The Second World War had witnessed the overrunning of Southeast Asia by Japanese forces and their defeat of the European colonizers. This victory for the Japanese, although eventually reversed, gave heart to all the colonized that their conquerors were not invincible and their struggle for self-determination not necessarily futile. When the French tried to recreate their colonial empire and issued their declaration, accepted by the USA, that Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were to be considered independent states within the French union, continued and redoubled armed confrontation became inevitable.
Organizing themselves according to Maoist philosophy as a rural guerrilla network, the resisting Viet-Minh set out to conduct a lengthy campaign against the French. This allowed them the opportunity to study military techniques and adopt the ones that worked for them while, at the same time, eroding the will of the French people to continue with their rule. The French themselves aimed to conclude the campaign in the shortest possible time but found this impossible in a style of warfare that was not conducive to large-scale armed confrontations in which technology and organisation could overcome superior numbers of determined but less well-armed insurgents. While the French were, therefore, able to re-establish themselves in Hanoi and the Red River delta region, they could not enforce their will over remote regions. The Viet-Minh were able to hold onto the southern part of Laos, from Tchepone to the Bolovens Plateau, from which they were able to mount operations against the French and then retire to an almost inaccessible heartland.
The fighting in the south of the country was generally conducted on a much smaller scale and the area was much more amenable to French control.
For a variety of reasons, the French established a headquarters at Dien Bien Phu, a town some distance away from Hanoi and comparatively isolated from it, which meant that their ability to bring in reinforcements and supplies was greatly hampered. The fighting had intensified throughout 1953 and the French strategy had developed into a defensive posture while massive reinforcements from the USA were delivered to the country, prior to offensives planned for 1955. However, the legendary Vietnamese leader General Giap recognized that this plan featured the establishment of an 'aero-terrestrial' base at Dien Bien Phu and determined to destroy it. The moment for such an attack was particularly propitious in that it coincided with a major international conference on the far east, to which China had been invited and which had brought the attention of the world to the region and its conflicts.
Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Dien Bien Phu in East Asian History is owned by . Permission to republish Dien Bien Phu in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
