Key learning objective
- Students should be able to explain post-War opposition to French Rule
Key processes to be learned and understood
- The origins of the First Indochina War, especially the aims of the Vietminh
- The tactics of General Giap
- the search for a diplomatic solution
- The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu and its immediate consequences
Key events
- 1862: Vietnam became part of the French Empire
- 1890: Ho Chi Minh was born
- 1930: Ho Chi Minh helped to form the Indo-Chinese Communist Party
- 1941: Vietminh formed to counter Japanese invasion of Vietnam
- 1945: Japan handed Vietnam to the Vietminh; Ho Chi Minh declared the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (September); French troops arrived back in Vietnam - 1946: war broke out between the French and the Vietminh
- 1949: Communist China came into being allowing the Vietminh to train in
China away from French attacks - 1950: Truman refused to recognise the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
Communist China andUSSR did recognise Ho’s state - 1954: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu – Giap defeated the French force based there; a ceasefire was agreed at Geneva that split Vietnam at the 17th Parallel; France withdrew her military from Vietnam; US promises aid worth $100 million to the anti-communist Diem
Reading
- Simkin, Vietnam, pp.
History channel documentary
Battle of Dien Bien Phu in context
US Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles on the fall of Dien Bien Phu
RGS History 