yourworstnightm: That's true.
mad general: Thank you.
Wow. I am on the second page already and I have only done one update so far. I should probably fix that.
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The First Indochina War
The postwar period witnessed the crumbling of the European colonial system. The old order, in which Europe dominated much of the world, was mortally undermined by the Second World War. Part of the reason has to do with the fact that the colonial system came under direct assault by the Axis Powers. Another reason for the crumbling was the staunch anti-colonial attitude of the newest superpower: the United States of America. Itself a product of the colonial system, America opposed propping up the empires of her allies in the name of defending freedom. When Republican President Wendell Willkie of Indiana (1941-1944) declared in his One World speech (delivered on July 4th, 1943) that
“freedom is an indivisible word; if we want to enjoy it, we must be prepared to extend it to everyone,” he spoke on behalf of the nation.
Consequently, the United States directly – and indirectly – supported colonial people who were demanding independence from their European masters. This greatly annoyed America’s allies, of course, but there was little they could do to shut America up. They did get a breather in October 1944 when Willkie died during a re-election campaign stop in Connecticut from a weak heart. His successor, Republican Secretary of State Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, didn’t do much about the colonial issue while serving out the remainder of Willkie’s single term. When Dewey became the next elected President in January 1945, he toned down the anti-colonial rhetoric. However, even with Willkie gone, the damage had already been done. Once the war ended in early 1947, the demand from colonies for full independence accelerated. With Europe exhausted and unable to hold onto their empires effectively, the colonial system gradually broke down. Between 1947 and 1951, several (mostly British) colonies in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia became independent nations:
-Egypt (from the United Kingdom)
-Israel (from the United Kingdom)
-Jordan (from the United Kingdom)
-Burma (from the United Kingdom)
-Cambodia (from France)
-Ceylon (from the United Kingdom)
-India (from the United Kingdom)
-Indonesia (from the Netherlands)
-Laos (from France)
-Pakistan (from the United Kingdom)
Tragically, Vietnam wasn’t among them.
Since the late 19th Century, the French had been in control of Indochina (comprised of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam). Following the Second World War, the French attempted to re-exert their control over the region. However, as mentioned previously, they couldn’t hold onto Cambodia and Laos for very long. Soon, those two countries slipped from their grasp. Determined to have a foothold in Asia, the French government swore they would hold onto Vietnam no matter what. To make administering the colony easier, they established a puppet government there headed by Prince Bao Dai. Educated in France, Dai seemed like the perfect puppet ruler. What the French weren’t counting on was a man who had his own vision of postwar Vietnam…a vision that didn’t include the French.
His name was Ho Chi Minh. A brilliant writer, Minh was a Communist who had been pestering France to get out of Vietnam for years. When Japan occupied Vietnam in 1940, Minh reacted by helping to form the Viet Minh, a national independence movement. The Viet Minh launched a guerilla campaign against the Japanese occupiers, harassing them at every turn.
When the Japanese handed Vietnam back over to France at the end of the war, the Viet Minh naturally turned their guerilla warfare against the French. To provide an alternative to the Dai government, Minh organized his own government (called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) in Hanoi. Of course, Paris wasn’t amused that these rebels were openly defying their rule. To put down the revolt, they dispatched military forces to Vietnam to reinforce Dai’s Vietnamese National Army. On April 23rd, 1948, the French Navy shelled Viet Minh positions in Haiphong. Under attack by superior forces, the Viet Minh withdrew from Haiphong.
With those shots, the First Indochina War began. Having driven the rebels out, the French then turned their attention towards Hanoi. On May 19th, they attacked Minh’s capital. Again overwhelmed by superior firepower, Minh and his forces withdrew into the nearby jungle. Knowing that they couldn’t fight the French head-on, the Viet Minh stepped up their guerrilla campaign. Hit-and-run attacks became the norm, forcing French soldiers to be on guard at all times. Vo Nguyen Giap, Minh’s senior military leader, planned and led the long, wearing-down campaign against the enemy.
The First Indochina War soon resembled the American Revolution. Like the British, the French controlled the major cities of Vietnam. Like George Washington, Giap knew that the enemy was at a disadvantage once they moved outside the cities. The rice fields and jungles were the Viet Minh’s terrain, and they exploited the home field advantage to the fullest. To deal with the terrain disadvantage, the French built military installations called “hedgehogs” to operate out of. The purpose of the hedgehogs was to allow French soldiers and their allies to destroy Viet Minh supply lines and organizational efforts.
Hedgehogs, which seemed like a good idea on paper, turned out to be not very helpful. Far from weakening the Viet Minh, the bases gave them visible, stationary targets in which to launch guerilla attacks against. Furthermore, the hedgehogs were vulnerable to Vietnam’s rainy weather – particularly the Mekong Delta region in the South. Those unlucky enough to be stationed in that region were blanketed by incredible amounts of rainfall. That made calling in for artillery and air support virtually impossible. French soldiers were simply unprepared for the brutal weather, not to mention the various tropical diseases; as a result, their morale plummeted. Even something as simple as walking could knock them out of action.
With their war in Vietnam dragging on with little to show for it, the French Government concluded in 1950 that they needed outside support…badly. Only one country, they felt, could make the difference between victory and defeat: the United States of America.