What was the conflict of the Dien Bien Phu Battle? And What were the reasons for the conflict?

Question

Please.
I need Help.

Answer 1

~cremedel, what you leave out is that those Geneva Accords guaranteed popular elections in Vietnam and the reunification of the country. When it became clear that Uncle Ho would win those elections, the US supported the government of Diem in the South, until he had the effrontery to show a little independence and resistance to the puppet masters in Washington (his corruption and barbarism were not a problem - Uncle Sam is always willing to overlook those little foibles in useful allies (witness the Shah, Marcos, Saddam, ad nauseum)) tppk umbrage with him and JFK authorized his assassination. Once Nguyen Van Thieu replaced him, the US was able to keep the war going for another 10 years. And oh, yeah, the promised elections were never held until the US was ousted.

The reasons for the conflict were similar to those extant in the colonies in 1776. An indigenous people wanted to throw off the yoke of colonial masters and have a say in how their homeland was governed. Kind of like what is going on in Iraq today.

Answer 2

G'day Tammie,

Thank you for your question.

Vietnam was a French colony. The Viet Minh under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh was a communist organisation led by Ho Chi Minh fighting for Vietnamese independence.

The French set up an air base at Dien Bien Phu to cut off the Viet Minh supply lines in 1954. However, the Viet Minh were better equipped than the French thought and gradually cut off supplies. The French were forced to abandon the base and agreed to the Geneva accords of 1954 leaving the country. Vietnam was split into two leading to the start of the Vietnam War in 1959.

I have attached sources for your reference.

Regards

Answer 3

Dien Bien Phu was part of the Vietnamese effort to remove the French presence from Indochina. Dien Bien Phu was a very large compund that the Viet Minh surrounded and beseiged in a very public campaign and eventually forced the French to give up. Once the French were out it paved the way for the division of Vietnam and the eventual arrival of US forces to fight communism. In 1968 when the Americans were besieged at Khe Sahn, it looked to the rest fo the world like another Dien Bien Phu and the American people began to seriously question our purposes and effectiveness in Vietnam.

Answer 4

"Dien Bien Phu was not at all typical of the fighting in Indochina (Vietnam). It was better publicised than the other French defeats, since it was expected to defeat the enemy's (Viet Minh) regular forces - for all the wrong reasons. Initially no showdown battle was planned for 1953-54. The most that French leader General Henri Navarre had hoped to expect was a tied game by 1955. The French Government made the POLITICAL decision to defend northern Laos from Communist invasion. The French authorities in France did not know of Navarre's decision to launch "Operation Castor", since Navarre was only told to "adjust his operations to his means." Navarre claimed all responsibility for the operational decisions that lead to Dien Bien Phu. Laos could not be defended by a war of movement, so the system of fortified camps called "hedgehogs" appeared to be the only possible solution, as mediocre as it was."

* The French had spent close to $11 billion from 1946-1954 for the prosecution of the war. U.S expenditures of financing the French reached an approximate total of $954 million by July, 1954. *