|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Friday, 12 March 2004 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Vietnam to salute 50th anniversary of start of Dien Bien Phu battle HANOI, Thursday (AFP) Vietnam will mark on Saturday the 50th anniversary of the start of the siege of Dien Bien Phu, the epic battle that precipitated the collapse of French colonial rule in Indochina. The fighting began on March 13, 1954, and 56 days later, on May 7, shell-shocked survivors of the French garrison hoisted the white flag to signal the end to one of the greatest battles of the 20th century. "The French loss at Dien Bien Phu brought to a swift end French domination of Indochina and their presence in Southeast Asia," said Carl Thayer of the Australian Defence Force Academy. "The battle came at the precise psychological moment to affect the French negotiating position at the Geneva Conference, held initially to consider Korean matters and then the conflict in Indochina," he said. The French defeat led to the signing of the Geneva Accords on July 21, 1954 that split the country into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Around 3,000 French troops died or disappeared at Dien Bien Phu and 10,000 were captured. As many as 10,000 Vietnamese soldiers died. But despite the heavy casualty toll, Christopher Goscha, assistant professor at the University of Lyon II, says the Vietnamese triumph was "a milestone in the history of modern military science". "Not only had the Asian 'colonised' defeated the Western 'coloniser' in a set-piece battle, but the Vietnamese had also created a modern army from scratch in time of war," he said in October's Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. Major celebrations marking the campaign will take place on May 7, but on Saturday authorities in Dien Bien Phu, 500 kilometres (310 miles) northwest of Hanoi, will launch a "Year of Tourism" in a bid to cash in on the victory. For Vietnam's ruling Communist Party, the battle serves as a reminder of the values it hold so dear: the mobilization of tens of thousands of people, the unity of the party and the masses, and sacrifice. "Keeping alive their interpretation of the victory at Dien Bien Phu is designed to appeal to nationalism as a basis for the legitimacy of the regime," said Thayer. "The audience is primarily domestic, but the message to the outside world and would-be aggressors is: Vietnam possesses the military art to defeat any invading army. And they have the history to prove their point." After World War II, France was able to reinstall its colonial government in what was then known as Indochina. But from 1945, it faced a challenge for control of the north from the Vietnamese independence movement, known as the Viet Minh and led by Ho Chi Minh, the founding father of the Vietnamese Communist Party. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
