Vietnam and the Cold War 1945–1954

French Imperial Decline & Defeat at Dien Bien Phu

John Pike

• Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
• Year: 2024
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526789303
• Subtopic: French History
• Index: History

"…what Pike reports in the book remains intriguing and suspenseful… an excellent, eye-opening book." – The VVA Veteran A forensic study of war, imperial history and international relations, following the Second World War and leading into the Cold War and defeat of Western imperialism in Asia. And above all, the story of the pivotal battle and French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. It shows France's revanchist attempt to regain imperial 'glory' in her former Asian empire following humiliation in the Second World War - defeat and Vichy. The effort was spurred by de Galle's chauvinism and desire to recover France's honour and reputation, after so many humiliations by friend and foe. The Communist led Vietminh, were guided to victory by ruthless revolutionary Ho Chi Min - far from the attractive 'Uncle Ho' who is revered as a communist saint in contrast to louche playboy emperor Bao Dai – and the very able General Giap. Communist strength in rural Vietnam society - the Vietminh represented a nation in arms – was backed by supplies from Communist China and the Soviet Union. It was an existential struggle on the French side - the end of cafe society, and the gravy train for planters, officials, the military, and politicians. Military matters including General Giap's strategy and tactics are analyzed in detail, but it was a 'soldiers' war', told at ground-level, and readers will feel the heat and fear of battle, be shocked at war crimes, and intrigued by the tales of Graham Greene et al. The global importance was not lost on the powers following exhaustion from world war and in the shadow of the Cold War. All great leaders were involved, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Churchill, Stalin, Khruschev, Chou En-Lai and Mao Zedong, Under the shadow of the A bomb, a negotiated peace and first detent of the Cold War would end in the sumptuous salons of Geneva.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• toc
• CHAPTER I Parachutes Blooming, and the Origins of French Indochina
• CHAPTER II The Origins and Beginnings of French Imperialism in Indochina
• CHAPTER III Statesmen
• CHAPTER IV French Terror
• CHAPTER V War and Revolution 1940–45
• CHAPTER VI War and Peace
• CHAPTER VII The Time of Grenades
• CHAPTER VIII France and the Home Front
• CHAPTER IX International Communist Politics
• CHAPTER X Route Coloniale 4, October 1950
• CHAPTER XI Enter General Lattre de Tassigny
• CHAPTER XII Giáp’s New Strategic Directions – Death of Stalin – Land Reform
• CHAPTER XIII Genevieve’s War
• CHAPTER XIV Lao – France’s Achilles Heel and the Navarre Plan
• CHAPTER XV Theatre of Battle, Strategies, and the Road to Bermuda
• CHAPTER XVI A Nation on the March
• CHAPTER XVII The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, 13 March 1954
• CHAPTER XVIII The Second General Offensive
• CHAPTER XIX The Third General Offensive, 30 April
• CHAPTER XX Prisoners
• Appendix I: Casualties
• Appendix II: Military Assessment of the French Indochina War
• Abbreviations and Basic explanations, Including Ideological Terms
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Plates