Destruction of French Rule in Vietnam - Battle of Điện Biên Phủ

[@victortisme]

I appreciate that you made this one in spite of the previous ones' numbers. This series is one of your best (at least it's my very own favorite) and I could't wait for the next installment, so thank you so much!

[@scottjuhnke6825]

What you fail to mention is that the French artillery commander had guaranteed that the Vietnamese couldn't get artillery into the surrounding hills. In giving up the surrounding high ground, the French were going to lose. This is why he committed suicide.

[@Mika-ph6ku]

Didn't learn from ww2 I guess...

[@felixsantosa3815]

​@@Mika-ph6kuIf I had a nickel for every time French officers thought a specific terrain was impassable for heavy equipment...

[@talkingtree8166]

So he lost the high ground?

[@scottjuhnke6825]

@@talkingtree8166 No. They never occupied it. The French artillery commander was certain the Vietnamese couldn't get heavy artillery onto the hills, and that any artillery they could get there, his guns would easily eliminate them. Had the French fortified the surrounding hills, they still would have lost in Vietnam, just as the US did, but, Dien Bien Phu would not have been the catastrophic defeat it was.

[@parkertitle1923]

@@felixsantosa3815I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

[@Jameskn1]

The French seemed to get very over confident and believed that entrenched troops couldn’t get beaten and paid the price for it

[@Bandog23]

*leadership

[@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-]

It looks like the lessons of Bill Slims 1944 Burma campaign were applied here. With the French soldiers relying on air supplies flown in whilst expecting to hold their positions. It worked for Slim at Kohima and Imphal against the Japanese but for some reason it didn't work at Dien Bien Phu. 🤔

[@SkalliDE]

Again xD they learned nothing Out ww2 😂

[@MyHentaiGirl]

​@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-didn't work due to effective AA making drop impossible

[@mcfragger2605]

they will relearn that lesson again if they enter Ukraine lol.

[@matthewwalkemar8726]

I was aware of ww2 German aircraft being used by France after the war but i didn’t realize they made their way to Vietnam. A surprise seeing the footage of the ju-52 ( or perhaps it French made reproduction but still)

[@ingohendrik]

Well German aircrafts were just very useful and despite this also effective and relativly new For example the Arado Ar 232, a plane designed by the Nazis was still trend-setting for NATO planes in 1956

[@qanniqtuq]

My father was a passenger in one of those Ju-52 that soft crashed in a rice paddy just before the Ventiane runway in 1954. It was "fun" he told me. One of the only stories he told me from his time in Indochina

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

French tanks where almost entirely of german origin.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714 No, France refurbished about 50 Panther tanks and put them into service after the war but they were mostly a stop gap meassure intended to counter the IS tanks until France could produce its own tanks and develop a proper counter. However they never actually saw active service as they were deemed too unreliable and heavy to operate anywhere outside of Metropolitan France. The French mostly used American lend-lease tanks, such as the M24 Chaffee, which you can often see in footage from both Vietnamese Wars. They also made use of Shermans and M10s but I don't think they were deployed to Indochina.

[@AnInkPot]

The US was NOT dragged into Vietnam. They made a choice to be there

[@torenico]

Yeah, he makes it sound like the US went into Vietnam completely against it's will. They went in to continue the colonial project the french had started.

[@tartzmir7934]

They came there to fight and help an Ideological ally against an sworm Ideological enemy, it's really simple, people back then dread about communism a lot, not to mention the US adherence to the Truman Doctrine, depend on how you look at it, the US was both dragged into Vietnam by congress' pressure as well as the president's obligation to respond towards aggression which let's not get there because Gulf of Tonkin incident is a complete hoax fabricated by the US that is still debated

[@blaze6084]

@@torenico True

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

@@torenico They didnt care about colonies. They cared about stopping communism.

[@cumpanions8105]

@@torenico Not really, they just wanted curb the communism from taking roots in the region.

[@larryalvares1369]

I’m surprised you didn’t talk about the French colonial artillery lieutenant who ordered his guns to be cranked at 0 degrees and fired directly into the Viet Minh

[@saulocpp]

There is too much to be mentioned in only 15 minutes. Many acts from both sides: the Vietminh/NVA, despite the "supply chains", fought days without eating anything, and 155mm artillery were often pushed by hand kilometers to high ground without vehicle aid; French Foreign Legion from Morocco were often called in to reinforce, refused to surrender and died fighting while french officers responsible for calling them in fled.

[@adelaidesngan604]

​@sa😂😂ulocpp You are a myth who hates the French 😂

[@tranquoccuong890-its-orge]

@@saulocpp the biggest artillery the Việt Minh side had in Điện Biên Phủ was the 105mm howitzer also they were still only named Việt Minh back then, the name NVA (North VN Army) was only coined in the later conflict with South VN & USA

[@Fredrikschou]

General Giap is one of the most overlooked great commanders in the 20th century. In my mind he ranks up their together with Chukov, Manstein and Marshall. In 1968 he came quite close to repeating the Dien Bien Phu battle with the americans at Khe Sanh, but the american airforce was just an order of magnitude more effective in close up ground support, so the NVA had to give up after a six month siege.

[@About37Hobos]

He organized the defeat of two western powers that on paper far outstripped his own forces. Frankly he might be the greatest commander of the 20th century.

[@789know]

tho he still somewhat achieved his goal in the end. US withdraw from Khe Sanh later after knowing the position is untenable there. Khe Sanh is also overall a better built bases and less isolated firebase in outer parameters that allow the Vietnamese to cut them off aside from way more effective US airforce

[@djeto2525]

Agreed.

[@torenico]

Manstein? Lmao

[@Fredrikschou]

@@torenico poor ass

[@sergeantdarthraptorthewise702]

I believe, though i might not remember correctly, that after the battle general De Castries said: "we were told to hold 10 days, we held 57 days. That's it."

[@MyHentaiGirl]

We merely fail to win

[@Rokaize]

@@MyHentaiGirlSounds like they lost

[@MyHentaiGirl]

@@Rokaize Nah, merely fail to win - Oversimplified reference

[@Rokaize]

@@MyHentaiGirl I guess I’m not understanding the reference. If you are making a reference. Are you implying that the French just didn’t win? And that the viet Minh didn’t earn their victory?

[@MyHentaiGirl]

@@Rokaize Watch Oversimplified History video about the US Civil War part 2 When one of the guy lost the election to Abraham Lincoln, he said that he didn't lose, he merely fail to win

[@novemberdawn8145]

Love this series! Took a Vietnam War class last semester, I think it can't be understated how much of an insurgent genius Giap was.

[@andrearel3703]

Commies are good at subversion. Look at the democrat party.

[@AndrewTranBaseball]

My grandpa fought in it for the Viet Minh. He is 92 and still very busy telling me stories about the battle😊

[@gaspardlesort6781]

Cool! my great grandpa fought on the french side for the FFL. Because he was injured, the vietnamese released him. He eventually served in Algeria, and later on was a military attaché during the Vietnam War.

[@FrenchIssue]

Wrong side who kill injuried of the other side the south vietnam helped the injuried of both side

[@JesusisLord_7]

@@FrenchIssue no lmao, south vietnam killed everyone who didnt support their illegitimate government, killed buddhists, murdered freedom fighters who fought the french colonizers, they also rigged the election, so you should stop spreading propaganda. We chose communism cuz u guys forced us to fight, we didnt want this stupid game between big guys, we only need independence but americans refused to do so. Even men from OSS said we were not communists like Mao and Stalin but freedom fighters

[@MinhPham-jw6pu]

@@FrenchIssue troll fake news, try harder.

[@FrenchIssue]

@@MinhPham-jw6pu you are historian ?

[@johnbox271]

The US wasn't dragged in... it leaped, and onto the wrong side. "In 1945, members of the American "Deer Team," part of the OSS, worked with Vietnamese guerrilla fighters to throw Japanese troops out of Indochina. As the war ended, the people of Vietnam looked to the United States to support their dreams of independence." Photo - Members of the Deer Team and Viet Minh at training camp. Allison Thomas stands in the center and is flanked on his left by Vo Nguyen Giap and on his right by Ho Chi Minh. “Welcome to Our American Friends.”

[@trentvlak]

lots of communists had infiltrated the State Department and aided Mao, sabotaged Chiang Kai Shek, and aided other communists.

[@superspies32]

The second copy of the letter Ho Chi Minh sent to Truman asking for establishment of allied be sent to Donald Trump during his trip to negotiate with Kim Jong Ul at Ha Noi (the OG still in White House). The problem at that time was France threatened to ally with USSR if Truman did that (and if Truman accept the letter, USSR may be collapsed 2 years later by carry the useless of French Army across Africa)

[@simongeard4824]

A common theme from that time, yes. The fear of the spread of communism meant that communist-leaning groups were automatically regarded as enemies and pushed into the Soviet sphere of influence... foolish, since a more pragmatic US could have maintained greater influence over them by staying friendly. Hostility only cemented the Soviet position as the influential leaders of communism across the world...

[@johnbox271]

@@simongeard4824 "It’s a Wonderful Life" (1946) came under scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a subversive film that supposedly displayed evidence of Communist Party infiltration of the film industry. Commies everywhere. Paranoia.

[@richardgoed8101]

​@@simongeard4824they did intend to make half of Vietnam their ally by making a puppet state in South Vietnam. I wouldn't say it is foolish of them to see everything communism related is bad because they already have the idea of controlling Indochina in mind so that they could overthrow communism in Asia, that's why they have always been supporting France in colonizing Indochina. The Vietnamese at that time saw anyone with similar goal and helped them would be potential ally since the US helped NVA kicking Imperial Japan out of the country. But it is very very dumb and weird of them to make a country resort to communism and then fight them because they established communism.

[@haibuihoang]

Vietminh: It's over France, I have the high ground! France: You underestimate my power, Vietminh: Don't try it France: Ueahhh....

[@lehoang3532]

Some minor (but still interesting) details about this battle: * The French arrogance is not without reasons. The supply/logistic support for Viet Minh is extremely troublesome, so much that a blitz was considered. However, after "his longest night", General Giap changed it into a siege and delayed the battle by ~2 months. The rest is history * The fight for Eliane 2 is the toughest fight in Dien Bien Phu. And it was held thanks to a hidden French supply route from the center to the west side of the hill * Commander of the Vietnamese 5th Para batallion, under French command, was said to lead his troops while singing the French national anthem... while fighting other Vietnamese. The man later became a general of South Viet Nam. * MLRS was deployed for the Vietnamese during the last days of the battle. Shame that it was not the Soviet Katyusha

[@igorbuckel8060]

the artillerie, mortar and anti-aircraft of the vietnamese were us made. captured by the chinese during korean war.

[@tartzmir7934]

furthermore previous french employment of hedgehog tactics have proven to be succesful in providing interconnected fields of fire by entrenched troops against superior foes, however this could easily be countered by methodical and overwhelming fire by the attacker, slowly chipping down the defenses bit by bit, strongpoint by strongpoints

[@JustinAndrews74]

"Commander of the Vietnamese 5th Para batallion, under French command, was said to lead his troops while singing the French national anthem... while fighting other Vietnamese." Treason!!

[@lehoang3532]

@@tartzmir7934 True on all account

[@tartzmir7934]

@@JustinAndrews74 That's in hindsight, don't be so short sighted, people back then are uncertain who will win, these vietnamese root for the french, so they're loyal to them, how is that treason, not to mention the vietminh back then was seen as a radical rebel group more than anything else, not a legitimately recognised sovereign government of Vietnam since back then there are a lot of rebels groups like the vietminh doing the same thing in a bid to take control of the country under their own authority, and then there's the state of vietnam, a french vassal state recognised by the United States, no wonder these vietnamese would be so loyal because they're so sure they would win

[@quanganh3251]

Historigraph #70, also mark the 70 yrs of this battle

[@bachtruongson9408]

Fun fact: Võ Nguyên Giáp was actually a history teacher, so he kinda changed history himself

[@diallod357]

Great Improvements on the map 👍

[@WushuMR2]

A VERY well-made, detailed account of the battle! I've never seen a video which actually showed the tactical evolution of the battle before, so kudos to you!

[@NoManClatuer-pd8ck]

Many of those Frenchmen weren't French at all. They were Legionnaires.

[@jonathanduplantis1403]

Mostly German and Italian

[@NoManClatuer-pd8ck]

@@jonathanduplantis1403 I wonder why so many Germans & Italians joined the legion after WW2....hmmm

[@jonathanduplantis1403]

@@NoManClatuer-pd8ck money baby

[@jonathanduplantis1403]

@@NoManClatuer-pd8ck new names new identity

[@NoManClatuer-pd8ck]

@@jonathanduplantis1403 "We were just following orders!!!!"

[@micahistory]

Great video. Your content is always so good

[@mehornyasfk]

Who will win? A. A professionally trained, technologically superior army led by a battle-hardened general from a militarily distinguished aristocratic family. B. A bunch of rice famers led by a history teacher.

[@thuongphamvan6010]

Bbb

[@looinrims]

I mean Giáp was battle hardened too and trained as professionally as they could be, with better supply

[@abrahammorrison6374]

This battle is mentioned in We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel.

[@quocnguyenngoc9272]

Nearly all the elite French battalions, paratroopers, Foreign Legion, present in Vietnam were annihilated at Điện Biên Phủ. However, this was not the last major battle of the French Indochina war. End of June 1954, France's Groupe Mobile 100 with the elite French Korea battalion was totally destroyed in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

[@DV1287]

Hey Historigraph. Nice Video. Just one thing I wanted to point out that was missed: The strongpoint of Isabelle, to the South of the Main base of Dien Bien Phu, was essentially cut off from the beginning of the battle. yet the French defenders resiliently held on to Isabelle until the end of the battle.

[@Paladin0005]

I really appreciate content like this that delves into lesser known conflicts.

[@HistoryHaty]

So Happy you are back to your Vietnam War series. Historigraph always make there videos easy to understand and exciting. You show the Importance of what weapons and tactics are used. Love the animation. How do you do it. Never forget history. One battle leads to another and thats why we say never forget. How a battle between France 🇫🇷 and Vietnam 🇻🇳 made the US start there own war in Vietnam. If we don’t value the study of history, we blindly look in to the future.

[@thelandofnod123]

It’s always fascinated me that these European countries, pretty much as soon as they themselves were no longer occupied, continued their own occupation of other countries.

[@hedgehog3180]

It's something a lot of contemporary commentators also noted.

[@looinrims]

Ethno centrism and chauvinism is all encompassing

[@divinewind6313]

AFAIK, there was a sizable former SS soldiers also among the Foreign Legion.

[@phanson6698]

And fun fact that there are few are in Vietminh too :))))

[@divinewind6313]

@@phanson6698 How they ended up with Vietminh

[@phanson6698]

@@divinewind6313 Some Germans just did not want to serve the French, some saw that the war was unjust and wanted to help Vietminh win. There are a few high-ranking officials in Vietminh who are German, their job is to propagate propaganda, manage peaceful prison camps and lead foreigners to fight for Vietminh.

[@Jon.A.Scholt]

As LBJ said about American forces at Khe Sanh, "I don't want no Din Bin Foo"

[@looinrims]

I wish we had a recording of a response: “Mr President, is that food?”

[@timesathousand]

6:40 "It was the first time in the entire war that a French battalion in prepared positions had been overrun by the communists." I agree with the other comments that the whole premise of the base and the terrible supply situation looks like French arrogance. But if your forces had never lost a hill--I can see why the French ended up overextending so badly.

[@kdg54e-sport62]

I hope you will do more video about Indochina War and Vietnam war Always support you from Vietnam 🇻🇳❤️

[@liambell708]

This was a great video, as are the others I have watched! Could you do a video about the Second Battle of Ypres? I think it would be interesting.

[@Ganhaque89]

Toàn bộ Việt Minh tham gia trận đánh là 53000 người nếu tất cả thương vong là 25000 thì còn lại khoảng 28000, ko đủ để gọi hàng 16000 quân Pháp. Tổng số quân Pháp chết là 11000 người tính cả sau khi bị bắt do đói ăn và hành quân bộ hàng trăm km

[@looinrims]

This doesn’t track, how could 2 division sized elements not be able to collapse a besieged starving cauldron which was under fire control? Also Vietnamese could and did bring up replacements

[@SmokeJam]

My favourite historian is back with another gem!

[@dtube3547]

The titles of this video are super biased and misleading: "Disaster in Vietnam", disaster for whom? "US dragged into Vietnam" dragged by whom? Vietnamese barefooted peasants?

[@historigraph]

We live in a world where I need people to click on the video. People don’t click, they don’t watch

[@markgarrett3647]

​@@historigraphWhy'd you leave out Operation Lorraine and the battles of Muong Khoua and Sam Noua in this video?

[@eliane2743]

Na-San, though a victory, left quite a lot of French officers ill at ease because they thought it had been a very close call. Right from the beginning various members of the French military leadership weren’t enthusiastic about the Dien-Bien-Phu plan, notably because the place was too far away from the airfields used by the planes providing CAS. When it was discovered the enemy had brought AAA, the mood further dropped down in Hanoi. The latter part echoes the situation and feelings described by John Masters about his war in Burma when he overhears the characteristic sound of antiaircraft guns manned by the Japanese assaulting his Blackpool stronghold and immediately understands the British troops are doomed.

[@MrScientifictutor]

They got dien bien fooled.

[@haraffael7821]

The French really have a history of "They wont attack there using this" and then getting attacked by this from there.

[@Krasnoye158]

This video, like so many other videos, is too focused on the tactical approach of the battle and failed to see the strategical movements made before the battle. For example, there is a reason that Cogny couldn't supply more troops to the battle despite understanding how important it is. For those who are interested in the strategical aspect, general Giap initially had the cluster surrounded, ready to attack, but then pulled back. Answering this question would reveal interesting details.

[@tartzmir7934]

Cogny hesitated to commit more elite legionnare paras to the battle because french forces in indochina is limited, since it's an undeclared war and more of an insurgency, all military forces in Indochina is predominantly from the Foreign Legion or the State of Vietnam, and these small contingents are being stretched thin against a massive guerilla army all over indochina. Basically Cogny got his hands tied, if he commit more troops, then he risk compromising the integrity of the Red river delta defense perimeter or the De Lattre Line, as to the second point you raised, Giap hesitated because his men were battered by the dogged resistance mounted by french legionnaires and vietnamese paras so Giap has to resort to siege tactics to just dislodge the French defense by literally blowing every single strongpoint kingdom come, until the french are too battered to even mount a adequate defense, I mean it works because french defense at dien bien phu was so stretched out not to mention they lack sufficient heavy weapons to provide sufficient support for the strongpoints to holdout the vietminh assaults or counter fire the Vietminh artillery

[@gerpsu1772]

Can you do video about finish and Russia's war. the cold war

[@Whatisthisstupidfinghandle]

The Finnish finished it

[@hedgehog3180]

The Winter War? Or the Continuation War?

[@gerpsu1772]

@@hedgehog3180 both, but winter war first

[@markmulligan571]

Perhaps a surprising similarity to the American Revolutionary battle of Yorktown. Vietnamese = Americans, their Chinese allies = the French, their British enemies = trapped French paratroopers.

[@annpeerkat2020]

Title is bollocks.... US jumped where no one wanted them to go. But interesting content.

[@bigsarge2085]

Always learn!

[@hungtrinh-b9m]

i've been waiting for this for months

[@NguyenJulia-ks4wr]

Vietnam at that time was a country whose chance of winning against the French was 0% if compared to the strength of France. However, thanks to the determination and unity, that country managed to defeat France, and later on, even the United States.

[@ptaing8]

Without Chinese and Russia support, viet minh have zero chance of winning. Chinese created viet minh to kick the French and vietnamese didn't win by themselves.

[@ptaing8]

The People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union similarly provided vital support to the Viet Minh, including most of their artillery and ammunition. the planned Viet Minh attack was based on the Chinese "Fast Strike, Fast Victory" model.

[@ptaing8]

Viet Minh, organization that led the struggle for Vietnamese independence from French rule. The Viet Minh was formed in China in May 1941. It is Chinese's creation and it's not true vietnamese. Viet Minh calls 越南獨立同盟

[@aceflaviuskaizokuaugustusc8427]

@@ptaing8 At the time many intellectuals and independence leaders formed their parties or organization outside of their colonial home for obvious reasons. The French would have suppressed or destroyed the Viet Minh if it tried to form in Colonial Vietnam. Another famous example would be the Kuomintang it was founded by Sun Yat-Sen in Hawaii so would it be considered an American creation? Many of these intellectuals have interacted with each other like many Kuomintang military leaders having been trained or studied in Japan and engaging in political organizations there too.

[@MinhPham-jw6pu]

@@ptaing8 trying to take credits for something that's not yours, typical chinese.

[@taison5]

wake up babe new historigraph just dropped

[@faenethlorhalien]

America should have never involved itself and facts speak louder than words: thousands of young men dying for what? To lose a war? So that Vietnam can remain communist and independent? France losing its COLONIES (yes, France, any possession outside of Europe you own is a colony, not integral part of your territory, because it's inhabited by natives of those places mainly) was something that had to happen and it was a good thing. America walked into the worst mistake they have ever made and they have no one else to blame but themselves.

[@MarquisVincentBissetdeGramont]

True.

[@thethaovatoquoc312]

What's the difference between Korean War and Vietnam War? You can't judge a war simply for its military outcome.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@thethaovatoquoc312 The Korean War also wasn't exactly a success though, it was just as bloody and resulted in the death of millions of civilians, and the result was just the creation of two dictatorships. South Korea only became a democracy after the revolution in the 80s and still has huge issues with corruption, reactionaries and an inhumane labor market. The only difference is that the front stabilized and neither side was able to infiltrate the other because neither side had much popular support anymore. And lets not forget what the North turned into.

[@jerryle379]

Im curious why dont you call vietnam side vietnam people army or vietminh but keep calling it communist , yet for the french side you didnt call them imperialist ? 🧐

[@stevshaboba7476]

There was also Vietnamese serving with the French, also in the video he calls them colonizers more then once

[@khactamdo7800]

Peace is so precious 😢

[@jamesscalzo3033]

Loved the video @Historigraph! Can't wait for the next video man! Between 1955 until the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1963, We were simply in Vietnam as Military Advisors. To say that the United States was Dragged into Vietnam would be along the Lines of the British actually Sinking the German Battleship Bismarck when the Germans actually Used the Scuttling Charges after picking up the Heavy Cruiser HMS Dorsetshire coming in for what was actually a "Coup de Grace" Torpedo Attack thinking that The Bismarck was going to be Towed in as a War Prize and have their Enigma Machine and Code Books Seized. We Chose to be in Vietnam to Help the South Vietnamese, We were Thrown into the War Completely thanks to the Democrat Party no thanks to the Gulf of Tonkin, Used Helicopters in Vietnam no thanks to Johnson having Stocks in Companies like Bell (again, The Democratic party) and then got absolutely Trounced because of the Democrats after practicality bringing the North Vietnamese to their Knees after Tet only for our troops to come back being labeled as "Baby Killers" because the NVA and VC had Child Soldiers during Tet even by People who support The Killing of Babies in Hospitals because a Mother or a Father Doesn't want to take Responsibility and again, It's the Democrats who're doing this! Let me know what you think about this and I'll catch you in your next video man!

[@johnforrester9120]

The yanks and French were both taught a lesson they should have never gone back in

[@antoniocarrascosa6060]

Gran trabajo. Enhorabuena desde España

[@JW007100]

The US should never allowed France to reoccupy Vietnam after WW 2. The US knew and feared Ho Chi Minh was courting the Chinese Communists. They did everything wrong regarding their treatment of the Vietnamese people towards having their own country. They even allowed the Japanese military to police the Vietnamese until the French could get back in and recolonize the country. The primary reason was the rubber plantations so critical were French operated. During Vietnam the plantations were basically off limits, used by both sides as recovery areas, especially the Viet Cong, they knew the plantation areas were a no bomb area. Fast forward to today and you see Vietnam immigrants to America and elsewhere prosper through hard work and determination to move forward. Vietnam has opened an auto plant in North Carolina that may fail but they have shown how industrious they are. The Vietnamese Communists are still a problem but the capitalist market runs strongly in the people. If only America could have truly created an opportunity after WW2 for the Vietnamese like they did for the Japanese without pandering to the French.

[@54blewis]

The French collaborationist government under Petain was desperate to maintain its overseas empire even if that meant cooperating with the Germans and the (most pertinent)Japanese, but once the Axis powers were defeated,the “new” successive French governments were forced (reluctantly)to take over the colonial administrations return to their previous status this time with the added anti communist sentiment as a motivation…which further led to the American involvement,however the constant changes in French politics and vacillation on the part of various governments created a crisis that would eventually undermine French commitment to the war,once French forces were defeated at Dien Bien Phu support for the war and hence maintaining the colony collapsed and the scaling back of the French Empire began,next stop Algeria 🇩🇿

[@yeudoi66]

All this military experts comes out now the history has taken its course 😮 hindsight I’m a trillions $$$$$$$$$ man 😊

[@projectforce3727]

Your maps are getting better

[@milgeschichte]

12:16 They really used Ju-52/3m as bombers? wow

[@samarkand1585]

One important point you forgot to mention, was the constant shelling the camp faced besides the strongpoint assaults

[@dexterellis7818]

All the lessons from the French War were there for the Americans in the 1960s. Unfortunately, none of them were learned.

[@redjacc7581]

a book called "the last valley" by martin windrow is an excellent read.

[@markgarrett3647]

Minh That's really laughable if you look at the Chinese Civil War campaigns of the Communist Chinese.

[@bradykool6184]

can you do a video about HMS Dasher and her loss as an aircraft carrier in ww2?

[@RoachDoggJr2112]

SCOREBOARD!!! SKILL ISSUE!!!! THE RED TIDE WILL NOT SUBSIDE!!!!!

[@MrJohansen]

Cringe commie

[@chrischarman8707]

Wow your Vietnamese pronunciation is pants

[@Mindbonkya]

I just started reading The Wretched of the Earth and this came up, thank you for explaining this.

[@7macfly2]

respect to those french para who jumped their to join their friends while they knew it was already over....

[@ClimateScepticSceptic-ub2rg]

It's Dien Bien PHU! PHU! PHU! Do your homework.

[@zealover]

What a bloody battle

[@PHDarren]

They didn't defend the River?

[@tedsheldon11]

So general's play war in the middle of no where with young men's lives for the sake of bartering a better award on the wall.

[@looinrims]

Better award on the wall? Are you daft? The Vietnamese were fighting for their nation and independence Generals die in war too, not sure you knew that

[@NerfButWithoutHasbro]

is it bad that i thought france was just decolonizing and left indochina without a war because they didn't wanna risk it 😭😭

[@geewilly9822]

If you don't want to get into a depression, DO NOT search about the battle of the RC4 and Cao Bang

[@QuanNguyen-dx6ht]

Đường số 4 con đường tử địa của Pisey tôi đã đọc nó bằng tiếng Việt

[@rotecly]

Please keep making videos about this war. The amrican-vietnam war is well known, but there is not much about the french one before it.

[@thaibuidinh5577]

Cảm ơn bạn đã làm video về lịch sử quân đội của chúng tôi, vào dịp chúng tôi ky niệm 70 năm chiến thắng Điện Biên phủ

[@haivu-u9i]

Thanks for making a video about the battle in my country. But the way you made the conclusions at the end of the video is completely wrong and I don't like it at all. I think you should delete it and redo it

[@markgarrett3647]

I really thought you were going to cover Operation Lorraine and the heroic battle of Muong Khuoa that saved the politically relevant Laotian city of Luang Prabang and the monarch of Laos from the Vietminh and also the disastrous rout of the Franco-Laotian garrison in Sam Noua. What a disappointment.

[@guillaumefigarella1704]

I'm a french dude in its mid twenties, we really sucked and i feel ashamed by those bloody colonial conflicts even if that happened before my parents were even born

[@cloudchaser966]

Why do you keep pronouncing it "Dien Bien PHO"? It is "PHU" (i.e. pronounced "Foo"). Neglecting details like this make it hard to believe that you really know what you are talking about...

[@historigraph]

I looked into the pronounciation pretty extensively and I think 'Pho' is correct

[@cloudchaser966]

Hmm. For example, go to "Google Translate", enter Điện Biên Phủ, and have it pronounced by a native speaker. It doesn't sound like "Pho" at all! Of course, I am not a native Vietnamese speaker myself, so I can only go by listening to others in this respect. Maybe a Vietnamese person among the commenters could clarify this best.

[@af-secret]

1至少三分之一兵力用于防守南北两端。 2防线收缩以利于炮兵有时间准备和火力无顾虑输出。 3投降太早。 1 A third of the army should be disposed in north and south side at least. 2 Shrinking the defence line for artillery battalion blows with no worries and obtain sufficient reaction time. 3 Surrender too soon.

[@sprintcog]

Great video, really well researched and executed!

[@silist001]

Hello @Historygraph, which app do you use for all your animations? It’s very clean.

[@julianshepherd2038]

"Dragged" 😂

[@davidlewis5312]

Foolhardy jumped in more like it

[@jacobcave1587]

Oh burn

[@Bandog23]

yes correct. dragged

[@About37Hobos]

@@Bandog23 we weren’t dragged at all we leapt headfirst into it

[@Cybonator]

That Foreign Legion battalion was also comprised of Waffen SS-veterans

[@spiritualwarfare4356]

starship troopers infestation

[@mizunotogaming8853]

As a Vietnamese, thank you for including this historical moment in Vietnamese history!

[@getgaijoobed6219]

3:29 and that’s what Hitler and Goering had thought at Stalingrad too…looks like the French didn’t do their homework (yes, I realize the difference in scale but the point still stands)

[@davhot4107]

Ainsi bas la vida! Ainsi bas la vida! 💀💀

[@luvrofbacon]

Be sure to read Bernard Fall's book about this battle. It is a gem. One of my all time favorite military history titles, and I've read quite a few.

[@jonathanduplantis1403]

Read Jules Roy's book The Battle of Dienbienphu and Bernard Fall's Hell in a Very Small Place

[@QuanNguyen-dx6ht]

Hãy đọc Đường số 4 con đường tử địa của Pisey

[@johnd2058]

How the hell did this "drag" the USA anywhere?

[@1604Sylvain]

Expand of communism

[@poshboy4749]

Comment when you have finished the video buddy.

[@1604Sylvain]

​@@poshboy4749 I did, and was well aware of what happened there before this video. In case you didn't know, as their are specialist in that matter, USA helps the communist vietnamese to fight back at japanese during world war 2. Ironic right ? Just as they help talibans against USSR, creating Ben Laden. But in the end, it all comes to that : US vietnam war was an attempt to contain the communism expand.

[@johnd2058]

Replay when you learn the complex history of the 10 years between DBP and the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, @@poshboy4749 .

[@johnd2058]

@@1604Sylvain So did the Russian Civil War. And?

[@pc86914]

Great video. Your next will be the channel’s 100th!

[@imjustthere9343]

Who would had thought building a base in a valley surrounded by mountains would be a bad idea.

[@QuanNguyen-dx6ht]

Như 1 con cá nằm trên thớt

[@traveljacknguyen2915]

Napoleon does not like this 💀

[@notjhill]

Does the warthunder thing work for already existing accounts

[@Whatisthisstupidfinghandle]

No

[@morefiction3264]

Not a great plan by the French.

[@ethanpf449]

Great video well worth the wait, hope you do Ap Bac.

[@AlexaRobin21]

The battle that broke the Indochinese French Empire, and soon, the African French Empire.

[@johnbox271]

African French Empire simply altered to look more palatable, but it went on. Well, until recently when the Russians took advantage.

[@zetectic7968]

It was French hubris after the humiliation of WW2 they thought they could retain their colonies & prestige. To choose a place in a valley surround by hills & severely underestimate your enemy:foolhardy I heard a radio documentary about this many years ago. French soldiers were dropping dead because the stress & lack of sleep depleted their endocrine system.

[@andrearel3703]

They needed the money that Indochina could produce from the exportation of rice and rubber.

[@angkhoanguyen6114]

​@@andrearel3703Only too lose more money by wasting them in Vietnam

[@andrearel3703]

@@angkhoanguyen6114 But they still got to boom boom with Vietnamese women. Women cry when they leave.

[@angkhoanguyen6114]

@@andrearel3703 women cried for themselves being idiots

[@nemosgaze]

You don't mention at the end what happened to Laos and Cambodia, just that the French exited. It would've been interesting to mention at least what kind of governments they got. Big question mark there.

[@andygrininja]

Here before 500k

[@blue-skyuniform]

This all really interesting, but why is there no one talking about prisoners of war? From 1946-1954 the French as the Viet-minh toke prisoners the French had of course prison camps around Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, but how about the viet minh? Where did they put their prisoners from 1946-1954? After the People's Republic of China 🇨🇳 came then most of the prisoners were brought in to China self, In gamble at the moment, I hope you also going to make a video about that

[@jerryle379]

Prison held in multi location , those capture in the south held In the south , those capture in central held in central region , In the north - held in north west region , here we also start to see new vietnamese soldier aka french pow and soldier whom defect to VietMinh side

[@blue-skyuniform]

@jerryle379 you have to remember their ware also Morocco, Algeria troops fighting for the French, they also want it independent from French, so how ware the treatment when taken prisoners by the Viet-minh

[@jerryle379]

@@blue-skyuniform Morroco and algerian - German many chose to stay in Vietnam after 1954 and become new vietnamese , marriage local and they even have Morroco village , the village still exist but majority are now viet as most New vietnamese return to they home country in the 1960s