Why Did the French Loose the War in Vietnam?

Q. Why did the French loose the war in Vietnam?

In April of 1956 the last remaining French troops would leave Vietnam. After over 200 years of influence and rule, the French at last realized that the occupation and control of Vietnam was an unreachable goal. In consideration of the many blunders (both militarily and political) , and the outright ignorance of the French high command, any efforts to stabilize Vietnamese nationalism and to maintain french rule over Vietnam were thwarted. Thus the French were defeated by an inferior force, and the question of how such an anomaly could occur lies within the 200 years of rule, and the many mistakes made through out way.

To completely understand how France could be defeated by a simple army of Vietnamese peasants, one must first acknowledge a brief history of the Franco-Vietnamese relationship. French Jesuits first arrived in Vietnam in 1634, in hopes of bringing over "souls" to the catholic church. The majority of Vietnamese are Buddhist, and many locals opposed the presence of the French. By the mid 1700's France would sign a treaty with the Vietnamese gaining protection for the Jesuits in return for French assistance in helping the Vietnamese fight their Chinese invaders. With the rest of Europe carving up the world in the mid 1800's, France now looked to Vietnam as an extension of its Empire. A successful invasion of Vietnam in 1859 gave the french control over Saigon. The invasion was in response to the murder of French Catholics, and looked to be for a time a just cause. However it was just a cover story for the French to settle in and eventually rape Vietnam of it's raw materials and its culture. Thus from 1861 to the birth of Ho Chi Minh in 1890, French troops would conquer most of what is modern day Vietnam to their own discretion. The discretion of the French must be noted as racially bias. The term "white man's burden," best describes the presence of the French in Vietnam from the period of 1890-1939. Essentially the french believed everything about them was superior to the Vietnamese. Culture, language, religion, and race. This would not settle to well with many Vietnamese, however things would turn worse for the French with the outbreak of WWII.

I would like to argue that the true beginning of the end of French rule over Vietnam begins with the Second World War. Many Vietnamese nationalist uprisings were put down with success by the French. When Nazi Germany invaded and conquered France in 1940, the puppet Vichy French government was established. The vichy French government signed a peace treaty with the Japanese later that year in 1940, giving Japan control over Vietnam. Japan had been fighting an aggressive land war against the Chinese. Japan was looking to exercise its own ambitions of an empire as they tried to conquer all of South East Asia. Vietnam was a strategic part in Japan's ambitions to open up a new southern front against the Chinese. The Vietnamese who were not pleased about their previous Chinese and French invaders, were not in any way gracious with the arrival of Japanese soldiers. Thus nationalist like Ho Chi Minh now found a new enemy in the Japanese. This is an important turning point in Vietnamese history. Now that Vietnamese nationalists are resisting Japanese occupation, a relationship with the United States begins. By 1945 the Japanese had ousted the Vichy government, and now maintained complete control over Vietnam by instituting a puppet Empower, Bao Dai. American support is established and Ho Chi Minh is sent weapons and material to fight of the Japanese. In August of 1945, Viet Minh forces, led by Ho, overthrow the Japanese and establish a pro communist government in Hanoi. At last it seems that the Vietnamese have won their independence. However with the end of the Second World War, the Cold War would begin, and Ho would find himself along with the rest of Vietnam once again in an occupied country.

After establishing a government in Hanoi in 1945, Ho looked to president harry S. Truman for recognition. Truman never responded. In result of the Potsdam conference, the Japanese terms of surrender split Vietnam in two along the 16th parallel. China would take control over the North, and the British would maintain control over the South. British forces then released both French and Japanese prisoners, re-arm both, and begin to restore order and gain control. In the North Ho is under attack from Chinese forces, and is ill prepared to maintain control. A treaty with France is signed allowing French troops in to the north to restore order and to once again rid Vietnam of Chinese troops. However this was a doubled edged sword for the Vietnamese, on one hand the Chinese would leave, but on the other once again France would gain complete control over Vietnam. With complete control once again in late 1945, it was clear that the French wanted to get rid of Ho and the Viet Minh assuring that there would be no more question to their authority. Thus France's ambition to flush out the Viet Minh, would spark the first Indochinese War in 1946.

After French troops massacred Viet Minh forces in Halphong in November of 1946, the remaining Viet Minh forces led by Ho moved in to the mountains around Tran Trao to begin their resistance against the French. Ho Chi Minh remained as the moral leader for the Viet Minh, however the military leader was General Giap. Giap Ð''s plan of guerilla warfare against the french was complex and risky. Giap planned three phases of resistance in order to flush out the French. Knowing full well that Viet Minh forces were far inferior to that of French forces, Giap's three phases gave him the availability to bring the war to the French, instead of the French massacring the Viet Minh in a open field battle. The first phase of fighting, is small Viet. Minh units setting up ambushes and initializing small skirmishes with the French, nothing major. The second phase involves bigger units actually attacking small outposts and strategic military targets in quick and violent raids. The third phase of fighting is the formation of battalions with the smaller units banding together now taking on full French forces in a fixed battle. Giap new that the phases of fighting would do two things. One keep French forces on edge, and to keep the big superior enemy force moving around setting up small holes and pockets of refinance for guerilla forces. Also Giap realized that the phases would also give important strategic experience to the Viet Minh troops. The troops would learn the strengths and weaknesses of their enemy in the initial two phases, thus when phase three was implemented, Viet. Minh forces would know to well the

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