Advertise on podcast: Decolonisations - Viet Nam

The Geneva Accords ended the French war but only postponed the Vietnamese civil war to a later date.

The DRV won fair and square against France at Dien Bien Phu. But the Vietnamese military and society had to pay and astonishing price for victory.

The battle of Dien Bien Phu almost started on January 25th, 1954....

1953. General Navarre is the 7th coach appointed for the French French team. His goal: to prevent France from being relegated from Indochina. His plan : play it safe in 1953-54, then go on the offensive from 1955 onwards. But General Giap wants to put a spanner in his works and attacks in Tai country, thereby threatening Laos. The road to Dien Bien Phu is then wide open.

In 1953, the French are lost. What to do? Follow public opinion, cut their losses and get out of Indochina? Or fight harder, as advised by the new American administration? While France is heistating, the DRV makes a move in Laos.

1952: Strategic differences began to appear between French and American allies, at the very moment when the Vietnamese and Chinese agreed to extend the war to the North West of Viet Nam, towards the border with Laos.

Between 1951 and 1954, France and the DRV (Democratic Republic of Viet Nam) fought 8 major battles. To compete with France, Ho Chi Minh and his government mobilised the whole population in an all encompassing total war by building a totalitarian communist state.

Did the dazzling and meteoric tenure of General de Lattre move the French cause forward in Vietnam? Not really if we consider that non-communist nationalists were discredited by his actions and that, when he left, the military situation was exactly the same as when he arrived. Production: Xavier Diamé Ndour Contact: [email protected] Music: Niamar le Conteur

After their win on the Chinese border, the DRV went for the win but were stopped on their tracks by one person: General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. Production: Xavier Diamé Ndour Contact: [email protected] Music: Niamar le Conteur

The first major defeat of a colonizing country against a national liberation army. The Battle of RC4 is the first turning point in the Indochina war. Production: Xavier Diame Ndour COntact: [email protected] Music: Niamar Le Conteur

The proclamation of the Communist China by Mao Zedong in 1949 and American recognition of Bao Dai's regime transformed France's colonial war into a war between against communism. Produced by Xavier-Diamé Ndour Opening and Closing Credits by Niamar Le Conteur Contact: [email protected]

On 8 March 1949, Viet Nam became independent as an associated state within the French Union. Viet Nam reunified its two protectorates, regained Cochinchina and Bao Daï became head of state. However, this was not real independence. It was just a ploy by the French to get American assistance and secure French presence in Viet Nam.

1948: The security situation is getting worse and France is still procrastinating about giving its independence to a unified Viet Nam. All that strengthens the Ho Chi Minh government and put the non communist nationalists in a embarrassing position. Production: Xavier Diamé Ndour Contact: [email protected]

1947: Ho Chi Minh is isolated. Will he survive Operation Lea, the massive French offensive? At the same time an alliance between non-communist Vietnamese nationalists and the French is starting to take form and the former emperor Bao Dai is in the middle of it. Produced by Xavier Diamé Ndour ([email protected])

In 1946, in Paris, Ho Chi Minh described the future war this way to American journalist David Schoenbrun: "It will be a war between an elephant and a tiger. If the tiger ever stands still the elephant will crush him with his mighty tusks. But the tiger does not stand still. He lurks in the jungle by day and emerges by night. He will leap upon the back of the elephant, tearing huge chunks from his hide, and then he will leap back into the dark jungle. And slowly the elephant will bleed to death. That will be the war of Indochina." Source: David Schoenbrun, "As France Goes" (New York: Harper & Bros., 1957)