Vietnam today marks the 70th anniversary of a major victory over the French in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, a desolate colonial outpost in the North Western portion of the tropical country near the Laotian border. The 56-day-long battle ensured the end of French rule in Vietnam and had far-reaching consequences much after the last bullet had been fired.
Top Vietnamese leaders, war veterans and diplomats attended the commemoration event of what is considered one of the greatest battles of the 20th century. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, while speaking about the transformative importance of the battle stated that the victory was a win for all colonized nation and that Vietnam needs another similar transformative economic victory.
A transformative win it was for the communist Viet Minh rebels under Ho Chi Minh and General Giap who defeated the French at a strategic but remote valley, precipitating the exit of the French from first Vietnam and then the Indo-China region.
As a result of the battle, the French government in Paris resigned and Pierre Mendes France, who supported the idea of his nation’s withdrawal from Vietnam took over as the Prime Minister. Within three months of the ending of the battle the French and the Vietnamese signed the 1954 Geneva Accords. Of the nearly 14,000 French personnel that took part in the battle, only 3,290 were returned some four months after the battle.
The 1954 Geneva Conference, although bringing peace in the short term, also ended up dividing Vietnam along the 17th Parallel between Ho Chi Minh led communists in the North and Bao Dai led State of Vietnam in the South, leading to a deadlier war a little over a decade with the Americans that lasted another decade and leading to a communist victory and eventual unification of Vietnam.
