Consequences of Vietnamese Victory Against free essay sample

Assess the consequences of the Vietnamese victory against the French for Indochina in the periods 1954-1964. The Vietnamese victory against the French at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 brought about dramatic changes to Indochina. These changes took place in the Geneva Conference which shortly happened after the battle of Dien Bien Phu. General Vo Nguyen Giap and Ho Chi Minh who were the Vietminh’s leader had only one goal and that was to unify Vietnam and declare independence from colonial rule but however their goals were not achieved at the end of the Geneva Conference due to a number of reasons.The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was a humiliating defeat for the French but however this victory was a resounding victory for the Vietminh as they have finally broke free from countless years of colonial rule. This victory enhanced the Vietminh’s status within Vietnam and fuelled their commitment to go on and establish a united and independent Vietnam. The defeat of the French however was a setback for the U. S who had provided massive financial and logistical support for the French.Even though the French were prepared to accept the victory of Ho’s communist forces, the Americans were not. This would result in American Intervention during the Geneva Conference due to their strict containment policy against communism which would result in the outbreak of a second Indochina war in a decade. The Geneva Conference of Indochina was attended by the U. S. , Britain, China, the Soviet Union, France, Vietnam (Viet Minh and representatives of Bao Dai), Cambodia and Laos, all meeting to negotiate a solution for Southeast Asia. Because of the Cold War between the U.S (nationalism) and the Soviet Union (communism) each side soon sought their own interest in the Geneva Conference. Even though the Viet Minh had been victorious in the battle of Dien Bien Phu, Ho Chi Minh’s dream of an independent, unified Vietnam remained just a dream as pressure was placed on the Vietminh to accept a divided Vietnam. Ho not only had to seek the interest of the Vietminh but also the interest of his supporters which were the Soviet Union and China which Ho feared may lead to a â€Å"temporary division† if the conference did not go the way they wanted to.The Soviets were more concerned about the security situation in Europe while China feared being dragged into another Korea style confrontation against the US in Indochina and therefore pressured the Vietminh to accept the division of Vietnam. The result of the tensions at the conference due to behind the scenes pressures and secret meetings was the Geneva Agreement of 1954. It was a compromise which satisfied nobody. This would soon lead to a second Indochina war due to the involvements of the U. S who sought to spread nationalism and anti communist ideas throughout Vietnam and the Soviet and China who supported the Communist North.The historian Stanley Karnow made a comment that America had a strict desire to not be committed to anything be ing signed at Geneva because of the fact that US Secretary of State Dulles ordered the US delegation chief, Bedell Smith, to remain aloof and make no concessions to the Communists. Dulles knew, suggests Karnow, that whatever was going to come out of Geneva was going to be unsatisfactory. â€Å"The Geneva Conference produced no durable solution to the Indochina conflict, only a military truce that awaited a political settlement, which never really happened.So the conference was merely an interlude between two wars – or rather, a lull in the same war† This comment made by Karnow is true as the agreements made in the Geneva Agreement satisfied nobody and soon led to the second war of Indochina. The Geneva Peace Agreement ended with Vietnam being divided into two at the 17th parallel which divided Vietnam into South Vietnam which would be held by forces who fought with the French and North Vietnam which was held by the Vietminh forces led by Ho Chi Minh.The Agreement also included that there will be an election for the unification of Vietnam in 1956 July but however the U. S did not sign the peace agreement. The agreement also ended with Laos and Cam bodia to become independent under a royalist government and remaining French forces were forced to withdraw. The North defined itself as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. It became a communist regime led by Ho Chi Minh with its capital in Hanoi. The southern nation was called the Republic of Vietnam. It established its capital in Saigon and was led by the French-educated Catholic, Ngo Dinh Diem.South Vietnam quickly became an ally of the United States and Diem was our man in Vietnam. The North however was being supported by Communist China and the Soviet Union who supported Ho Chi Minh’s nationalist movement during the first Indochina war. When the agreement was signed it allowed up to 300 days for the people of Vietnam to move to either South or North Vietnam. This brought about another separation of the Vietnamese people and was far from what Ho Chi Minh sought to achieve after countless years of fighting to unify Vietnam.Vietnam soon became another country which was apart of Cold War as the U. S. supported South Vietnam in order to contain communism. President Eisenhower, who rejected French requests for U. S. air support when they were under siege at Dien Bien Phu, responded much more positively to the request from the new South Vietnamese government under Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem for help, and was persuaded by his secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, that it was important for South Vietnam to serve as a bulwark against communism in Asia. The U. S. as fearful of the Domino Theory which was where President Eisenhower argued that if the first domino is knocked over then the rest topple in turn. Applying this to South-east Asia Eisenhower argued that if South Vietnam was taken by communists, then the other countries in the region such as Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia and Indonesia, would follow. Eisenhower’s vice-president, Richard Nixon, was greatly supportive of this theory. In a speech made in December, 1953, Nixon argued â€Å"If Indochina falls; Thailand is put in an almost impossible position.The same is true of Malaya with its rubber and tin. The same is true of Indonesia. If this whole part of South East Asia goes under Communist domination or Communist influence, Japan, who trades and must trade with this area in order to exist, must inevitably, be oriented towards the Communist regime. † The Domino Theory greatly affected the U. S policy of containment in Vietnam which made the U. S involvement in Vietnam vital for their stand against communism worldwide. During the periods of 1954-1964, The U.S. did not intend to send any military aid for the South but instead sought to boost South Vietnam economically with aid packages and advisors in order to win the to support South Vietnam against the fight with the North. Diem’s rule in South Vietnam however was corrupted and nepotistic; he positioned his family and close friends in top positions of the political party and in military. He also limited freedom of press, incarcerated his political rivals, and restricted practice of religion.Many Vietnamese resented Diems policies and as a result, Diem grew increasingly unpopular and his government heavily relied on the U. S support for survival. Diem’s rule also favoured Catholics over majority of the population which led to a coup with the U. S turning a blind eye. The North’s rule by Ho Chi Minh was not as corrupted as South Vietnam. The early stages of his rule were brutal but however with heavy aid packages of The Soviet Union and China, he managed to get North Vietnam into a well runned economy. Ho then focused on is goal of unifying Vietnam and therefore sought to unify Vietnam by infiltrating South Vietnam through gaining popularity with the peasants, assasinations of key officials of South Vietnam and building the Ho Chi Minh trail which allowed the quick transfers of supplies through South Vietnam. The corrupted government which was runned by Diem was the biggest downfall for the America’s lost in the war. The government which Diem ran was ineffective due to the fact that it isolated and alienated the peasants from each other due to the agroville and strategic hamlet program which made the peasants favour the North more then the South.Even after the assasination of Diem the future leaders of South Vietnam were ineffective as they were also corrupted and sought their own interest rather then the country’s or the U. S. The failure of the management of South Vietnam had largely influenced the actions of the idealistic U. S. due to the fact that South Vietnam had a high chance of falling to communism which threathened their policy of containment and the domino theory. The U. S. lso got more involved in the war to protect the amount of investment they had on South Vietnam which could fall in communist hands. The U. S therefore needed an opportunity to provide military aid to South Vietnam in order to stop the line of communism. This opportunity came from the Tonkin’s incident in 1964 where an U. S ship USS Maddox claimed that it had been attacked by the North twice. This incident brought direct involvement of the U. S in Vietnam and therefore starts the second indochina war which the U.S loses because of they underestimated the North’s persistent goal of achieving an unified Vietnam and their tactic of Guerilla Warfare. The Vietnamese’s victory against the French was suppose to allow Vietnam to break away from colonial powers and become independent but however due to the battle of nationalism and communism of the world at the time, each of the superpowers saw interest in Indochina and therefore sought to spread their influence on Indochina and thus lead to the division of Vietnam and a second indochina war.