Indo-China,_Success_of_the_Viet_Minh_to_1954_and_the_Significance_of_the_Battle_of_Dien_Bien_Phu_

Indo-China; Describe and Explain the Success of the Viet Minh to 1954 and the Significance of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu: The Viet Minh (league for the independence of Vietnam) was a national independence movement created by Ho Chi Minh, founded in South China on May 19th, 1941. They originally formed to seek independence from France for Vietnam. Once Japan began to invade the Viet Minh opposed them with help from the United States and the Republic of China, they then opposed the re-occupation of Vietnam by France and then later on by the United States. In early 1954 the battle of Dien Bien Phu was fought by the Viet Minh and the French. The purpose' To try and end the war quickly. The Vietnamese never accepted French rule and as a result there were many violent outbreaks of resistance which were all put down by the French. The Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dong was formed in 1927 with the aim of forcibly removing the French from Vietnam. The members only had a vague idea about the country that they wanted to establish once they gained independence. By 1929 it had 1500 members, mainly consisting of teachers and government officials. Its terrorist activities attracted the French’s attention which launched an uprising in the February of 1930 before the French moved against it. This was a disastrous effort which led to many leaders being executed. Although the party survived for a few years it never became a threat to the French again. Now that the only nationalist group that held any threat to communists had been eliminated, the French had now made it easier for Ho Chi Minh to gather the support of much of the Vietnamese population and it made it harder for themselves later on to find an alternative to Ho and the communists. In May 1929 at a meeting in a football stadium in Hong Kong, Ho formed the Indo-Chinese Communist Party. Once France was invaded by Nazi Germany, Indo-China was changed forever. France surrendered to Germany in May 1940 and became under direct control of Germany which was also an ally of Japan. The Japanese wanted reign of Indo-China and the French could not resist. Late 1941, with compliance by the French the Japanese had gained free use of Vietnamese ports, railways, roads and airfields. This was to help their expansion through the rest of South East Asia. This situation lasted until early 1945 when it started becoming clear that the Japanese would lose. The French then started resisting the Japanese who acted quickly and on March 9th the French were disarmed, rounded up and put in prison. Once French power was completely wiped out, the Japanese ruled until the end of the war, with Bao Dai as their emperor. Throughout this war the Japanese forced many peasants to replace their rice crops with commodities that they wanted. Adding to the problems were floods, caused by Japanese policies and by mid 1945, famine was widespread through Northern Vietnam, two million people died. In 1940, Ho slipped back into Vietnam; in May 1941 he called a meeting to form the League of Vietnamese Independence also known as the Viet Minh. This was set up to fight the Japanese and the French and emphasis was strongly placed on nationalism not communism. When Ho left Vietnam to seek help for the Viet Minh from the Chinese Nationalists, he found their opinion to be that the VNQD should still remain the anti-Japanese force in Vietnam and Ho was imprisoned for thirteen months. Finally once they realised that the Viet Minh were the only group that had any type of influence, Ho was released and they reached an uneasy agreement to work together against the Japanese. Vo Nguyen Giap used these ideas and helped develop the Viet Minh and spread its influence. He trained military groups and sent them further and further into Vietnam, he understood how to exploit the Viet Minh’s political superiority against the superiority of the French military. By early 1945 the Viet Minh had gained over 5000 members cleverly placed all over Vietnam and were in an excellent position to extend power when the French collapsed in March 1945. Now was when the Americans needed Ho and the Viet Minh and had over 5000 weapons airdropped to them. June of 1945 the Viet Minh had taken over six northern provinces from the Japanese and they were the only native military force. The Viet Minh became such a powerful force, mainly because it concentrated on both the political and military aspects whereas the French aimed only at military victory. The first Indo-China war lasted from 1946-1954. It was clear in late 1946 that a fight for Vietnamese independence between the Vietnamese and the Viet Minh and the French was about to begin. The 23rd November 1946 French planes and warships bombarded the Vietnamese area of the port of Haiphong. This was apparently to stop the arrival of Vietnamese arms. This attack killed around 6000 people and in the next few weeks each side sought revenge and counter-revenge against each other which resulted in the deaths of more people in the cities of North Vietnam. On the 19th December, open war erupted with uprisings in Hanoi and elsewhere. This was the very beginning of the Indo-China war. Ho Chi Minh stated that he would fight for 10 years if he had too. After a heavy battle the Viet Minh retreated into the safety of the mountains in the north. It was here that Ho concentrated on consolidating support amongst the peasants. Throughout 1947-48 the guerilla pattern of warfare was beginning to emerge. The Viet Minh operated small bases in the countryside using ambush attack. The French controlled urban areas and major roads of South and Central Vietnam, they continued with their old colonial policies. The first three years of this war were inconclusive with French superiority unable to defeat Giap’s guerillas. In June 1948, the French government signed an agreement with Bao Dai. This agreement stated that Vietnam would keep it’s independence but France would keep control of its army, finance and foreign affairs. Now there were two governments claiming to represent Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh’s Democratic Republic (recognised by the Soviet Union and China) and Bao Dai’s government. In 1949, losses in money and men turned the French public opinion against the war. The victory of Communists in China at the end of 1949 was the turning point in the war. Now Ho Chi Minh had an ally on the northern border. The French now saw themselves facing a giant wave of communism. By the end of 1953 the Viet Minh faced a demoralised French army as their casualty count went up and the war became more and more unpopular back in France. The French decided to try and end the war quickly in early 1954. They tried this by luring the Viet Minh into a conventional battle. Dien Bien Phu was chosen as the place that they would be force3d to capture at any cost. This was within Viet Minh controlled territory and close to the Laotian border. During 1953 however, the Viet Minh had extended their activities into Laos. The French made some serious mistakes in preparing for this battle though. The underestimated the size and power of the Viet Minh. They assumed that the Viet Minh would not know how to use heavy artillery let alone if they had any at all. Dien Bien Phu was on the floor of a valley framed by mountains rising at least 500 meters over the forts. The location was too far from Hanoi to be given effective air cover, their fighter aircraft could only spend ten minutes over Dien Bien Phu before needing to return to Hanoi. General Giap took advantage of most of the French’s mistakes. Around 20, 000 peasants were used to carry supplies from China along what is now known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Several hundred large guns were camouflaged and dug into the mountains to be hidden from air attack. On the 13th March, 1954 the Viet Minh opened fire and that night the French artillery commander committed suicide. Under artillery cover, the troops dug trenches closer and closer to the French. The US government resisted temptation to send bombers to help the ever disadvantaged French. On the 7th May, 1954 the French surrendered. The very next day, with the French anxious to get out of Vietnam as soon as they could the Geneva Conference met for the first time. The main outcomes of this conference were: Vietnam was divided at the seventeenth parallel. North Vietnam became a communist state with Ho Chi Minh as President. South Vietnam became an anti-communist state and Ngo Dihn Diem became President in 1956. The Viet Minh were a powerful group and helped shape Vietnamese society just like the battle of Dien Bien Phu which was the final point of the war. All these events leading up to the battle influenced the outcome of Vietnamese society.