| Too often, historians have looked at the collapse of French resolve and the dramatic failure of arms at Dienbienphu and then assumed that the end of the war in Indochina was a matter of course---that the United States could do nothing to stop France from abandoning Vietnam. In reality, only support from Britain and other governments enabled France's Prime Minister, Joseph Laniel, to seek an armistice.; Historians can profitably approach the Indochina War from this international perspective. This dissertation provides a narrative of how interested governments reached a compromise at Geneva in 1954 that ended the war, divided Vietnam at the seventeenth parallel, but drew the United States deeper towards guardianship over South Vietnam. Finally, the study sets this process within its broader position in the Cold War. It endeavors to place the end of Indochina War within the broadest possible international context and explain its immediate consequences for the Cold War in Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. France's defeat in Indochina is pivotal to our understanding of the Vietnam Wars and the maturing Cold War after Stalin's death in 1953. The Geneva Conference demonstrated the challenges of negotiation both across profound ideological lines and within coalitions of like-minded nations. A more complete understanding of this critical period serves to enrich historical knowledge of Indochina, Southeast Asia, the dynamics of the Cold War, and conflict resolution during that global contest.; Geneva brought two opposing coalitions of nations together. Despite fissures within and between these groups, the conference established an uneasy armistice that ended a central source of conflict between East and West---the Indochina War. This was a major achievement, which enhanced the global detente that had begun with the end of major fighting in Korea after Stalin's death. Yet Geneva further internationalized and intensified competition in Indochina. From 1954, Vietnam could not escape intense external pressure that would tear the country into two and kill millions more people. Cold War conflict transformed one war of national liberation into a savage war of peace---an important foundation for the global truce in the aftermath of the Korean War. |
