France’s underestimation of Vietnam led to their defeat at Dien Bien Phu. The French did not realise that their imperialism would lead to the spread of communism and Vietnamese nationalism. Vietnamese utilisation of their environment and guerilla warfare tactics led to their victory in Dien Bien Phu. France underestimated the determination of the Vietnamese “You can kill ten of our men for every one we kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and we will win.”- Ho Chi Minh.
The French underestimated the impact of French Imperialism and the effect it had towards the spread of communism. During the French reign over Indochina, there was a European superiority over the indigenous people of their colonies, who were considered to be inferior and a burden. France’s colonialist approach led to the exploitation of human and natural resources, in order to gain the glory of an expanded France. The feudal system created a hierarchy that limited people’s wealth, creating a large poor population. The French monopolised Indochinese trade and introduced taxes on products such as salt, wine and opium. The French system exploited Vietnamese farmers, destroyed traditional cultural values and stimulated poverty. France made poor political decisions, such as reintroducing corvee and village quotas, and the Vietnamese held a strong sense of hostility towards the French. Tran Binh Doh, a Vietnamese peasant working at a French rubber plant complained about their lifestyle, “Everyone is hungry. Everyone is sick… They call us engrais (fertiliser).” French disregard for the quality of Vietnamese lifestyles led to Vietnamese acceptance of communism, especially for peasants. It allowed poor people to have control over the country’s economy and would let them move up in the feudal system, regaining the freedom the French had deprived them of. One of the Communist Party’s slogans aim was to ease the burden on the peasants by abolishing public loans and poll tax. The French underestimated French imperialism’s effect on communism, as well as the Communist Party’s ability to gain supporters.
