First Indochina War

Overview
Part of | Cold War
Date | December 19, 1946-August 1, 1954
Location | Indochina
Combatants
France
Vietnam
Cambodia
Kingdom Laos | North Vietnam
Pathet Lao
Supported by:
Soviet Union
Commanders
Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny  | Ho Chi Minh
Strength

Casualties

The First Indochina War was a war in Indochina between the French who ruled it and the Vietminh who were communist rebels. Stalin sent tons of weapons to Mao, who gave them to the Vietminh and trained them in using these. In response, the United States sent the French artillery, tanks, and planes. At first the French won, but at Dien Bien Phu the Vietminh attacked a road to this fort and forced its surrender by firing Chinese artillery. The French soon left. North Vietnam became a communist dictatorship, South Vietnam a free republic.

Not long after the French were expelled, the Vietnam War started.

## See also[edit]

* Vietnam