The First Indochina War, 1946–54

Negotiations between France and Ho Chi Minh's government collapsed in 1946. In November French warships bombarded the port of Haiphong, killing thousands, and in December fighting broke out in Hanoi. The Viet Minh withdrew to the countryside and fought a guerrilla war under General Vo Nguyen Giap. France tried to win support by creating the 'State of Vietnam' under former emperor Bao Dai in 1949, but many Vietnamese saw it as a French puppet.

The war changed character after 1949: Mao's victory in China gave the Viet Minh a supply base and training, and the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 made the United States see Indochina as a Cold War front. American aid grew until it covered most of the cost of the war by 1954. France relied heavily on colonial and Foreign Legion troops, and the war grew unpopular at home, where it was called 'la sale guerre', the dirty war.