PARTITION OF VIETNAM 1954

The Indochina peninsula comprises of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma (Myanmar) and the only two European nations that colonized this region were the French and British. While British occupation was in Burma (that even got annexed to India for a while), it were the French forces that changed the administrative system of this region. From 1858, the French started occupying Vietnamese lands such as Da Nang (renamed as Tourane), Saigon (today's Ho Chi Minh City; occupied in 1859), Cochin China or Cochinchine (the southern tip of Vietnam; occupied in 1862) and Hanoi and Haiphong in 1873-74. Cambodia was occupied by the French in 1887 while Luang Phra Bang (part of Laos) and other adjoining territories were joined in 1893. Thus, the French colony of Indochina was born, known as the Indochinese Union that lasted till 1954. Interestingly, it was 1954 as well when the French territories in India - Pondicherry, Karikal, Mahe, Yanaon and Chandernagore - were liberated to join the Republic of India.

1954 was crucial for this region as the war of independence had already started in 1946 and at the end of the next 8 years, the French had to make a leave for good. The problems in this region was partly due to misguided French policies, partly because of an awakened nationalism subverted by the Communists and partly because of nation's geographical position with respect to Red China (Communist China; 1927-1949), which needs the rice to be grown in Red River delta of north Vietnam. On 21st July 1954, according to a Geneva Accord, Vietnam was partitioned with northern region as a communist state known as Democratic Republic of Vietnam while the southern region would be State of Vietnam (which in future would be Republic of Vietnam or South Vietnam). The nationalist movement was led by Ho Chi Minh whose army Viet Minh fought a gruesome war with the French and it was the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ (March-May 1954) which finally made the French leave the peninsula and grant independence to individual countries.

Soon after this Cambodia (formerly Kampuchea) and Laos also got independence but tension in the region wasn't relieved yet. The rise of communism in the region lead to the massive Vietnam War of 1955, which was although between North and South Vietnam, but got involved international powers like the US, South Korea, Soviet Union, China etc. It was this war which particularly the Americans detested and is considered as a black spot in American history since over a 1.3 million causalities were reported at the end of the war.

But the result of the war lead to another occupation since the Communists emerged victorious and spread to Cambodia and Laos. Later in 1975, North and South Vietnam united to form Socialist Republic of Vietnam which again fought a counterattack on Cambodia between 1978 to 1989, known as the Cambodian-Vietnamese War. The re-involvement of US and its bombing of Cambodia lead to another genocide that caused casualties numbering to over 2 million deaths and it was particularly highlighted for killing children, ethnic cleansing (of Buddhists and Christians), human experimentation etc. Finally in 1993, the Cambodian government restored peace and Kingdom of Cambodia was reinstalled.

The map here shows the starting of Vietnam's partition in 1954 while the French forces had still occupied the peninsula. The red region is the Communist Vietnam, known as Democratic Republic of Vietnam, while the remaining area is French controlled.