly communist. The outbreak of World War II brought vast political changes throughout Asia. It was an advantage to all those opposed to French rule in Indochina because the French would be putting all their army, resources and time into the War and it would give the natives time to claim back their land. At the conclusion of the war the Vietminh were gaining lots of support from the peasants, whom they had set out to convince that they knew their problems and also how to solve them. During the August Revolution 10, 1945, Ho Chi Minh demanded of Emperor Bao Dai that abdicate and let the Viet Minh form a government as they were the strongest nationalist group. Bao Dai agreed that the Viet Minh were in a strong position to achieve independence for Vietnam. On September 2nd 1945 Ho issued a Declaration of Independence for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam with himself as President 11. However, France was determined to return to Indochina and regain control of their colony and by the time of Ho’s declaration. In the aftermath of WW2 the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union dominated the politics of the world. These two nations had become the new superpowers with the communist Soviet Union heading an “Eastern Bloc” of countries and the capitalist United States heading a “Western bloc”. The conflict of the Eastern and Western Bloc’s became known as the Cold War. It centred on Europe but extended into the Asia Pacific region. Previously USA had been sympathetic to Vietnamese independence but with the Cold War beginning to gain definition and momentum, the USA now changed its mind as it began to see the Viet Minh as a possible satellite organization of the Soviet Union. In October 1949 the Chinese Communists defeated the Nationalists and proclaimed the Peoples Republic of China. The USA believed that the Soviet Union (USSR) was behind the Chinese communist success and now embarked on a proactive role in Vietnam in the form of direct support for the French 12. While these countries didn’t actually fight one another they did provide support to allies in the Korean War as well as the two Vietnam Wars. The arms race alliances, “containment”, the “Domino Theory”, the propaganda “war of words” and supporting prowess were some of the main forms of this ideological engagement that was to last from 1945-1990. The USA was convinced the Soviet Union controlled Ho and the Viet Minh. With the 1st Indochinese War dragging on and no clear victory for France, the USA was becoming more concerned about the spread of communism in Asia. They felt that if Indochina fell then a chain reaction would occur this they termed the Domino Theory. Dien Bien Phu was the battle to end the first Indochinese War which began in 1946. Beginning of summer 1953, Indo-China enters its 8th year of war. For more than 8 years the Vietminh has carried out a tough fight and endeavours to counter without truth the French expeditionary corps offensives. It must be noted that the enemy’s effort does not slacken. Its forces are stronger than they were at the beginning of the rebellion and better organized definitely. They move on the ground at the division level. Furthermore, Vietminh forces are animated by a fierce will to vanquish, helped in that by the population which, by constraint or by ideology, takes part in the war effort against the French. On March 15, 1954, the Vietminh under General Giap began an assault ...