Indochina wars
During the aftermath of World War II and the Cold War, the Indochina wars were a series of wars which were waged in Indochina from 1945 to 1991, by communist forces against the opponents. The term "Indochina" referred to former French Indochina, which included the current states of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. In current usage, it applies largely to a geographic region, rather than to a political area. The wars included:
- The First Indochina War began after the end of World War II with the War in southern Vietnam, which acted as the precursor to the First Indochina War. The conflict officially began in 1946 and lasted until the French defeat in 1954. After a long campaign of unsuccessful resistance against the French and the Japanese, Viet Minh forces claimed a victory in the August Revolution after Japanese forces surrendered to the Allies on 15 August 1945, leading to the fall of the Empire of Vietnam and Nguyễn dynasty. In the War in southern Vietnam, British forces temporarily occupied the South with the objective of disarming Japanese forces, starting from 13 September 1945, only to restore French colonial control in 1946. Meanwhile, the communist Viet Minh sought to consolidate power by terrorizing and purging rival Vietnamese nationalist groups and Trotskyist activists. In the United Nations, and through their alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States, the French demanded return of their former Indochina colony prior to agreeing to participate in the NATO alliance opposing Soviet expansion beyond the countries of the Warsaw Pact in the Cold War. With support from China and the Soviet Union, the communist Viet Minh continued fighting the French Union, including the anti-communist State of Vietnam, ultimately forcing the NATO-backed French out of North Vietnam as a result of 1954 Geneva Conference.
- The Second Indochina War began as a conflict between the United States-backed South Vietnamese government and its opponents, both the North Vietnamese-based communist Viet Cong and the People's Army of Vietnam, known in the West as the North Vietnamese Army. The conflict began in 1955 and lasted until 1975 when the North Vietnamese army conquered South Vietnam. The United States, which had supported France and its native vassal during the First Indochina war, backed the Republic of Vietnam government in opposition to the communist Viet Cong and PAVN. The North benefited from military and financial support from China and the Soviet Union, members of the communist bloc, Fighting also occurred during this time in Cambodia between the US-backed government, the PAVN, and the communist-backed Khmer Rouge, which also fought alongside deposed King Sihanouk's government in exile and in Laos between the US-backed government, the PAVN, and the communist-backed Pathet Lao.
- The Third Indochina War was a period of prolonged conflict following the Second Indochina War. The conflict began in 1978 and lasted until the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements on 23 October 1991, in which several wars were fought:
Background
French Indochina
The French colonization and occupation of Vietnam were a result of secular imperialism, driven by economic interests and strategic considerations. In addition to exploiting Vietnam's resources, the French saw the region as a strategic buffer to facilitate access to resources in China. France, however, used the pretext of protecting Christians, who were persecuted by the Nguyen, as a justification for their invasion of Vietnam. While Gia Long tolerated Catholicism, his successors Minh Mạng and Thiệu Trị were orthodox, fundamentalist Confucians, admiring ancient Chinese culture. They forbade Catholic proselytism and resisted European and American attempts to establish colonial trade posts, which France tried to impose. This was seen by colonial powers as "provocative".Isolationist and chauvinist policy led the Vietnamese to refuse industrial modernization, so that they were not able to resist military power of a French invasion. In August 1858, Napoleon III ordered the landing of French forces at Tourane,, beginning a colonial occupation that was to last almost a century. By 1884, the French had complete control over the country, which now formed the largest part of French Indochina. It took the Vietnamese people almost a century to expel the last colonial influence in their country.
Vietnamese independence movements were suppressed, and the French refused to honor what they had committed to in the protectorate treaty. Nguyen Sinh Cung established the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930; the Marxist–Leninist party aimed to overthrow French rule and establish a communist state. Vietnam’s struggle for independence was also shaped by nationalist movements in two main strands: reformist and revolutionary, both embraced republicanism and anticommunist nationalism. Nationalist groups included the Vietnamese Nationalist Party, Vietnamese Revolutionary League, Đại Việt Nationalist Party, and religious communities such as Buddhist, Hòa Hảo, Cao Đài, and Catholic.
Fractures between nationalists and communists emerged in the late 1920s. Revolutionary nationalists accused communists of being factional and subservient to foreign influence, while communists contended nationalism was too narrow and republicanism not radical enough. Vietnamese communists envisioned their revolution as proletarian and an integral part of world revolution, rather than solely a national movement. They believed class struggle and purges were essential to dismantle older social structures and pave the way for socialism. The Vietnamese communist revolution’s pursuit of centralized control fueled a protracted civil conflict, characterized by violence, ideological purges, and the suppression of competing nationalist movements. The Indochinese Communist Party was primarily responsible for starting widespread Vietnamese-on-Vietnamese violence.
Indochina during World War II
Governor-general Jean Decoux, under the Vichy regime, allowed Japanese troops into northern Indochina in 1940. By 1941, Japan gained full military access across Indochina and established a fragile dual colonial rule that maintained French administration while facilitating Japanese preparations for Southeast Asian operations.Ho Chi Minh, returning to Vietnam from France, helped create the Viet Minh front in 1941, advocating for independence. Meanwhile, Vichy French and Japanese authorities encouraged nationalism in Indochina for their own purposes. Disillusioned Vietnamese nationalists redirected this sentiment toward self-determination. Despite Japanese and French efforts to manipulate identities, profound societal changes occurred in the early 1940s, and Vietnam’s right-wing nationalist groups, particularly the Đại Việt parties, promoted a strong national identity.
In March 1945, Japan, losing the war, overthrew the French government in Indochina, established the Empire of Vietnam. The Vietnamese famine that broke out in 1944–1945 caused about 2 million deaths. With the end of the war, the Viet Minh launched the August Revolution to seek control in Vietnam. Emperor Bảo Đại abdicated power to the Viet Minh, on August 25. In a popular move, Ho Chi Minh made Bảo Đại "supreme advisor" to the Viet Minh-led government in Hanoi, which claimed its independence on September 2 as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The 16th parallel was established by the Allies on August 2, 1945, following the Potsdam Conference, dividing Vietnam into two military zones: Chinese Nationalist forces occupied the north, and British forces the south, to disarm Japanese troops.
History
First Indochina War
Beginning in August 1945, the Viet Minh sought to consolidate power by terrorizing and purging rival Vietnamese nationalist groups and Trotskyist activists. On September 23, the British supported a French coup de force that overthrew the DRV government in Saigon and attempted to reinstate French control over southern Indochina. In 1946, the Franco-Chinese and Ho–Sainteny Agreements enabled French forces to replace the Chinese north of the 16th parallel and facilitated a coexistence between the DRV and the French that strengthened the Viet Minh while undermining the nationalists. That summer, the Viet Minh colluded with French forces to eliminate nationalists, targeted for their ardent anti-colonialism.With most of the nationalist partisans defeated, and negotiations broken down, tensions between the Viet Minh and French authorities erupted into full-scale war in December 1946, a conflict which became entwined with the Cold War. Surviving nationalist partisans and politico-religious groups rallied behind the exiled Bảo Đại to reopen negotiations with France in opposition to communist domination. While the State of Vietnam, under Bảo Đại as Chief of State, aligned with the anticommunist Western Bloc, the French exploited it to extend their neo-colonial presence and to bolster their standing within NATO. By aligning with Marxist-Leninist principles, Vietnamese communists suppressed dissent and monopolized power through radical campaigns such as land reform, class struggle, ideological rectification, the eradication of judicial independence, and the suppression of the Nhân Văn–''Giai Phẩm'' movement.
The anticommunist Truman Doctrine pledged United States support to nations resisting communism. After communist China and the Soviet Union recognized the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the US recognized the State of Vietnam, based in Saigon, as the legitimate government in February 1950. The US provided substantial aid to the SVN through France, while China and, to a lesser extent, the Soviet Union aided the DRV. The war ended with the French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and French withdrawal from North Vietnam after the Geneva Accords, signed between the Viet Minh and France. After the accords, Vietnam was partitioned into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.