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132-604: At the end of the sixteenth century Yên Bái was a small village in Bach Lam district, Quy Hoa district, Hung Hoa province. On April 11, 1900, Yen Bai province was established by the French colonialist government . The city grew in size with the opening of the Hanoi–Lào Cai railway , which attracted many migrants. On February 10, 1930, part of the 4th Regiment of Tonkinese Rifles stationed at Yen Bai mutinied against their French officers in

264-592: A border treaty between France and Siam in 1906). France obtained control over northern Vietnam following its victory over China in the Sino-French War (1884–85). French Indochina was formed on 17 October 1887 from Annam , Tonkin , Cochinchina (which together form modern Vietnam ) and the Kingdom of Cambodia ; Laos was added after the Franco-Siamese crisis of 1893 . The federation lasted until 21 July 1954. In

396-423: A concentrated artillery barrage at 17:00. This was very effective and stunned the defenders. Two regiments from the crack 308th Division attacked starting at 20:00. At 04:00 the following morning, an artillery shell hit the battalion headquarters, severely wounding the battalion commander and most of his staff. De Castries ordered a counterattack to relieve Gabrielle . However, Colonel Pierre Langlais , in forming

528-628: A disappointment of the promises made by Sarraut. During the early days of the war around 6 million Frenchmen were drafted causing a severe labour shortage in France. In response, the Undersecretary of State for Artillery and Munitions proposed to hire women, European immigrants, and French colonial subjects, these people were later followed with Chinese immigrants. From 1915 onwards, the French war effort's manpower needs started to rise significantly. Initially

660-681: A location in Yên Bái Province , Vietnam is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China ), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation , was a grouping of French colonial territories in Mainland Southeast Asia until its end in 1954. It comprised Cambodia , Laos (from 1899),

792-523: A massacre of around 40,000 Christians. The rebellion was eventually brought down by a French military intervention, in addition to its lack of unity in the movement. Nationalist sentiments intensified in Vietnam, especially during and after World War I , but all the uprisings and tentative efforts failed to obtain sufficient concessions from the French. Territorial conflict in the Indochinese peninsula for

924-467: A new generation of anti-French resistance emerged, rather than being rooted in the traditional mandarin elites the new anti-French resistance leaders of the early 20th century were more influenced by international events and revolutions abroad to inspire their resistance and the issue of modernisation. Some Vietnamese revolutionaries like Phan Châu Trinh traveled to the Western World ( Đi Tây ) to obtain

1056-463: A new policy of association and a "Franco-Annamese Collaboration" (French: Collaboration franco-annamite ; Vietnamese: Pháp-Việt Đề huề ) for the wartime contribution by the French Indochinese to their colonial masters. However, beside some liberal reforms, the French administration actually increased economic exploitation and ruthless repression of nationalist movements which rapidly resulted in

1188-480: A new vehicle of instruction. The schools offered free courses to anyone who wanted to learn about the modern spirit. The teachers at the school at 59 Hàng Đàn included Phạm Duy Tốn . in the years prior to World War I the French arrested thousands of people with some being sentenced to death and others being imprisoned at the Poulo Condore jail island ( Côn Sơn Island ). Because of this Côn Sơn Island would become

1320-762: A number of secret societies launch rebellions in Cochinchina, the Peace and Duty Society (Nghia Hoa Doan Hoi) was introduced to the region by the Minh Hương refugees following the Manchu conquest of China and the Vietnamese Heaven and Earth Society (天地會, Thiên Địa Hội ). The Peace and Duty Society was also active supporting anti-Qing insurgents in China. The majority of the traditional mandarin elites would continue to operate under

1452-568: A number of historians like Joseph Buttinger and Martin Murray, treated his statement by Nguyễn Ái Quốc as an article of faith and believed that the Vietnamese men who participated in World War I were "forcibly recruited" by means of "terrorism", later historians would claim that the recruitment enterprise employed during this period was only "ostensibly voluntary". While there is some truth to these claims,

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1584-633: A number of uprisings in Tonkin and Cochinchina . French Indochina contributed significantly to the French war effort in terms of funds, products and human resources. Prior to World War I the population of French Indochina stood at around 16,395,000 in 1913 with 14,165,000 being Vietnamese (Tonkinese, Annamese and Cochinchinese), 1,600,000 Cambodians, and 630,000 Laotians. These 16.4 million subjects were ruled over by only around 18,000 French civilians, militaries, and civil servants. During this period governor-general of French Indochina Albert Sarraut promised

1716-510: A period of stalemate from 15 April to 1 May, the French intercepted enemy radio messages which told of whole units refusing orders to attack, and Viet Minh prisoners in French hands said that they were told to advance or be shot by the officers and non-commissioned officers behind them. Worse still, the Viet Minh lacked advanced medical treatment and care, leading a US general commenting on the war to observe that "Nothing strikes at combat-morale like

1848-672: A political threat; courtesans , for example, an influential faction in the dynastic system, feared for their status in a society influenced by an insistence on monogamy. A brief period of unification under the Nguyễn dynasty ended in 1858 with French military intervention. Under the pretext of protesting the persecution and expulsion of Catholic missionaries, and following Charles de Montigny's failure to secure concessions, Napoleon III ordered Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly to attack Tourane (present day Da Nang ). Fourteen French gunships, 3,300 men including 300 Filipino soldiers provided by

1980-505: A result, when the battle finally began, the Viet Minh knew exactly where the French artillery pieces were, while the French did not even know how many guns Giáp possessed. Third, the aerial resupply lines at Nà Sản were never severed, despite Viet Minh anti-aircraft fire. At Điện Biên Phủ, Giáp made it a priority for his gunners to focus on the French runways and aircraft, crippling supply runs and making it impossible for fresh soldiers to be sent in. In June 1953, Major General René Cogny ,

2112-412: A ruler that many of them had fought and died for), resulted in some sour attitudes. Many of these troops sought out and joined the Vietnamese nationalist movement focused on overthrowing the French. In 1925, communist and anti-French activist Nguyễn Ái Quốc (later known as Hồ Chí Minh) wrote "taken in chains, confined in a school compound... Most of them will never again see the sun of their country" and

2244-471: A short, massive artillery barrage, followed by small unit infiltration attacks , then mopping-up operations. Eliane 1 changed hands several times that day, but by the next morning the French had control of the strong point. The Viet Minh attempted to retake it on the evening of 12 April, but were pushed back. At this point, the morale of the Viet Minh soldiers was greatly lowered due to the massive casualties they had received from heavy French gunfire. During

2376-407: A single order—to create military conditions that would lead to an "honorable political solution". According to military scholar Phillip Davidson : On arrival, Navarre was shocked by what he found. There had been no long-range plan since de Lattre's departure. Everything was conducted on a day-to-day, reactive basis. Combat operations were undertaken only in response to enemy moves or threats. There

2508-512: A sovereign one here. The State of Vietnam became a South Vietnamese state. The separation of Vietnam would continue until 2 July 1976. French–Vietnamese relations started during the early 17th century with the arrival of the Jesuit missionary Alexandre de Rhodes . Around this time, Vietnam had only just begun its "Southward"—" Nam Tiến ", the occupation of the Mekong Delta , a territory being part of

2640-542: A strong enemy force. Navarre had previously considered three other approaches to defending Laos: mobile warfare , which was impossible given the terrain in Vietnam; a static defense line stretching to Laos, which was not feasible given the number of troops at Navarre's disposal; or placing troops in the Laotian provincial capitals and supplying them by air, which was unworkable due to the distance from Hanoi to Luang Prabang and Vientiane . Navarre believed that this left only

2772-579: The Battle of the Vosges and the Battle of Verdun . French Indochinese battalions were also used in various logistics functions such as serving as drivers to transport soldiers to the front lines, stretcher bearers ( brancardiers ), or road crews. Vietnamese soldiers were also used to "sanitise" battle fields at the end of the war, where they would perform these duties in the middle of the cold European winters without being provided with warm clothes, in order to let

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2904-535: The Bolaven Plateau , who demanded the restoration of the "old order" and led an armed insurrection against the French until as late as 1936. The Phu Mi Bun Revolt revolt erupted in 1901 and was not suppressed until 1907. It was a "major rebellion by local Lao Theung tribes (the Alak , Nyaheun , and Laven) against French domination". Though there is not extensive literature on these particular revolutionary revolts in

3036-652: The Duy Tân Hội would establish a network of commercial enterprises to both gain capital to finance their activities and to hide their true intentions. A number of other anti-French organisations would support the Duy Tân Hội such as the Peace and Duty Society and the Heaven and Earth Society. The Tonkin Free School ( Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục ), which was created in Hanoi in 1907 by the supporters of both Phan Châu Trinh and Phan Bội Châu

3168-529: The French Third Republic took over northern Vietnam through the Tonkin campaign , the various protectorates were consolidated into one union in 1887. Two more entities were incorporated into the union: the Laotian protectorate and the Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan. The French exploited the resources in the region during their rule, but also contributed to improvements of the health and education system in

3300-512: The Front Populaire administration in Paris, France had agreed to repatriate Angkor Wat , Angkor Thom , Siem Reap , Siem Pang , and the associated provinces (approximately 13) to Siam. Meanwhile, Siam took over control of those areas, in anticipation of the upcoming treaty. Signatories from each country were dispatched to Tokyo to sign the treaty repatriating the lost provinces. Although during

3432-609: The Hanoi delta region to prepare for a series of offensives against Viet Minh staging areas in northwest Vietnam. They set up fortified towns and outposts in the area, including Lai Châu near the Chinese border to the north, Nà Sản to the west of Hanoi, and the Plain of Jars in northern Laos. In May 1953, French Premier René Mayer named Henri Navarre as Salan's successor to command French Union forces in Indochina. Mayer had given Navarre

3564-551: The Khmer Empire and to a lesser extent, the kingdom of Champa which they had defeated in 1471. European involvement in Vietnam was confined to trade during the 18th century, as the remarkably successful work of the Jesuit missionaries continued. In 1787, Pierre Pigneau de Behaine , a French Catholic priest, petitioned the French government and organised French military volunteers to aid Nguyễn Ánh in retaking lands his family lost to

3696-669: The Kingdom of Laos and Kingdom of Cambodia proclaimed their respective independences. On 4 June 1954, France signed the Accords in the Hôtel Matignon to grant complete independence to the State of Vietnam. French Indochina legally became invalid. Following the Geneva Accords of 21 July 1954 , French Indochina was completely no more when the French were forced to militarily withdraw from North Vietnam and politically recognize Việt Minh's state as

3828-630: The Russo-Japanese War and its lasting impression on the East as it was considered to be the first victory of "a yellow people over the white ", as well as the fall of the Manchu -led Qing dynasty to the Xinhai Revolution which established the Republic of China . These events all had significant influence on nationalist sentiments in the territories of French Indochina. The early 20th century saw

3960-572: The Tây Sơn . Pigneau died in Vietnam but his troops fought on until 1802 in the French assistance to Nguyễn Ánh . The French colonial empire was heavily involved in Vietnam in the 19th century; often French intervention was undertaken in order to protect the work of the Paris Foreign Missions Society in the country. For its part, the Nguyễn dynasty increasingly saw Catholic missionaries as

4092-530: The Yên Bái mutiny . They were suppressed by loyal troops from the same unit. This incident led to widespread disturbances against French rule across northeastern Vietnam during 1930–31. As of 2019, the city had a population of 100,631, covering an area of 108.15 km. Yên Bái administers 9 wards and 6 rural communes : Rural communes: 21°42′N 104°52′E  /  21.700°N 104.867°E  / 21.700; 104.867 This article about

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4224-493: The indigenous population of French Indochina to "study educational issues related to each place separately". According to researcher Nguyễn Đắc Xuân, in 1907, the imperial court of the Nguyễn dynasty sent Cao Xuân Dục and Huỳnh Côn, the Thượng thư of the Hộ Bộ , to French Cochinchina to "hold a conference on education" ( bàn nghị học chính ) with the French authorities on the future of

4356-698: The "keys" to modernity and hope to bring these back to Vietnam. While others like the revolutionary leader Phan Bội Châu made the "Journey to the East" ( Đông Du ) to the Japanese Empire which they saw as the other role-model of modernisation for Vietnam to follow. The Đông Du school of revoluties was supported by Prince Cường Để , a direct descendant of the Gia Long Emperor. Prince Cường Để hoped that by financing hundreds of young ambitious Vietnamese people to go get educated in Japan that this would contribute to

4488-514: The "paratrooper putsch" is unlikely to have ever happened. Both historians record that Langlais and Marcel Bigeard were known to be on good terms with their commanding officer. French aerial resupply took heavy losses from Viet Minh machine guns near the landing strip. On 27 March, the Hanoi air transport commander, Nicot, ordered that all supply deliveries be made from 2,000 m (6,600 ft) or higher; losses were expected to remain heavy. The following day, De Castries ordered an attack against

4620-453: The (White) French soldiers return to their homes earlier. The financial expenses of the 93,000 French Indochinese labourers and soldiers sent to France during the war – salaries, pensions, family allocations, the levy in kind (mostly rice), and even the functioning of the Indochinese hospital – were entirely financed from the budget of French Indochina itself and not from France. One of the effects of World War I on French Indochinese society

4752-425: The 141st Regiment's 11th Battalion did not fare well because its assault trenches were too shallow and portions of them had been flattened by French artillery. Its efforts to breach Beatrice -2's barbed wire were stalled for hours by flanking fire from Beatrice -1 and several previously-undetected bunkers on Beatrice -2 that had been spared by the bombardment. The holdouts on Beatrice -1 were eliminated by 22:30, and

4884-479: The 141st Regiment's 11th and 16th Battalions finally broke into Beatrice -2 an hour later, though the strong point was not entirely taken until after 01:00 on 14 March. Roughly 350 French legionnaires were killed, wounded, or captured. About 100 managed to escape and rejoin the French lines. The French estimated that Viet Minh losses totaled 600 dead and 1,200 wounded. According to the Viet Minh, they lost 193 killed and 137 wounded The victory at Beatrice "galvanized

5016-481: The 148th Infantry Regiment and the 316th Division to attack Lai Chau, while the 308th , 312th , and 351st divisions assaulted Điện Biên Phủ from Việt Bắc . Starting in December, the French, under the command of Colonel Christian de Castries , began transforming their anchoring point into a fortress by setting up seven satellite positions. (Each was said to be named after a former mistress of de Castries, although

5148-521: The 316th Division attacked Eliane 2. Just as it appeared the French were about to be overrun, a few French tanks arrived from the central garrison, and helped push the Viet Minh back. Smaller attacks on Eliane 4 were also pushed back. The Viet Minh briefly captured Huguette 7, only to be pushed back by a French counterattack at dawn on 1 April. Fighting continued in this manner over the next several nights. The Viet Minh repeatedly attacked Eliane 2, only to be beaten back. Repeated attempts to reinforce

5280-533: The 3rd Battalion, 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade. Viet Minh artillery opened a fierce bombardment with two batteries each of 105   mm howitzers, 120   mm mortars, and 75   mm mountain guns (plus seventeen 57   mm recoilless rifles and numerous 60   mm and 81/82   mm mortars). French command was disrupted at 18:30 when a shell hit the French command post, killing the battalion commander, Major Paul Pégot, and most of his staff. A few minutes later, Lieutenant Colonel Jules Gaucher , commander of

5412-520: The Annamese education system. This meeting was also recorded in the work Hoàng Việt Giáp Tý niên biểu written by Nguyễn Bá Trác. The creation of a ministry of education was orchestrated by the French to reform the Nguyễn dynasty's educational system to match French ambitions in the region more. As explained by the Resident-Superior of Annam Ernest Fernand Lévecque "Its creation is to better suit

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5544-546: The Balkans and the Middle Eastern front . This exceptional human mobility offered the French Indochinese, mostly Vietnamese, the unique opportunity of directly access to social life and political debates that were occurring in contemporary France and this resulted in their aspirations to become "masters of their own destiny" to increase. Exposed to new political ideals and returning to a colonial occupation of their own country (by

5676-569: The Bolaven Plateau, one can see that the native communities desired to rid the region of the extensive and overpowering influence of their colonisers. On 16 May 1906 the governor-general of French Indochina Jean Baptiste Paul Beau issued a decree establishing the Councils for the Improvement of Indigenous Education. These organisations would oversee the French policies surrounding the education of

5808-510: The Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan (from 1898 until 1945), and the Vietnamese regions of Tonkin in the north, Annam in the centre, and Cochinchina in the south. The capital from 1902 to 1945 was Hanoi , Saigon was the capital from 1887 to 1902 and again from 1945 to 1954. The Second French Empire annexed Cochinchina in 1862 and established a protectorate in Cambodia in 1863. After

5940-405: The French beat back Giáp's forces repeatedly, inflicting very heavy losses on them. The French hoped that by repeating the strategy on a much larger scale, they would be able to lure Giáp into committing the bulk of his forces to a massed assault. This would enable superior French artillery, armor, and air support to decimate the exposed Viet Minh forces. The success at Nà Sản convinced Navarre of

6072-563: The French commander in the Tonkin Delta, proposed Điện Biên Phủ , which had an old airstrip built by the Japanese during World War II, as a "mooring point". In another misunderstanding, Cogny envisioned a lightly defended point from which to launch raids; Navarre, however, believed that he intended to build a heavily fortified base capable of withstanding a siege. Navarre selected Điện Biên Phủ for Berteil's "hedgehog" operation. When presented with

6204-477: The French dropped or flew 9,000 troops into the area over three days, as well as a bulldozer to prepare the airstrip. They were landed at three drop zones: "Natasha" (northwest of Điện Biên Phủ), "Octavie" (to the southwest), and "Simone" (to the southeast). The Viet Minh elite 148th Independent Infantry Regiment, headquartered at Điện Biên Phủ, reacted "instantly and effectively". Three of its four battalions, however, were absent. Initial operations proceeded well for

6336-408: The French garrison by parachute drops were made, but had to be carried out by lone planes at irregular times to avoid excessive casualties from Viet Minh anti-aircraft fire. Some reinforcements did arrive, but not enough to replace French casualties. On 5 April, after a long night of battle, French fighter-bombers and artillery inflicted particularly devastating losses on one Viet Minh regiment, which

6468-399: The French knowledge of the battle plan and along with other complications, the assault was canceled on 26 January, and Giáp went away and designed a new plan with a new start time. He said that this change of plan was the hardest decision of his military career. The Viet Minh assault began in earnest on 13 March 1954 with an attack on the northeastern outpost, Béatrice , which was held by

6600-479: The French launched a counterattack against Eliane 2, and recaptured it. Langlais ordered another counterattack the following afternoon against Dominique 2 and Eliane 1, using virtually "everybody left in the garrison who could be trusted to fight". The counterattacks allowed the French to retake Dominique 2 and Eliane 1, but the Viet Minh launched their own renewed assault. The French, who were exhausted and without reserves, fell back from both positions late in

6732-500: The French maintained a racial hierarchy where they believed in "martial races" making the early recruitment fall onus primarily on North Africa and French West Africa , but soon the need for additional manpower forced the French to recruit men from the Far East and Madagascar . Almost 100,000 Vietnamese were conscripts and went to Europe to fight and serve on the French battlefront, or work as labourers. Vietnamese troops also served in

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6864-511: The French protectorate being loyal to their new rulers, but as early period of the Pháp thuộc saw an influx of French enterprises significant changes to the social order of the day inspired new forms of resistance against French rule that differed from the earlier Cần Vương Movement. The new social circumstances in French Indochina were brought about by the establishment of industrial companies by

6996-543: The French sphere of influence in China, these places would now become hosts of anti-French revolutionary activities due to their borders with Tonkin and Laos, being the primary places of operation for both Chinese and Vietnamese revolutionaries. This allowed for members of the Duy Tân Hội to perform border raids on both Tonkin and Laos from their bases in China. In March 1913 the mystic millenarist cult leader Phan Xích Long organised an independence demonstration in Cholon which

7128-623: The French such as the Union commerciale indochinoise , the Est Asiatique français shipping company, the Chemin de fer français de l'Indochine et du Yunan railway company, as well as the various coal exploitation companies operating in Tonkin, these modern companies were accompanied by an influx of French tea, coffee, and rubber plantation magnates. Following the defeat of the Nguyễn loyalist Cần Vương Movement

7260-463: The French suffered from a serious crisis of command. Senior officers with the garrison and Cogny in Hanoi began to feel that de Castries was incompetent in defending Dien Bien Phu. After the loss of the northern outposts, he isolated himself in his bunker, de facto shirking his command of the situation. On 17 March, Cogny attempted to fly into Điện Biên Phủ to take command, but his plane was driven off by anti-aircraft fire. He considered parachuting into

7392-626: The French troops four to one. Giáp compared Điện Biên Phủ to a "rice bowl", where his troops occupied the edge and the French the bottom. Second, Giáp made a mistake at Nà Sản by committing his forces to reckless frontal attacks before being fully prepared. He learned his lesson: at Điện Biên Phủ, Giáp spent months meticulously stockpiling ammunition and emplacing heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns before making his move. He obtained crucial intelligence on French artillery positions from Viet Minh spies posing as camp laborers. Artillery pieces were sited within well-constructed and camouflaged casemates . As

7524-555: The French viewed Japanese women as clean, they were highly popular. Images of the Japanese prostitutes in Vietnam were put on French postcards by French photographers. The Japanese government tried to hide the existences of these Japanese prostitutes who went abroad and did not mention them in books on history. Beginning in the 1880s there was a rise of an explicitly anti-Catholic French administration in French Indochina. The administration would try to reduce Catholic missionary influence in French Indochinese society, as opposed to

7656-766: The French-held valley, totalling five divisions, including the 351st Heavy Division, which was an artillery formation equipped with medium artillery, such as the US M101 105mm howitzer, supplied by the neighbouring People's Republic of China (PRC) from captured stocks obtained from defeated Nationalist China as well as US forces in Korea , together with some heavier field-guns as well as anti-aircraft artillery. Various types of artillery and anti-aircraft guns (mainly of Soviet origin), which outnumbered their French counterparts by about four to one, were moved into strategic positions overlooking

7788-466: The French. By the end of November, six parachute battalions had been landed, and the French Army consolidated its positions. It was at this time that Giáp began his countermoves. He had expected an attack but had not foreseen when or where it would occur. Giáp realized that, if pressed, the French would abandon Lai Châu Province and fight a pitched battle at Điện Biên Phủ. On 24 November, Giáp ordered

7920-489: The French. They brought in vast amounts of heavy artillery (including anti-aircraft guns ) and managed to move these bulky weapons through difficult terrain up the rear slopes of the mountains. They dug tunnels and arranged the guns to target the French positions. The tunnels featured a front terrace, onto which the Viet Minh would pull their cannons from out of the tunnels, fire a few shots, to then pull them back into protective cover. In 54 days of gun battle, no Viet Minh cannon

8052-745: The Kingdom of Annam there are no longer two governments, but only one" (meaning that the French government completely took over the administration). While the French were trying to establish control over Cambodia, a large scale Vietnamese insurgency – the Cần Vương movement – started to take shape, aiming to expel the French and install the boy emperor Hàm Nghi as the leader of an independent Vietnam. Between 1885 and 1889, insurgents, led by Phan Đình Phùng , Phan Chu Trinh , Phan Bội Châu , Trần Quý Cáp and Huỳnh Thúc Kháng , targeted Vietnamese Christians as there were very few French soldiers to overcome, which led to

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8184-571: The Mekong Delta fell under French control. In 1863, the Cambodian king Norodom had requested the establishment of a French protectorate over his country. In 1867, Siam (modern Thailand ) renounced suzerainty over Cambodia and officially recognised the 1863 French protectorate on Cambodia, in exchange for the control of Battambang and Siem Reap provinces which officially became part of Thailand. (These provinces would be ceded back to Cambodia by

8316-624: The Saigon campaign, advanced out of the city and began to capture cities in the Mekong Delta. On 5 June 1862, the Vietnamese conceded and signed the Treaty of Saigon whereby they agreed to legalize the free practice of the Catholic religion; to open trade in the Mekong Delta and at three ports at the mouth of the Red River in northern Vietnam; to cede the provinces of Biên Hòa , Gia Định and Định Tường along with

8448-550: The Siamese who had ruled over them for a century before the establishment of the French protectorate. Both the traditional elite and the Laotian peasantry seemed largely content with French rule during this period. Despite this, sporadic revolts occurred in Laos during the late 19th century and early 20th century. During the late 19th century Southern Laos saw upland minority communities rising up in revolt, these were led by Bac My and Ong Ma on

8580-467: The Spanish attacked the port of causing significant damage and occupying the city. After fighting the Vietnamese for three months and finding himself unable to progress further in land, de Genouilly sought and received approval of an alternative attack on Saigon. Sailing to southern Vietnam, de Genouilly captured the poorly defended city of Saigon on 17 February 1859. Once again, however, de Genouilly and his forces were unable to seize territory outside of

8712-432: The Viet Minh AA machine guns 3 km (1.9 mi) west of Điện Biên Phủ. Remarkably, the attack was a complete success, with 350 Viet Minh's casualties and seventeen 12.7mm AA machine guns destroyed (French estimate), while the French lost 20 killed and 97 wounded. The next phase of the battle saw more massed Viet Minh assaults against French positions in central Điện Biên Phủ – particularly at Eliane and Dominique ,

8844-445: The Viet Minh and the French general headquarters, as well as outflanking all positions east of the river. At this point, the French 4th Colonial Artillery Regiment entered the fight, setting its 105 mm howitzers to zero elevation and firing directly on the Viet Minh attackers, blasting huge holes in their ranks. Another group of French soldiers, near the airfield, opened fire on the Viet Minh with anti-aircraft machine guns, forcing

8976-422: The Viet Minh and was to make shambles of all the estimates of our own artillerymen." Two days later, the French artillery commander, Colonel Charles Piroth , distraught at his inability to silence the well-camouflaged Viet Minh batteries, went into his dugout and committed suicide with a grenade . He was buried there in secret to prevent loss of morale among the French troops. Following a five-hour ceasefire on

9108-541: The Viet Minh as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh . With huge support by the U.S., the south became the State of Vietnam , nominally under Emperor Bảo Đại , preventing Ho Chi Minh from gaining control of the entire country. By 1953, the First Indochina War was not going well for France. A succession of commanders – Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque , Jean Étienne Valluy , Roger Blaizot , Marcel Carpentier , Jean de Lattre de Tassigny , and Raoul Salan  – had proven incapable of suppressing

9240-411: The Viet Minh between 1,000 and 2,000 attacking the strongpoint. The northwestern outpost Anne-Marie was defended by Tai troops, members of an ethnic minority loyal to the French. For weeks, Giáp had distributed subversive propaganda leaflets, telling the Tais that this was not their fight. The fall of Beatrice and Gabrielle had demoralized them. On the morning of 17 March, under the cover of fog,

9372-416: The Viet Minh isolated it and beat back the attempt to send reinforcements north. Following a massive artillery barrage on 30 March, the Viet Minh began employing the same trench warfare tactics that they were using against the central camp. By the end of April, Isabelle had exhausted its water supply and was nearly out of ammunition. The Viet Minh launched a massed assault against the exhausted defenders on

9504-407: The Viet Minh lacked. Navarre wrote that, "Under the influence of Chinese advisers, the Viet Minh commanders had used processes quite different from the classic methods. The artillery had been dug in by single pieces...They were installed in shellproof dugouts, and fire point-blank from portholes... This way of using artillery and AA guns was possible only with the expansive ant holes at the disposal of

9636-422: The Viet Minh to retreat. The Viet Minh's simultaneous attacks elsewhere were more successful. The 316th Division captured Eliane 1 from its Moroccan defenders, and half of Eliane 2 by midnight. On the west side of Điện Biên Phủ, the 308th attacked Huguette 7, and nearly succeeded in breaking through, but a French sergeant took charge of the defenders and sealed the breach. Just after midnight on 31 March,

9768-414: The afternoon. Reinforcements were sent north from Isabelle , but were attacked en route and fell back to Isabelle . Shortly after dark on 31 March, Langlais told Major Marcel Bigeard , who was leading the defense at Eliane 2, to fall back from Eliane 4. Bigeard refused, saying "As long as I have one man alive I won't let go of Eliane 4. Otherwise, Dien Bien Phu is done for." The night of 31 March,

9900-415: The allegation is probably unfounded, as the eight names begin with letters from the first nine of the alphabet.) The fortified headquarters was centrally located, with positions Huguette to the west, Claudine to the south, and Dominique to the northeast. The other positions were Anne-Marie to the northwest, Beatrice to the northeast, Gabrielle to the north, and Isabelle 6 km (3.7 mi) to

10032-649: The appearance of command, but that Langlais would exercise it. De Castries is said by Fall to have accepted the arrangement without protest, although he did exercise some command functions thereafter. Phillip Davidson stated that the "truth would seem to be that Langlais did take over effective command of Dien Bien Phu, and that Castries became 'commander emeritus' who transmitted messages to Hanoi and offered advice about matters in Dien Bien Phu". Jules Roy , however, makes no mention of this event, and Martin Windrow argues that

10164-509: The best school for political prisoners, nationalists, and communists, as they were gathered together in large, common cells which allowed them to exchange their ideas. In March 1908, mass demonstrations took place in Annam and Tonkin demanding a reduction of the high taxes. In June 1908, the Hanoi Poison Plot took place where a group of Tonkinese indigenous tirailleurs attempted to poison

10296-517: The brutality of modern warfare and many would change their perception about many social norms and beliefs at home because of their experiences abroad. Of the 93,000 French Indochinese soldiers and workers who came to Europe, most were from the poorest parts of Annam and Tonkin, which had been badly hit by famine and cholera , a smaller number (1,150) of French Indochinese soldiers and workers came from Cambodia. In Northeast France around 44,000 Vietnamese troops served in direct combat functions at both

10428-456: The bulk of the Tais left or defected. The French and the few remaining Tais on Anne-Marie were then forced to withdraw. A lull in fighting occurred from March 17 to March 30. The Viet Minh further encircled the French central area (formed by the strong points Huguette , Dominique , Claudine , and Eliane ), effectively cutting off Isabelle and its 1,809 personnel to the south. During this lull,

10560-452: The command center of the base to secure victory, but this was changed to the "Steady Fight, Steady Advance" model of siege tactics. The battle plan designed on the fast strike model was due to open at 17:00 on 25 January and to finish three nights and two days later. Nevertheless this start date was delayed to 26 January, because on 21 January Viet Minh's intelligence indicated that the French had grasped this plan. After much debate, due to

10692-470: The counterattack, chose to rely on the 5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion, which had jumped in the day before and was exhausted. Although some elements of the counterattack reached Gabrielle , most were paralyzed by Viet Minh artillery and took heavy losses. At 08:00 the next day, the Algerian battalion fell back, abandoning Gabrielle to the Viet Minh. The French lost around 1,000 men defending Gabrielle , and

10824-446: The criticisms of his proposal and concluded a 17 November conference by declaring that the operation would begin three days later, on 20 November 1953. Navarre decided to go ahead with the plan despite serious operational difficulties. These later became painfully obvious, but at the time may have been less apparent. He had been repeatedly assured by his intelligence officers that the operation carried very little risk of involvement by

10956-414: The defense of a monsoon-affected valley surrounded by heavily-wooded hills and high ground that had not been secured. Artillery as well as ten US M24 Chaffee light tanks (each broken down into 180 individual parts, flown into the base, and then re-assembled) and numerous aircraft (attack and supply types) were committed to the garrison. A number of quadruple 0.50 calibre machine guns were present and used in

11088-508: The defensive perimeter of the city. De Genouilly was criticised for his actions and was replaced by Admiral Page in November 1859 with instructions to obtain a treaty protecting the Catholic faith in Vietnam while refraining from making territorial gains. Peace negotiations proved unsuccessful and the fighting in Saigon continued. Ultimately in 1861, the French brought additional forces to bear in

11220-577: The earlier decades where missionaries played an important role in both administration and society in French Cochinchina. From 1 January 1898, the French directly took over the right to collect all taxes in the protectorate of Annam and to allocate salaries to the Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and its mandarins. In a notice dated 24 August 1898, the Resident-Superior of Annam wrote: "From now on, in

11352-460: The early 20th century calm was supposed to reign as the French had "pacified" the region, constant uprisings contesting French rule characterised French Indochina this period. "There is ample evidence of the rural populations' involvement in revolts against authority during the first 50 years of the French colonial presence in Cambodia." The French Sûreté was worried about the Japanese victory during

11484-511: The encircled garrison, but his staff talked him out of it. De Castries' seclusion in his bunker, combined with his superiors' inability to replace him, created a leadership vacuum in the French command. On 24 March, an event took place which later became a matter of historical debate. The historian Bernard Fall records, based on Langlais' memoirs, that Colonel Langlais and his fellow paratroop commanders, all fully armed, confronted de Castries in his bunker on 24 March. They told him he would retain

11616-453: The entire French colonial army's garrison in the Citadel of Hanoi . The aim of the plot was to neutralise the French garrison and make way for Commander Đề Thám 's rebel army to capture the city of Hanoi. The plot was disclosed, and then was suppressed by the French. In response the French proclaimed martial law . The French accused Phan Châu Trinh and Phan Bội Châu of the plot, Phan Châu Trinh

11748-436: The entire central subsector, was also killed by artillery fire. The Viet Minh 312th Division then launched an assault with its 141st and 209th Infantry Regiments, using sappers to breach the French obstacles. Béatrice comprised three separate strong points forming a triangle with the point facing north. In the southeast, strong point Beatrice -3, its defenses smashed by 75   mm mountain guns firing at point-blank range,

11880-655: The expansion of French Indochina led to the Franco-Siamese crisis of 1893 . In 1893 the French authorities in Indochina used border disputes, followed by the Paknam naval incident , to provoke a crisis. French gunboats appeared at Bangkok, and demanded the cession of Lao territories east of the Mekong River . King Chulalongkorn appealed to the British, but the British minister told the king to settle on whatever terms he could get, and he had no choice but to comply. Britain's only gesture

12012-410: The fort on the morning of 22 April. After this key advance, the Viet Minh took control of more than 90 percent of the airfield, making accurate French parachute drops impossible. This caused the landing zone to become perilously small, and effectively choked off much needed supplies. A French attack against Huguette 1 later that day was repulsed. Isabelle saw only light action until 30 March, when

12144-523: The four protectorates, the French formally left the local rulers in power, who were the emperors of Vietnam , kings of Cambodia , and kings of Luang Prabang , but in fact gathered all powers in their hands, the local rulers acting only as figureheads. Japanese women called Karayuki-san migrated or were trafficked to cities like Hanoi, Haiphong and Saigon in colonial French Indochina in the late 19th century to work as prostitutes and provide sexual services to French soldiers who were occupying Vietnam. Since

12276-410: The ground role. This included France's regular troops (notably elite paratrooper units, plus those of the artillery), French Foreign Legionnaires , Algerian and Moroccan tirailleurs (colonial troops from North Africa) and locally-recruited Indochinese (Laotian, Vietnamese and Cambodian) infantry. In comparison, altogether the Viet Minh had moved up to 50,000 regular troops into the hills surrounding

12408-430: The hedgehog option, which he characterized as "a mediocre solution". The French National Defense Committee ultimately agreed that Navarre's responsibility did not include defending Laos. However, its decision, which was drawn up on 13 November, was not delivered to him until 4 December, two weeks after the Điện Biên Phủ operation began. Operations at Điện Biên Phủ began at 10:35 on 20 November 1953. In Operation Castor ,

12540-521: The help of the British. An all-out resistance war, known as the First Indochina War , broke out in late 1946 between French and Viet Minh forces. To counter the Viet Minh, the State of Vietnam , led by former Emperor Bảo Đại , was proclaimed by the French in 1949. French efforts to retake Vietnam were unsuccessful, culminating in defeat at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ . On 22 October and 9 November 1953,

12672-536: The insurrection of the Viet Minh , who were fighting for independence. During their 1952–1953 campaign, the Viet Minh had overrun vast swathes of Laos , Vietnam's western neighbor, advancing as far as Luang Prabang and the Plain of Jars . The French were unable to slow the advance of the Viet Minh, who fell back only after outrunning their always-tenuous supply lines. In 1953, the French had begun to strengthen their defenses in

12804-433: The islands of Poulo Condore to France; and to pay reparations equivalent to one million dollars. In 1864 the aforementioned three provinces ceded to France were formally constituted as the French colony of Cochinchina. Then in 1867, French Admiral Pierre de la Grandière forced the Vietnamese to surrender three additional provinces, Châu Đốc , Hà Tiên and Vĩnh Long . With these three additions all of southern Vietnam and

12936-408: The knowledge that if wounded, the soldier will go uncared for". During the fighting at Eliane 1, on the other side of camp, the Viet Minh entrenchments had almost entirely surrounded Huguette 1 and 6. On 11 April the garrison of Huguette 1, supported by artillery from Claudine , launched an attack with the goal of resupplying Huguette 6 with water and ammunition. The attacks were repeated on

13068-464: The left-of-centre Pierre Mendès France , supported French withdrawal from Indochina. The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ was decisive. The war ended shortly afterward and the 1954 Geneva Accords were signed. France agreed to withdraw its forces from all its colonies in French Indochina , while stipulating that Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel , with control of the north given to

13200-429: The liberation of his country from French domination. The Duy Tân Hội was founded in 1904 by Phan Bội Châu and Prince Cường Để. The group in a broader sense was also considered a Modernisation Movement. This new group of people consisted only of a few hundred people, with most of its members being either students or nationalists. Notable members of the society included Gilbert Trần Chánh Chiêu . The members of

13332-431: The military, and the execution of a number of Nguyễn dynasty mandarins that were accused of working together with the French government. Another revolt also broke out in Cochinchina in 1913 where prisons and administrative hubs were attacked by crowds of hundreds of peasants using sticks and swords to fight the French, as the French were armed with firearms a large number of protesters ended up dying by gunshot wounds causing

13464-619: The ministry was according to the plans and the command of the French Director of Education of Annam . The French administration in Annam continuously revised the curriculum to be taught in order to fit the French system. The French entry into World War I saw thousands of volunteers, primarily from the French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin, enlist for service in Europe, around 7 ⁄ 8 of all French Indochinese serving in Europe were Annamese and Tonkinese volunteers. This period also saw

13596-473: The morale" of the Viet Minh troops. Much to French disbelief, the Viet Minh had employed direct artillery fire, in which each gun crew does its own artillery spotting (as opposed to indirect fire, in which guns are massed further away from the target, out of direct line of sight, and rely on a forward artillery spotter). Indirect artillery, generally held as being far superior to direct fire, requires experienced, well-trained crews and good communications, which

13728-419: The morning of 14 March, Viet Minh artillery resumed pounding French positions. The airstrip, already closed since 16:00 the day before due to a light bombardment, was now put permanently out of commission. Any further French supplies would have to be delivered by parachute. That night, the Viet Minh launched an attack on the northern outpost Gabrielle , held by an elite Algerian battalion. The attack began with

13860-408: The night of 1 May, overrunning Eliane 1, Dominique 3, and Huguette 5, although the French managed to beat back attacks on Eliane 2. On 6 May, the Viet Minh launched another massed attack against Eliane 2, using, for the first time, Katyusha rockets . The French artillery fired a "TOT" ( time on target ) mission, so that artillery rounds fired from different positions would strike on target at

13992-436: The nights of the 14–15 and 16–17 April. While they did succeed in getting some supplies through, the French suffered heavy casualties, which convinced Langlais to abandon Huguette 6. Following a failed attempt to link up, on 18 April, the defenders at Huguette 6 made a daring break out, but only a few managed to make it to French lines. The Viet Minh repeated the isolation and probing attacks against Huguette 1, and overran

14124-630: The perimeter contracted, and the air resupply on which the French had placed their hopes became impossible as aircraft were shot down and runways were destroyed. The garrison was overrun in May after a two-month siege, and most of the French forces surrendered. A few men escaped to Laos. Among the 11,721 French troops captured, 858 of the most seriously wounded were evacuated via the Red Cross mediation in May 1954. Only 3,290 were returned four months later. The French government in Paris resigned. The new prime minister,

14256-458: The plan, every major subordinate officer – Colonel Jean-Louis Nicot (commander of the French Air transport fleet), Cogny, and Generals Jean Gilles and Jean Dechaux (the ground and air commanders for Operation Castor , the initial airborne assault on Điện Biên Phủ) – protested. Cogny pointed out, presciently, that "we are running the risk of a new Nà Sản under worse conditions". Navarre rejected

14388-514: The press which fostered a public sphere of oppositional political activism. Although these developments occurred throughout French Indochina they were more strongly felt in Cochinchina due to its more open society. Battle of %C4%90i%E1%BB%87n Bi%C3%AAn Ph%E1%BB%A7 [REDACTED] French Union [REDACTED] Democratic Republic of Vietnam [REDACTED] Henri Eugène Navarre [REDACTED] Christian de Castries   [REDACTED] The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ

14520-469: The problems of their successors. Navarre began searching for a way to address the Viet Minh threat to Laos. Colonel Louis Berteil, commander of Mobile Group 7 and Navarre's main strategist, formulated the hérisson (' hedgehog ') concept. The French army would establish a fortified airhead by airlifting soldiers to positions adjacent to key Viet Minh supply lines to Laos. They would cut off Viet Minh soldiers fighting in Laos and force them to withdraw. "It

14652-460: The protests to break up ending the revolt. During the early 20th century the French protectorate over Cambodia was challenged by rebels, just before it saw three separate revolts during the early reign of King Norodom , who had little authority outside Phnom Penh . During the early 20th century Laos was considered to be the most "docile" territory as it saw relatively few uprisings. The French attributed this to them being more stable rulers than

14784-614: The region. Nevertheless, deep divides remained between the native population and the colonists, leading to sporadic rebellions by the former. After the Fall of France during World War II , the colony was administered by the Vichy government and was under Japanese occupation until March 1945, when the Japanese overthrew the colonial regime . After the Japanese surrender , the Viet Minh , led by Hồ Chí Minh , declared Vietnamese independence , but France subsequently sought to restore their control with

14916-525: The same time. This barrage defeated the first assault wave, but later that night the Viet Minh detonated a mine under Eliane 2, with devastating effect. The Viet Minh attacked again, and within a few hours the defenders were overrun. On 7 May, Giáp ordered an all-out attack against the remaining French units with over 25,000 Viet Minh against fewer than 3,000 garrison troops. At 17:00, de Castries radioed French headquarters in Hanoi and talked with Cogny: De Castries: "The Viets are everywhere. The situation

15048-592: The south, covering the reserve airstrip. The arrival of the 316th Viet Minh Division prompted Cogny to order the evacuation of the Lai Chau garrison to Điện Biên Phủ, exactly as Giáp had anticipated. En route, they were virtually annihilated by the Viet Minh. "Of the 2,100 men who left Lai Chau on 9 December, only 185 made it to Điện Biên Phủ on 22 December. The rest had been killed, captured, or "deserted". French military forces had committed 10,800 troops, together with yet more reinforcements, totalling nearly 16,000 men, to

15180-517: The times as more opportunities to study" opened up in the South to which this new ministry was best suited to help this transition. While the Nguyễn dynasty's Ministry of Education was nominally a part of the Nguyễn dynasty's administrative apparatus, actual control was in the hands of the French Council for the Improvement of Indigenous Education in Annam , which dictated its policies. All work done by

15312-506: The two remaining outposts east of the Nam Yum River. Those two areas were held by five understrength battalions, composed of Frenchmen, Legionnaires, Vietnamese, North Africans, and Tais. Giáp planned to use the tactics from the Beatrice and Gabrielle skirmishes. At 19:00 on 30 March, the Viet Minh 312th Division captured Dominique 1 and 2, making Dominique 3 the final outpost between

15444-437: The valley and the French forces based there. The French garrison came under sporadic direct artillery fire from the Viet Minh for the first time on 31 January 1954 and patrols encountered the Viet Minh troops in all directions around them. The French were completely surrounded. Originally, the planned Viet Minh attack was based on the Chinese "Fast Strike, Fast Victory" model, which aimed to use all available power to thrust into

15576-422: The vast majority of the men who volunteered for service in Europe were indeed volunteers. Among the motivations of volunteering were both personal and economic ambitions, some French Indochinese volunteers wished to see what the world looked like "beyond the bamboo hedges in their villages" while others preferred the money and the opportunity to see what France actually looks like. Their service would expose them to

15708-436: The viability of the fortified airhead concept. However, French staff officers failed to treat seriously several crucial differences between Điện Biên Phủ and Nà Sản: First, at Nà Sản, the French commanded most of the high ground with overwhelming artillery support. At Điện Biên Phủ, however, the Viet Minh controlled much of the high ground around the valley, their artillery far exceeded French expectations, and they outnumbered

15840-463: The western part of Chantaburi . In 1904, to get back Chantaburi, Siam had to give Trat and Koh Kong to French Indochina. Trat became part of Thailand again on 23 March 1907 in exchange for many areas east of the Mekong like Battambang , Siam Nakhon and Sisophon . In the 1930s, Siam engaged France in a series of talks concerning the repatriation of Siamese provinces held by the French. In 1938, under

15972-469: Was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the French Union 's colonial Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries . The French began an operation to insert, and support, their soldiers at Điện Biên Phủ , deep in the autonomous Tai Federation in northwest Tonkin . The operation's purpose

16104-573: Was an agreement with France guaranteeing the integrity of the rest of Siam. In exchange, Siam had to give up its claim to the Thai-speaking Shan region of north-eastern Burma to the British, and cede Laos to France . The French continued to pressure Siam, and in 1902 they manufactured another crisis. This time Siam had to concede French control of territory on the west bank of the Mekong opposite Luang Prabang and around Champasak in southern Laos, as well as western Cambodia. France also occupied

16236-422: Was an attempt to interdict the enemy's rear area, to stop the flow of supplies and reinforcements, to establish a redoubt in the enemy's rear and disrupt his lines". The hérisson was based on French experiences at the Battle of Nà Sản . In late November and early December 1952, Giáp had attacked the French outpost at Nà Sản, which was essentially an "air-land base", a fortified camp supplied only by air. There,

16368-507: Was attended by 600 peasants dressed in white robes. Phan Xích Long claimed descent of the deposed Hàm Nghi Emperor and the Ming dynasty's emperor and declared himself to be the "Emperor of the Ming Dynasty". The year 1913 also saw the Duy Tân Hội's second insurrection campaign, this campaign resulted in the society's members murdering two French Hanoi police officers, attacks on both militia and

16500-478: Was caught on open ground. At that point, Giáp decided to change tactics. Although Giáp still had the same objective – to overrun French defenses east of the river – he decided to employ entrenchment and sapping to achieve it. On 10 April, the French attempted to retake Eliane 1, which had been lost eleven days earlier. The loss posed a significant threat to Eliane 4, and the French wanted to eliminate that threat. The dawn attack, which Bigeard devised, began with

16632-612: Was closed in the year of its founding by the French authorities because it was perceived as being anti-French. The Tonkin Free School stemmed from the movement of the same name, which aimed to modernise Vietnamese society by abandoning Confucianism and adopting new ideas from both the Western world and Japan. In particular, it promoted the Vietnamese version of the Latin script for writing Vietnamese in place of classical Chinese by publishing educational materials and newspapers using this script, as

16764-460: Was destroyed. In March, the Viet Minh began a massive artillery bombardment of the French defenses. The strategic positioning of their artillery made it nearly impervious to French counter-battery fire . Tenacious fighting on the ground ensued, reminiscent of the trench warfare of World War I . At times, the French repulsed Viet Minh assaults on their positions while supplies and reinforcements were delivered by air . As key positions were overrun,

16896-578: Was no comprehensive plan to develop the organization and build up the equipment of the Expeditionary force. Finally, Navarre, the intellectual, the cold and professional soldier, was shocked by the "school's out" attitude of Salan and his senior commanders and staff officers. They were going home, not as victors or heroes, but then, not as clear losers either. To them the important thing was that they were getting out of Indochina with their reputations frayed, but intact. They spared little thought or concern for

17028-410: Was quickly overrun by the 209th Regiment's 130th Battalion. In the north, most of Beatrice -1 was swiftly conquered by the 141st Regiment's 428th Battalion, but the defenders held out in corner of the position for a time because the attackers thought they had captured the entire strong point when they encountered an internal barbed wire barrier in the dark. In the southwest, the assault on Beatrice -2 by

17160-550: Was sent to Poulo Condor, and Phan Bội Châu fled to Japan and thence, in the year 1910, he went to China. In the years 1912 and 1913 Vietnamese nationalists organised attacks in Tonkin and Cochinchina. Using diplomatic pressure the French persuaded the Japanese to banish the Duy Tân Hội in 1909 from its shores causing them to seek refuge in Qing China, here they would join the ranks of Sun Yat-Sen 's Tongmenghui . While places like Guangdong , Guangxi , and Yunnan were earlier in

17292-505: Was the introduction of a vibrant political press both in French and in the indigenous languages that led to the political radicalisation of a new generation of nationalists. Because most of the indigenous people that served in France and the rest of Europe during the War were Vietnamese these social and political developments affected the Vietnamese more. Because French Cochinchina was a direct French colony it enjoyed favourable legislation concerning

17424-442: Was to cut off enemy supply lines into the neighboring Kingdom of Laos (a French ally) and draw the Viet Minh into a major confrontation in order to cripple them. The French based their forces in an isolated but well-fortified camp that would be resupplied by air, a strategy adopted based on the belief that the Viet Minh had no anti-aircraft capability . The Viet Minh, however, under General Võ Nguyên Giáp , surrounded and besieged

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