The Ending is a Beginning

Abstract

This chapter examines conflict between the Viet Minh and France's military forces during the First Indochina War, also known as the French–Indochina War. It assesses how Vietnamese communists created Parallel Hierarchies--a form of shadow government--to compete with the French-sponsored Vietnamese government, the Associated State of Vietnam. The chapter also assesses how Bernard Fall recounted political warfare, as implemented by the Viet Minh, and how his extensive field research in Vietnam--from 1953 onwards--helped formulate his understanding of Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare.