In July of 1857, Napoleon III officially called for the colonization of Vietnam.

Behind the guise of religious persecution, Admiral Rigault de Genouilly was called in August of 1958 to stage an attack on the Vietnamese harbor and city of Tourane. When Admiral de Genouilly soon realized that he could make no further progress around Tourane, he turned his attention South. Two weeks later in February of 1859, he successfully seized the poorly defended city of Saigon. Despite heavy Vietnamese resistance, the French continued their expedition over the next few years until the Vietnamese, struggling to keep up with Frances more advanced machinery and weapons, finally conceded the conquered territories, later known as Cochinchina, to the French in June of 1862. In the following years, France gradually expanded their control all over Cochinchina and ultimately to all of Vietnam after a series of offensive attacks on the north. While the French colonial rule was met with little organized resistance, the common Vietnameses sense of national identity never faded. Anti-colonial feelings began to emerge. National liberation feelings only intensified. Failed efforts by prominent intellectuals to achieve social and political reforms by obtaining concessions of the colonial rule aided by the French government sparked the birth of several revolutionary groups, one of which was the Vietnamese Nationalistic Party (VNQDD). While efforts by the VNQDD were largely unsuccessful, they paved the way for the revolution that is Ho Chi Minh. Born as Nguyen That Thanh, Ho Chi Minh came to Paris following the end of World War I and personally appealed to President Wilson on behalf of his people to free Vietnam from colonial rule. Unfortunately, both the British and the French refused to do so. Ho, disillusioned by Western democracy, soon turned to communism and subsequently in the 1920s joined the Communist Party while still in France. There he adopted the name, Ho Chi Minh, enlighten one, and later returned to Vietnam. In 1930, Ho found the Vietnamese Communist Party. The party at first struggled to find success until the outbreak of World War II. Following the fall of France to Nazi Germany, Jean Decoux, the governor general of France, concluded with an agreement with the Japanese that allowed for the occupation of Indochina land and use of all major airports by Japanese soldiers; thereby successfully restricting the French administration to only a figurehead authority. Seizing the opportunity, the Communists founded the Vietminh, a militaristic organization, and prepared to launch a revolution following the end of WWII. Thus when the Japanese surrendered to the Allies in August 1945, Vietminh forces arose throughout Vietnam and declared the establishment of the Independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The French, however, was determined to regain control of its former colony. With the support of the British forces, the French once again seized control of Cochinchina and drove the communist out of the south. Despite numerous talks of peace, the Franco-Vietnamese war still broke out in December of 1946. The war lasted for almost eight years. Since the Vietminh forces generally lacked the strength and power to defeat the French head on, they turned to guerrilla warfare. In 1953-1954 the French fortified a base at Dien Bien Phu. After months of siege and heavy casualties, the Vietminh finally overran the fortress, defeated the France in a decisive battle, and ended the war in May of 1954. Shortly after, between April to July of 1954 at Geneva, the French and the Vietminh agreed to cease-fire and to the temporary division

of Vietnam at the 17th parallel until the national elections two years later. However, in an effort to stop the spread of communism, Ngo Dinh Diem, the unpopular and tyrannical leader of the south, and the United States refused to acknowledge the Geneva Conference. Civil war ensured.