Why Did The French Want To Continue The Vietnam War
The French Empire was a strong entity that lasted for well over a century. This empire began to disintegrate after World War II. Although the people of the colonies were hopeful that the war would lead to the end of imperialism, but the Fourth Republic, which came to power during the end of World War II, voted to continue the Empire. There were several reasons for this vote to continue the empire. The French wanted to dull the humiliation of the German occupation, use the colonial resources to help the postwar recovery, and gain greater global power to compete with the United States and the USSR. Naturally, the native peoples were resistant to the continuation of the Empire. This unrest and desire for freedom resulted in two colonial wars.
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The resistance against French rule was launched by Ho Chi Minh, a communist who had benefitted from French assimilation. Ho Chi Minh founded the Communist Party of Vietnam, and began his work, but he was forced to flee when the Japanese began to occupy Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, upon his return to Vietnam, formed a guerilla group called the Viet Minh to fight occupation. Eventually, the Viet Minh became a large and effective army that made the war a difficult fight. To gain aid in the war effort, France reworked the Indochina War as a war on communism, not a war to maintain the French Empire. This new image resulted in the United States aiding the French, since the United States Cold War policies trumped their anti-imperialist beliefs. Even the American assistance was not enough to prevent the French's defeat. The French army was defeated at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. The peace treaty that officially ended the war was signed at Geneva. The French were removed from Indochina and Vietnam was split into the communist north and the independent south; the two separate entities were to be reunited in 1956, but this did not occur as
The resistance against French rule was launched by Ho Chi Minh, a communist who had benefitted from French assimilation. Ho Chi Minh founded the Communist Party of Vietnam, and began his work, but he was forced to flee when the Japanese began to occupy Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, upon his return to Vietnam, formed a guerilla group called the Viet Minh to fight occupation. Eventually, the Viet Minh became a large and effective army that made the war a difficult fight. To gain aid in the war effort, France reworked the Indochina War as a war on communism, not a war to maintain the French Empire. This new image resulted in the United States aiding the French, since the United States Cold War policies trumped their anti-imperialist beliefs. Even the American assistance was not enough to prevent the French's defeat. The French army was defeated at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. The peace treaty that officially ended the war was signed at Geneva. The French were removed from Indochina and Vietnam was split into the communist north and the independent south; the two separate entities were to be reunited in 1956, but this did not occur as