9781422285992

The Vietnam War

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Conflict in Indochina The birth of the ICP coincided with a wave of harsh repressions by the French in Indochina. During the 1930s, French colonial authorities imprisoned and executed many of Ho’s compatriots, condemning Ho himself in absentia to death as a revolutionary. Ho fled via Shanghai to Moscow to escape their sentence. He stayed there, studying and remain- ing politically active, until his return to China in late 1938. In the little village of Lu Ma, outside Guilin in the heart of Guangxi province, Ho worked as a journalist and public health inspector. From his temporary base in south China, he carefully monitored the changes taking place in Indochina, particularly after World War II broke out in Europe in September 1939. When Germany defeated France in June 1940, Ho and his chief lieutenants, Vo Nguyen Giap and Pham Van Dong, plotted to use the fall of France to advance their quest for Vietnamese independence. “The French defeat represents a very favorable opportunity for the Vietnamese revolution,” Ho Chi Minh told his compatriots. “We must seek every means to return home to take advantage of it. To delay would be harmful to the revolution.” In January 1941, Ho and his lieutenants crossed over the border into Indochina and set up a base camp at Pac Bo. In May 1941, Ho, his two lieu- tenants, and five others formed the League for Vietnamese Independence, or Vietminh . The founding of this party brought renewed emphasis to the uniquely peasant-oriented Vietnamese brand of nationalism. Ho warned his fellow revolutionaries about the hard road ahead. “Between the enemy and ourselves,” he said, “it is a struggle to the death. We must be able to tolerate all hardships, surmount the worst difficulties, and struggle to the end.” Ho’s difficulties came sooner than expected. After the conquest of France, Germany supported a puppet govern- ment set up at Vichy. The Vichy government continued to administer French colonies, including Indochina. It allowed Germany’s ally, Japan, to operate from Southeast Asia as it attacked and conquered other coun- tries and colonies in the region. In August 1941, having established his internal program, Ho turned his attention to raising international support for his cause. China seemed