“Assess_the_Impact_of_Vietnamese_Nationalism_in_Indochina_from_1880-1954.”

Throughout the period of 1914 to 1954 the veit Minh under the leader ship of Ho chi Minh utilized a vast array of techniques and pragmatic solutions to unite the country and free Vietnam from foreign rule from france. THese many varied tools of revolution that the Viet Minh used were sometimes contradictory and always modified to suit the Vietnamese situation. One such technique employed by the Viet Minh in this period was the use of propaganda material which was distributed through the villages to gain support from the peasants and the entire villages. The propaganda, however, was not limited to flyers or cartoon but the Viet Minh sent representatives to the Villages to spread the word and gain wide spread support for the Viet Minh. Throughout the village. The Vietminh also provided the town with literacy to help them understand what the Vietminh stood for. This technique of infiltrating and educating the Villages was a key factor in the Veit Minh gaining nationalism . By gaining more and more support the Viet Minh were able to begin building a peoples army that would allow them to take over the French once and for all. The Veit Minh however knew that they would have trouble over ruleing the French with just there peoples army, they recognized the need for international support in order to have the most effective campaign and take a step closer to nationalism. This was a major technique in their revolution. As Vietnam had used the alliance between America in World war two , they could not use this now America could not show support due to their communism. In 1949 when China became communist , the Vietminh were able to use their northern boarder with this new super-power as a mean to gather supplies of arms and ammunition that were used to great affect in the defeat of the French throughout the remainder of the war. The war that the Viet Minh fought against the French however, was by no means a conventional one. It was much to the advantage of the Veit Minh as they practiced guerilla warfare, which meant that they played to the strengths of the terrain and land in Vietnam. It wasn’t until they were absolutely ready for victory that they employed conventional warfare methods. This was evident in 1954 at the battle of Dein Bein Phu. This was the first time they had conventally interacted with their oppressors. The lead up to and the fighting in this battle was a clear example of the Vietminh’s techniques to lead the to success. The win in this battle was not only significant in the way the peoples army and Vietminh fought but in their success to over take the French using unconventional warfare.