Concept
The Indochina Wars (Chiến tranh Đông Dương) were a series of wars which were waged in Southeast Asia from 1946 to 1991, by communist Indochinese forces (mainly the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) against the opponents (mainly French, the State of Vietnam, South Vietnam, American, Cambodian, Laotian Royal, and Chinese forces). The term "Indochina" originally referred to French Indochina, which included the current states of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. , it applies largely to a geographic region, rather than to a political area. The wars included: The First Indochina War (called the Indochina War in France and the French War in Vietnam) began after the end of World War II in 1946 and lasted until the French defeat in 1954. After a long campaign of resistance against the French and the Japanese, Viet Minh forces had claimed a victory (the August Revolution) after Japanese and Vichy French forces surrendered in the North on 15 August 1945. In the War in Vietnam (1945–46), British forces temporarily occupied the South, starting from 13 September 1945, only to restore French colonial control in 1946. In the United Nations, and through their alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States, the French demanded return of their former Indochina colony prior to agreeing to participate in the NATO alliance (founded in 1949) opposing Soviet expansion beyond the countries of the Warsaw Pact (founded in 1955) in the Cold War. The communist/nationalist Viet Minh, whom the Allies had supported during World War II, continued fighting the French with support from China and the Soviet Union, ultimately forcing the NATO-backed French out of Indochina (1954). The Second Indochina War (called the Vietnam War in the West or the American War in Vietnam) began as a conflict between the United States-backed South Vietnamese government and its opponents, both the North Vietnamese-based communist Viet Cong (National Liberation Front) and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), known in the West as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA).
