Điện Biên Phủ is a city in
northwesternTây Bắc is one of the regions of Vietnam, located in the mountainous northwestern part of the country. It consists of four provinces: Điện Biên, Lai Châu, Sơn La, and Hòa Bình. It has a population of about two and a half million....
VietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. It is the capital of
Dien Bien province, and is known for the events there during the
First Indochina WarThe First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
, the
Battle of Dien Bien PhuThe Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...
, during which the region was a
breadbasketThe breadbasket or the granary of a country is a region which, because of richness of soil and/or advantageous climate, produces an agricultural surplus which is often considered vital for the country as a whole. Rice bowl is a similar term used in Southeast Asia...
for the
Việt MinhViệt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...
.
Population
Statistics on Dien Bien Phu's population vary depending on definitions — figures are generally between 70,000 and 125,000. The city is growing quickly, and is projected to have a population of 150,000 by 2020. The majority of the population is not ethnically Vietnamese - rather, Thai ethnic groups form the largest segment. Ethnic Vietnamese make up around a third of the population, with the remainder being
HmongThe Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
,
Si LaThe Si La are an ethnic group of about 1,800 people living in northern Laos and another 600 living in the Lai Chau province of northwestern Vietnam....
, or others.
Location within Vietnam
Điện Biên Phủ lies in
Muong Thanh valleyThe Mường Thanh Valley is a valley located in the Điện Biên district of Northwestern Vietnam. The valley is approximately 12 miles long by 3 miles wide. A heart-shaped basin, the valley is surrounded by a region filled with jungles, rice paddies, and lakes. Located within the Muong Thanh Valley is...
, a 20-km-long and 6-km-wide basin sometimes described as "heart-shaped". It is on the western edge of Dien Bien province, of which it is the capital, and is only a short distance from the border with
LaosLaos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
. Until the creation of the province in 2004, it was part of
Lai Chau province.
The Vietnamese government elevated Dien Bien Phu to town status in 1992, and to city status in 2003.
Transport
National route 12 connects Dien Bien to
Lai ChâuLai Châu is the capital town of Lai Chau province in the Northwest region of Vietnam....
.
Dien Bien Phu AirportDien Bien Phu Airport is located at Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam....
serves the city with air route to Hanoi.
Operation Castor (1953)
In the 1950s, the town was known not only for its famous opium traffic, generating 500,000,000 French
FrancThe franc is the name of several currency units, most notably the Swiss franc, still a major world currency today due to the prominence of Swiss financial institutions and the former currency of France, the French franc until the Euro was adopted in 1999...
s per year, but more so for a fierce battle that would result in a major realignment of world geopolitics. It was also an extensive source of rice for the
Viet MinhViệt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...
.
The region was fortified in November 1953 by the French Union force in the biggest airborne operation of the 1946-1954
First Indochina WarThe First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
,
Operation CastorOpération Castor was a French airborne operation in the First Indochina War. The operation established a fortified airhead in Dien Bien Province, in the north-west corner of Vietnam. Commanded by Brigadier General Jean Gilles, Castor was the largest airborne operation since World War II...
, to block
Viet MinhViệt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...
transport routes and to set the stage to draw out Việt Minh forces.
Siege of Dien Bien Phu (1954)
The following year, the important
Battle of Dien Bien PhuThe Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...
was fought between the Việt Minh (led by General
Vo Nguyen GiapVõ Nguyên Giáp is a retired Vietnamese officer in the Vietnam People’s Army and a politician. He was a principal commander in two wars: the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War...
), and the
French UnionThe French Union was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial system, the "French Empire" and to abolish its "indigenous" status.-History:...
(led by General
Henri NavarreHenri Eugène Navarre was a French Army general. He fought during World War I, World War II and was the seventh commander of French Far East Expeditionary Corps during the First Indochina War...
, successor to General
Raoul SalanRaoul Albin Louis Salan was a French Army general and the fourth French commanding general during the First Indochina War. Salan was one of four generals who organized the 1961 Algiers Putsch operation and then founded the Organisation de l'armée secrète....
). The siege of the French garrison lasted fifty-seven days, from 5:30PM on March 13 to 5:30PM on May 7, 1954. The southern outpost or fire base of the camp, Isabelle, did not follow the cease-fire order and fought until the next day at 01:00AM; a few hours before the long-scheduled Geneva Meeting's Indochina conference involving the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the United Kingdom, the French Union and the
Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
The battle was significant beyond the valleys of Dien Bien Phu. Giap's victory ended major French involvement in
IndochinaFrench Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
and led to the accords which partitioned Vietnam into
NorthThe Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
and
SouthSouth Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
. Eventually, these conditions inspired the United States to increase their involvement in Vietnam leading to the
Second Indochina WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The battle of Điện Biên Phủ is described by historians as "the first time that a non-European colonial independence movement had evolved through all the stages from
guerrilla bandsGuerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
to a conventionally organized and equipped army able to defeat a modern Western occupier in
pitched battleA pitched battle is a battle where both sides choose to fight at a chosen location and time and where either side has the option to disengage either before the battle starts, or shortly after the first armed exchanges....
."
The Western fear of a Communist extension in Southeast Asia, named the
Domino TheoryThe domino theory was a reason for war during the 1950s to 1980s, promoted at times by the government of the United States, that speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect...
by
Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
during the Dien Bien Phu siege and the departure of the French from
LaosLaos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
,
CambodiaCambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
and Vietnam, was a factor leading to the direct American intervention in
South VietnamSouth Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
.
External links
Media links
The situation of Dien Bien Phu, 50 years after the battle (French news, public channel France 2, May 5, 2004)