Brief Summary: The First Indochina war was a series of military conflict that happened in French Indochina. The prolonged fighting lasted from 1946 until 1954 resulted in a decisive victory for the Viet Minh, when the French colonizers were repelled back. Yet, it instigated another brutal conflict called the Vietnam War, when the Geneva Conference concluded in the partition of Vietnam in 1954.
Prelude to the War: In 1887, the French established the Southeast Asian colony known as French Indochina. The union comprised three countries: Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. In 1940, France was defeated by Germany, and a transition government was installed called Vichy France. The newly formed government became a collaborationist with other members within the Axis. That’s why adjustments and compromises favored the Japanese’s interests. Looking around Asia at the time, Japan was starving for natural recources. This made Southeast Asia so much more appealing for its ambitions to polish its “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”, an idea of forming a greater Asian union that was the influence of the Japanese. Thus, on September 22, 1940, Japanese troops were present at Tonkin (North Vietnam) with the permission of the Vichy government. Eventually, they overran Indochina to exercise its power over the peninsula. The Japanese occupation of Indochina was likely because of their cravings for natural recourses and the plan to cut off the Kunming-Haiphong railway that supplied Nationalist China in WWII.
Patriotism and Nationalism: The history of Vietnam has always been regarded wars and revolutions. For a thousand years, Vietnam was under the yoke various of Chinese Dynasties. However, not a single Vietnamese were content with its subordinate condition. Same thing happened during the Japanese-occupation of Indochina. During that time, Japan ravaged over the country. They heavily exploited all the natural recourses to supply their war-machine. Residents within the colony were often treated poorly and seen as inferior. This incited the patriotism inside many that subsisted under Japanese’s occupation. The most prominent party in Indochina was the Communist Party of Vietnam. The party was a merge of the Indochinese Communist Party, the Communist Party of Annam, and the Communist League of Indochina. As time went on, its popularity significantly grew. The party polished its image by promising to save the Vietnamese people from perpetual poverty and famines. Things started to culminate in 1945. In this time, the United States declared war on the Japanese, after Japan struck on Pearl Harbor in 1941. This drew the US’s attention toward a specific group in Vietnam, who had a burning desire to fight against the Japanese for independence. In 1945, a tragic famine took away more than two-million lives of the people of Vietnam. Prior to that, the OSS was established by the United States to help the Viet Minh fight for independence. The sole purpose of OSS was to aid the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and intercept the railroads that supplied the Japanese in Vietnam during WW2. On September 2, 1945, a speech was delivered in the Ba Đình square by Ho Chi Minh, acting as the leader of the party. The speech proclaimed the independence of Vietnam and the secession away from the union as a fully sovereign state. Ho’s speech quoted an excerpt from the United States Declaration of Independence: All people are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The First Indochina
War
1946
Viet Minh soldiers marching on the Long Bien Bridge in Hanoi.
The Return of the Colonizers: After experiencing the two destructive nuclear bombs, Japan officially surrendered to the United States. This brought WWII to an end; But the independence of Indochina was not certain, the devastated economic situations in France propelled them to return to their former colonies (French Indochina). While returning to French Indochina, the French met severe resistances from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. At the same time, the United States under Truman’s administration had withdrew all of its aids for the communist revolutionary government (D.R.V). The return of the French also ignited the beginning of the First Indochina War, when the Viet Minh forces fought against the French from 1946 until 1954. During the fighting, France tried to reinstate Bảo Đại as the Emperor of the State of Vietnam. Bảo Đại’s role could be seen as a means to promote its colonial rule across the country. Nevertheless, everyone knew beyond the facade, which ruined the French rule’s popularity within the Peninsula. In 1954, the French surrendered at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, marking an end of colonial their rule over Indochina. On April 26, 1954, the Geneva Accords resulted in the partition of Vietnam. The Accords granted the independence for other countries like: Kingdom of Laos, and Cambodia. Yet, the Geneva Accords did not bring long-term peace to the peninsula. but rather instigated another brutal conflict within this region which was known as: the Vietnam War.
Chief of the Army Vo Nguyen Giap instructing his fellow soldiers in August 1945.
Sources:
"First Indochina War." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Jul. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Indochina_War. Accessed 6 Jul. 2024.
History, Alpha. “The First Indochina War.” Vietnam War, 17 June 2018, alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/first-indochina-war/.