Who controlled the territory now known as Vietnam prior to 1954?
1 Answer
I believe that France was but then the Communist Vietnamese took over during 1954, but you couldn't have chosen an even more complex question for explanation.
Explanation:
France obtained Vietnam when it forced it to become a French protectorate in 1882.
In 1940 when the Germans defeated France, Japan leapt at the opportunity & forced the French government to allow Japanese troops occupy French Indo-China, though they left the French Administration in place.
The Vietnamese Communists fought the Japanese & by 1945 controlled areas of North Vietnam, on March 1945 the Japanese took control of the administration of Vietnam & when the Japanese surrendered on August 1945 they left a power vacuum.
The Vietnamese Communists quickly moved to fill the vacuum, on the 2nd of September 1945 the Communists declared Vietnam independent.
Yet the great powers ignored this & under the Postdam Conference Japanese troops under the 16th Parrellel surrendered to the British & to the North to the Nationalist Chinese.
The French moved in to take over, along with the Chinese troops, a treaty signed between the Vietnamese & French, declared that the French would control the North for Five years & in return the French would see Vietnam as a 'free state'.
It's soon became apparent this wasn't going to happen & fighting broke out between the two.
For 8 years the Vietnamese used guerilla warfare against the French, until finally in 1954 they surrounded the French at Dien Bein Phu.
After a 57 day siege, the French eventually surrendered to the Vietnamese.
The French realised they could not win the war & so met at the Geneva Conference to end the war.
They agreed Vietnam would be split at the 17th Parrellel temporarily & that elections would take place on the 20th of July 1956, however none took place & the divide became permanent.
The rest is history.
I know I leaked past into 1956, but it explains this better that way & you learn more.
Hope this helps.
