Dien Bien Phu
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- For other uses see, Dien Bien Phu (film).
Dien Bien Phu (Điện Biên Phủ pronunciation ) is a small town in northwestern Vietnam in Dien Bien province.
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[edit] Historic battle
In the 1950s, the town was known not only for its famous opium traffic, generating 500,000,000 French Francs per year, but more so for a fierce battle that would result in a major realignment of world geopolitics.
(original photo taken by Marilyn Knapp Litt, 02.1998)
The region was fortified in November 1953 by the French Union force in the biggest airborne operation of the 1946-1954 First Indochina War, Operation Castor, to block Viet Minh transport routes and to set the stage to draw out Việt Minh forces. The following year, the important Battle of Dien Bien Phu was fought between the Việt Minh (led by Vo Nguyen Giap and backed by China), and the United States-backed French Union (led by General Navarre successor to General de Lattre de Tassingny). The siege of the French garrison lasted fifty-seven days, from 5:30PM March 13th to 5:30PM May 7th. The southern outpost or firebase of the camp, Isabelle, did not follow the cease-fire order and fought until the next day at 01:00AM; a few hours before the long-scheduled Geneva Meeting's Indochina conference involving the United States, the United Kingdom, the French Union and the Soviet Union.
The battle was significant beyond the valleys of Dien Bien Phu. Vo Nguyen Giap's victory ended major French involvement in Indochina and led to the accords which partitioned Vietnam into North and South and, eventually, American involvement in the Vietnam War. The battle of Điện Biên Phủ is often described as a great victory for a Southeast Asian nation over a modern Western (i.e. colonial) power.
The Western fear of a Communist extension in Southeast Asia, named the Domino Theory by Dwight D. Eisenhower during the Dien Bien Phu siege and the departure of the French from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam led to the direct American intervention in South Vietnam.
[edit] Today
The town of Dien Bien Phu has a population of around 125,000, although it was much smaller at the time of the battle. The majority of the population is not ethnically Vietnamese - rather, Thai ethnic groups form the largest segment. Ethnic Vietnamese make up around a third of the population, with the remainder being Hmong, Si La, or others.
Điện Biên Phủ lies in Muong Thanh valley, a 20-km-long and 6-km-wide basin sometimes described as "heart-shaped". It is the capital of Dien Bien Phu Province and has traditionally been considered remote. It is only around 30 kilometers from the border with Laos.
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