welcome to this rapid revision session on dnb and foo in this session we're going to have a look at how the french lost control of french indochina and next lesson we'll have a look at what the results were firstly a bit of background information on french indochina itself the area that was once referred to as french indochina is shown shaded in blue on the map on the right here from 1887 to 1954 the french ruled the region of southeast asia known as french indochina it was a french colony this included the modern day countries of vietnam laos and cambodia the french introduced their language and religion which was catholicism to the region but the majority remain speaking vietnamese and practicing the religion of buddhism the french also built buildings in a european style and governed the country as if it was a province of france another place that we're going to have a look at later is dmv and foo which is related which is located in the north of the country here but more on that later have a look at this photograph here this gives us a few clues about french rule in indochina also this photograph which was taken more recently gives us a few clues as well the first photograph shows a french general you can see he's in the uniforms there and a vietnamese official notice that he's dressed in a very much western style as well in the background though we've got volunteer soldiers who are in civilian clothing but wearing french awards these are people who are fighting on france's side during the french indochina war what that was all about we'll have a look at in a moment we've also got a french colonial building this has been built in very much a french style and you wouldn't be at all surprised to see a building like this in somewhere like paris perhaps but this one is in ho chi minh city which at the time was known as saigon first of all we need to know about the people who didn't want the french to be ruling that colony anymore a large section of them were known as the viet minh the french fought the viet minh at dmv and fu as we'll see shortly these are not to be confused with the viet cong who were communist fighters in south vietnam in the 1960s but there are some similarities the viet minh wanted independence from the french they wanted to establish a communist government of vietnam they were led by an inspirational leader ho chi minh they were supported by the chinese who were also communist and they were local they knew the local conditions and the terrain well and could use them to their advantage they were also prepared to take huge losses and fight for a long time if it meant winning after all as far as they were concerned they were fighting for their homeland and their future firstly a bit of background on the war in french indochina in 1954 france was engaged in combat with the viet minh who as i've mentioned earlier were communists who wanted vietnam to become independent from french rule the french were confident that their superior weapons and technology most of it american could defeat the viet minh they set up a defended air base at dnb and foo in the north of the country far behind viet minh lines this was supposed to tempt the viet minh into a battle in which they would be wiped out have a look at this image here it shows the french plan you can see two airstrips one to the north and one to the south there are a series of strong points surrounding them these are easily defended locations that the french were planning on using to wipe out any attacking vietmen force and it's important to recognize that the french intended to be attacked here but they would win the defensive battle however they are surrounded so the intention was that they could be resupplied by paratroopers and by airborne supply drops both by parachutes and from planes landing at the airstrips and so those strong points were all named after french women's names gabrielle beatrice dominique claudine uget francoise anne-marie and isabel they were also to be supported by french light tanks again american american supplied light artillery and mortars and american built aircraft however the french had set a trap but they were about to fall into that trap themselves let's see how and why this image helps to explain why in fact it shows a fairly remarkable event despite its french markings this is effectively an american aircraft being piloted by a cia crew this aircraft was shot down and it actually represents the first americans killed in combat in vietnam before it was even called vietnam the french positions could only be resupplied by air this meant that the french were walking themselves into a trap where they would be surrounded but deliberately so dmv and foo was far behind enemy lines so it was difficult to resupply anyway the vietnamese surrounded the french on the hills artillery and anti-aircraft guns were moved there too importantly the french did not expect the vietmen to be able to move heavy artillery into the hills they figured that because they couldn't do it the viet minh couldn't either but as we'll see they were well supported and the viet minh found a way of doing it us support was there as well in terms of money to pay for the weapons planes as shown here and weapons notice the hastily painted out but still visible united states air force markings on the wings this is why d b and foo fell in 1954 french indochina or vietnam fell to the forces of ho chi minh when the french military stronghold of dmv and foo fell these are the reasons why the viet minh won at dmv and foo firstly the local conditions the vietnam understood the country they saw that the french had built a trap for themselves and they saw that access to the mountains was possible despite what the french thought then we've got china's help china helped by providing weapons and ammunition 20 000 bikes to move supplies and help in planning they also sent some troops secretly what about those bicycles then you cannot move an artillery piece with a bicycle except you can if you dismantle the artillery piece and take it up bit by bit by walking it along on the bike it's entirely possible also the french had serious problems they underestimated the amount of support for the viet minh and how well-armed they were french supply planes were shot down by viet min anti-aircraft guns and also french troops lacked commitment although they thought with bravery they were not fighting for their home there was also local support for the viet minh local villages helped the viet minh dig five new roads to move supplies they helped to move supplies as well and they spied on the french providing valuable information also viet minh commitment quite apart from the french the vietnam army worked all day and night to build roads and move supplies they were after all fighting for their independence from french rule so they were committed to carry on the fight even when their losses were incredibly heavy and that's the thing the french did not lose as many people as the viet minh did but the viet minh were prepared to weather these losses knowing that they would bring victory in the end and as they saw it freedom some final points then modern-day laos cambodia and vietnam were all part of the french colony french indochina the viet minh were communists who wanted independence the french set up a base at dmv and foo they underestimated the viet minh and the french were defeated in that battle the vitamin were committed they had local knowledge and support chinese weapons and the french had underestimated them and that's why dmv and foo fell and vietnam got its independence we're going to find out more about how vietnam changed afterwards and the peace treaty in the subsequent revision session that i'm going to run until then thanks very much for watching and goodbye