We explain what the War of Indochina (1946-1954) was and who faced each other. In addition, its results and its relationship with the Vietnam War (1955-1975).
What was the Indochina War?
The War of Indochina (1946-1954) was a military conflict in which France faced the nationalist groups from the current countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodiawith the aim of recovering its colonial control over Indochina, its former colony.
During World War II, the region had been occupied by Japanese troops. In 1945, the Vietn Mihn (the league that grouped the main nationalist forces of Indochina) defeated the Japanese, and Vietnam declared their independence.
However, at the end of World War II, France wanted to recover its colonial control. In 1946, The French army bombed the village and the port of Haiphong and killed more than 6,000 civilians. In response, the Viet Mihn, directed by Ho Chi Mihn, began its attacks against French troops.
The military superiority of France, with its tanks and heavy weapons, was not adequate for the jungle field of Indochina. Over time, Ho Chi Minh’s troops managed to control rural areas and The French were held in the cities. France requested the assistance of the United States that, at that time, it already feared the progress of communism and had entered the Cold War.
Finally, France was defeated in 1954. At the Geneva Conference the authorities of France and Viet Minh agreed to withdraw the French troops, The Vietnam Division in Northern Vietnam and South Vietnam and the celebration of a popular referendum in 1958 to define the definitive reunification or partition of Vietnam. The result of the Indochina War and the signing of this agreement were two of the main causes of the Vietnam War (1955-1975).
See also: Decolonization in Asia
Background of the Indochina War
Since the nineteenth century, much of the territories of the Indochina Peninsula had been conquered by France and had become one of their main colonies. French Indochina understood the territories of the current Vietnam (the Tonkin, Annam and Cochinchina), Laos and Cambodia regions.
During World War II, Japan invaded Southeast Asia and took control of the territories of French Indochina. In 1941, different forces joined the Vietnam Communist Party and the Viet Minh was created, also called the Vietnam Independence League, under the direction of Ho Chi Minh. His goal was to expel the Japanese, resist the French authorities and achieve independence.
In 1945, the Viet Minh guerrillas managed to defeat the Japanese. On September 2, at the same time that World War II ended, the Viet Mihn proclaimed the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as an independent state.
Immediately, France wanted to recover its colonial possessions and sent troops to try to restore French sovereignty over Indochina. During 1946, The French and the Viet Minh tried to negotiate. However, there was no possible agreement and both sides prepared for war.
Indochina War Development
The conflict began on November 20, 1946, when French Customs officers tried to capture a Vietnamese ship that transported oil to the port of the city of Hai Phong. This incident led to a shooting between Vietnamese and French officers.
Then, France began a bombing to the city which lasted two days and resulted in the destruction of several districts and the death of more than 6,000 civilians. On December 19, the Viet Minh forces began a coordinated attack of the French positions in Hanoi and throughout the Red River.
By 1947, France knew that to maintain its control over Indochina needed external support. To obtain military assistance from the United States (which was against colonial possessions), France sought to negotiate with Bao Dai, the former Vietnamese emperor, who promised an imperial Vietnam of restricted freedom and French officials.
In this way, the United States could support a local ruler who fought against the communist forces of Vietnam and not to a colonialist power. France converted Indochina’s colonial war into a cold war conflict.
The negotiations with Bao Dai led to the signing of the Elysée agreements in 1949. Through these agreements the associated states of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were created, their principle of independence was affirmed and it was established that the functions of defense, diplomacy and finance would be under control of the French authorities. Two months later, the United States made public its support for Bao Dai.
In parallel, the conflicts that began the cold war began to intensify worldwide. In China, the communist revolution triumphed and the Soviet Union made its first nuclear test. In 1950, both countries officially recognized the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the communist government of Ho Chi Mihn. In response, the United States and the United Kingdom recognized South Vietnam as an independent state under the imperial government of Bao Dai.
Between 1950 and 1954, foreign powers began to intervene more and more in the War of Indochina through economic and military assistance. The United States refused to send troops and intervene in the conflict directly. However, by the end of the war, the United States financed 80 % of the war costs of the French side. For its part, China intervened in the training of the Viet Mihn troops and the sending of weapons.
Since 1952, the Viet Minh guerrillas made the French advance impossible. France organized different operations and strategies to defeat the Vietnamese communists. However, they all ended up failing. By 1954, both forces met in the decisive battle of Dien well Phu. The confrontation began on March 13 and lasted almost two months. The French forces surrendered on May 7 and signed the ceasefire agreement for June 21, 1954.
Indochina War Results
It is estimated that the Indochina War took the lives of more than five hundred thousand people, of which about two hundred and fifty thousand were civilians.
French authorities and Viet Minh gathered at the Geneva Conference in order to negotiate the future of the Indochina Peninsula. In it, Geneva agreements were signed among the different countries that were involved in the Indochina War.
In total, the agreements are twelve and detail different issues on the cessation of war actions, the new independent governments, the rights of the population, the military alliances of the new countries, the withdrawal of the French troops, the independence and sovereignty of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
While Viet Minh had won the war, China’s pressures and the Soviet Union caused them to access, temporarily, the separation of Vietnam from the North and South Vietnam in the 17th parallel.
Vietnam del Norte was controlled by the communist government of Viet Minh. Instead, in Vietnam del Sur was established a republic supported by the United Stateswith Ngo Dinh Diem of President. In two years, the Vietnamese population had to vote in a popular referendum for the reunification or definitive separation of the country.
However, with the increase in the tensions of the Cold War, some of the agreements achieved in Geneva were not respected. The following year the Vietnam War beganwhich lasted 20 years and was one of the most important wars of the twentieth century.
Geneva agreements on Indochina
In the final statement of the Geneva Conference, the different signatory countries established the fundamental principles that determined the set of agreements. The conference was present at the representatives of Cambodia, Laos, Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Vietnam State (South Vietnam), People’s Republic of China, France, the United States, United Kingdom and Soviet Union. This statement had the legal force of international treaty and integrated the different agreements and partial statements.
Final declaration of the Geneva Conference on the restoration of peace in Indochina
July 21, 1954
“1. The conference takes note of the agreements that put an end to hostilities in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, and that organize international surveillance control for the execution of the provisions of these agreements.
2. The conference congratulates the end of hostilities in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Expresses the conviction that the implementation of the provisions provided for in this declaration and in the agreements on the cessation of hostilities will allow Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam assuming in the Promity, in full independence sovereignty, its role in the peaceful community of nations.
3. The conference takes note of the statements made by the governments of Cambodia and Laos, about their willingness to adopt measures allowing all citizens to occupy their place in the national community, mainly participating in the next general elections that, according to the constitution of each of these countries, will take place in the current year of 1955, to the secret scrutiny and in respect of the fundamental freedoms.
4. The conference takes note of the clauses of the agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam, prohibiting the entry of troops and foreign military personnel, as well as all kinds of weapons and ammunition. (…)
5. The conference takes note of the clauses of the agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam in the terms in which no military base depending on a foreign state may be established in the regrouping areas of the two parties; These must ensure that the areas that are attributed not to be part of any military alliance and are not used for the resumption of hostilities or at the service of an aggressive policy. (…)
6. The conference verifies that the agreement related to Vietnam has an essential purpose to solve military issues in view of ending hostilities, and that the military demarcation line in a provisional line and that in no way can it be interpreted as constituting a political or territorial limit. Expresses the conviction that the implementation of the provisions provided for in this declaration and in the agreement on the cessation of hostilities were the necessary premises for the realization in an upcoming future of the political solution in the Vietnam.
7. The conference declares that as regards Vietnam, the solution of political problems, put into practice on the basis of respect for the principles of independence, unity and territorial integrity, must allow the Vietnamese people to enjoy fundamental freedoms, guaranteed by democratic institutions as a consequence of general elections with secret scrutiny. In order for the restoration of peace to have made sufficient progress and that all the necessary conditions to allow the free expression of the national will, the general elections will take place in July 1958, under the control of an international commission composed of representatives of the Member States of the International Commission for Surveillance and Control relating to the agreement on the cessation of hostilities. In this regard, consultations will take place among the competent representative authorities of the two areas as of July 20, 1955. (…)
10. The conference takes note, of the declaration of the Government of the French Republic, according to which it is willing to withdraw its troops from the Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam territories at the request of the interested governments and within the deadline that will be set by agreement between the parties, with the exception of the cases in which, by agreement of the two parties, a certain amount of French troops can be left in the points set.
11. The conference takes note of the French government’s statement, according to which it, for the solution of all problems linked to the restoration of peace in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, will be based on the respect of independence and sovereignty, and of the unity and territorial integrity of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
12. In their relations with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, each of the participants in the Geneva conference undertakes to respect the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the aforementioned states and in refraining, of all interference in their internal affairs. (…)
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References
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia (2020). “Indochina Wars”. Britannica Encyclopedia.
https://www.britannica.com/ - Final Declaration of the Geneva Conference, July 21, 1954, in: Judge, EH & Langdon, JW (eds.) (2018). The Cold War Through Documents. A Global History. Rowman & Littlefield (Translation by Juan Carlos Ocaña).
- Palmowski, J. (2000). “Indochina War”. To Dictionary of Twentieth-Century World History. Oxford University Press.
- Van Dijk, R., Gray, WG, Savranskaya, S., Suri, J., & Zhai, Q. (eds.). (2013). “Indochina War (1946-1954)”. Encyclopedia of the Cold War. Routledge.
