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Unlock This CourseVo Nguyen Giap was a former history teacher who became the military commander of the Vietminh. The French army was far stronger. It had tanks, aircraft, artillery and trained soldiers, while the Vietminh had few weapons. Giap could not win by fighting big battles at the start, so he planned in stages. First, avoid big battles and build up strength. Later, when strong enough, fight large battles to drive the French out.
Key terms:
After the war began in December 1946 the Vietminh pulled back into the mountains and jungle of the north. French forces held the towns and main roads. Vietminh units used ambushes, mines and roadblocks, then vanished into the countryside. This wore the French down and made them fear travelling.
Most Vietnamese were peasants. They hid fighters, passed on news of French movements, gave food and carried supplies. The Vietminh lowered rents and taxes in the areas it controlled, which won loyalty. Fighters could blend into the villages, so the French could not tell friend from enemy.
In October 1949 the Communists won power in China. From 1950 China gave the Vietminh weapons and training, sent advisers, and its border became a safe base. In autumn 1950 the Vietminh used these supplies to attack French forts along the frontier and won.
Giap did make mistakes. In 1951 he tried big attacks too early and lost many men against French firepower. He went back to patient methods and waited until the Vietminh were stronger.
At first, Ho Chi Minh tried to gain independence by talking. On 6 March 1946 he signed an agreement with Jean Sainteny, the French representative. Each side gave something up:
Ho hoped this would keep the peace. The problem was that 'free state' did not mean the same to both sides. The Vietminh wanted full independence. France wanted to keep control.
In summer 1946 talks opened at Fontainebleau in France to settle the details. Pham Van Dong led the Vietnamese team. They failed for these reasons:
The conference ended in September without a settlement. Ho signed only a temporary agreement, which made little difference. In November French warships bombarded the port of Haiphong after a dispute over customs, and many civilians died. On 19 December 1946 fighting broke out in Hanoi. Ho called the people to fight (see Source A below) and the war began.
France now tried another plan. It brought back Bao Dai, the former emperor who had given up his throne in 1945. In the Elysee Agreement of March 1949 France said that the 'State of Vietnam' was independent, an 'Associated State' inside the French Union, with Bao Dai as its head. But France kept control of the army, foreign affairs and finance. Many Vietnamese saw Bao Dai as a puppet of France (a ruler who obeys another power). Many nationalists would not support him, so the plan failed to weaken the Vietminh.
By 1954 the war had lasted seven years. It cost France a great deal of money and many soldiers, and it was unpopular at home. In February 1954 the foreign ministers of the USA, the USSR, Britain and France agreed to hold a conference at Geneva to discuss Indochina. France agreed to negotiate because it could not win and needed a way out. What happened at Geneva comes in a later lesson.
Study Sources A and B.
Source A: From an appeal by Ho Chi Minh, President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, to the Vietnamese people, 19 December 1946 (translated).
'Men and women, old and young, regardless of creeds, political parties, or nationalities, all the Vietnamese must stand up to fight the French colonialists to save the Fatherland. Those who have rifles will use their rifles. Those who have swords will use their swords. Those who have no swords will use their spades, hoes, and sticks.'
Source B: From a talk by General Vo Nguyen Giap to a conference, January 1967, looking back at the war against France (translated).
'In the anti-French imperialist resistance, self-defense militia and guerrilla forces were the largest armed forces. They did not, however, dissociate themselves from production but constantly clung to the land and the masses to fight the aggressors, protect villages ... With rudimentary weapons such as swords, knives, sticks ... homemade rifles and bullets, mines, spike-strewn trenches ...'
How far does Source A support the evidence of Source B about the way the Vietnamese fought the French? Explain your answer. [8 marks]
Source A supports Source B because both show ordinary people fighting with simple weapons. Source A says people should use 'rifles', 'swords' and 'spades, hoes, and sticks', and Source B says the fighters used 'rudimentary weapons such as swords, knives, sticks'. Both also show ordinary people, not only regular soldiers, taking part. Source A calls on 'Men and women, old and young', and Source B says 'self-defense militia and guerrilla forces' acted with 'the masses'.
However, the sources differ. Source A is a call to arms that tells 'all the Vietnamese' to fight, but it gives no plan for how. Source B describes organised forces with particular methods. It says they 'clung to the land and the masses' to 'protect villages', and it mentions 'mines, spike-strewn trenches', which are more than the farm tools of Source A. Source B also says fighters did not 'dissociate themselves from production', so they kept working on the land, which Source A does not mention.
Overall, Source A supports Source B to a large extent on who fought and with what weapons, because both stress ordinary people with basic weapons. It supports it less on how they fought, because Source A only calls people to fight, while Source B describes guerrilla methods.
What lifts it to the top level: it uses a short quotation from each source for both support and difference, cross-refers them, and ends with a judgement on how far A supports B.
In a 'How far does Source A support Source B' question, you need both agreement and difference, with a short quotation from each source each time. Finish with a sentence that says how far, such as 'to a large extent' or 'only partly'. Compare what the sources say. You do not need to add your own knowledge.