Vietnam War

Background

France had gained control of Indochina in a series of colonial wars beginning in the 1840s and lasting until the 1880s. During World War II, Vichy France had collaborated with the occupying Imperial Japanese forces. Vietnam was under effective Imperial Japanese control, as well as de facto Japanese administrative control, although the Vichy French continued to serve as the official administrators until 1944. After the Japanese surrender Vietnamese nationalists hoped to achieve to formal independence from France.

Related Topics:
1840s - 1880s - World War II - Vichy France - Imperial Japan - 1944 - France

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On September 5, 1945, Ho Chi Minh spoke at a ceremony heralding an independent Vietnam. In his speech he cited the American Declaration of Independence and a band played "The Star Spangled Banner." Minh had hoped that the United States would be an ally of a Vietnamese independence movement based on speeches by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt against the continuation of European imperialism after World War II. However the death of Roosevelt, the development of the Cold War, and Ho's Communist sympathies led to U.S. support being given to the French.

Related Topics:
September 5 - 1945 - Ho Chi Minh - Declaration of Independence - The Star Spangled Banner - Franklin Roosevelt - Imperialism - Communist

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Indochina had been in the British theater of operations during the war. The French prevailed upon the British to turn control of the region back over to them, setting the stage for the First Indochina War in which France attempted to reestablish Vietnam as part of a French overseas colony. In a gradual process, accelerated by the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the Vietnamese nationalist army, the Viet Minh, gradually wrested control of the country from France.

Related Topics:
British - First Indochina War

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After the Viet Minh's historic victory over the French at the battle of Dien Bien Phu all of Indochina was granted independence, including Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. However, Vietnam was partitioned at the 17th parallel, above which the former Viet Minh established a Communist state and below which an anti-communist state was established under the Emperor Bao Dai. As dictated in the Geneva Accords of 1954 the division was meant to be temporary pending free elections for national leadership. Neither of the two Vietnamese countries signed the election clause in the agreement. The United States, fearing a Communist takeover of the region, supported Ngo Dinh Diem, who had ousted Bao Dai, as leader of South Vietnam while Ho Chi Minh became president of the North.

Related Topics:
Battle of Dien Bien Phu - Laos - Cambodia - Bao Dai - Geneva Accords - 1954 - Ngo Dinh Diem - Ho Chi Minh

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