The People’s Army of Vietnam was able to defeat the French in the first Indo-china war due a variety of reasons. It was a combination of Vietnam’s strong sense of nationalism and popular support of the people that made a major contribution to its success. Also the support provided form overseas allies such as China, its military tactics used and the mistakes made by the French made the Viet Minh victory inevitable.
A leading factor was Vietnam’s strong sense of nationalism the popular support from the Vietnamese people was a major contributor to why Vietnam was able to defeat the French in Indochina. Nationalism united the majority of Vietnam in the quest for independence. It also gave the Vietnamese population the determination and inspiration to defeat the French. This is shown through the view of Ho Chi Minh that “We have a secret weapon... Our secret weapon is nationalism” giving a sense that nationalism was an advantage that helped defeat France in the war. Vietnamese nationalism arose ever since French colonised in Indochina. In addition Nationalism further grew through propaganda, political parties such as the Vietnamese Nationalist Party and the Indochinese Communist Party and through Ho Chi Minh. The resistance groups heavily relied on the support of the people as they could provide them with the necessities such as food, shelter and information about the French. Besides that, the Vietnamese people assisted the army by transporting artillery and ammunition manually. As mentioned by Giap “in war there are two factors, human being and weapons. Ultimately though, human beings are the decisive factor” justifying that popular support was indeed of great importance and was a major reason for Vietnamese victory against the French.
The assistance of other countries such as Chinas provision of finance and artillery also proved to be a prime reason for Vietnam’s victory against the French. According to