On December 6, 1953, the Politburo decided to launch the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. Photo: Historical archives

On December 6, 1953, to fundamentally shake the French colonialists' hopes of continuing their war of aggression, the Politburo decided to launch the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. President Ho Chi Minh stated: “This campaign is very important, not only militarily but also politically, not only domestically but also internationally. Therefore, the entire army, the entire people, and the entire Party must concentrate their efforts to ensure its successful completion.” From March 13, 1954, at the Dien Bien Phu Front, our troops successively destroyed enemy strongholds, encircling them meter by meter in trenches and launching decisive attacks leading to victory. At 5:30 PM on May 7, 1954, General De Castries, the commander, along with the entire enemy General Staff, surrendered and were captured alive.

The Egyptian newspaper Al Gum Gyrria, on May 8, 1954, stated: “ The fall of Dien Bien Phu is a stern warning to imperialism in Asia, Africa, and everywhere where usurpers plot to humiliate or undermine their independence... the advance of the liberation movement will continue, and many more imperialist strongholds will fall.”

William Foster, Chairman of the American Communist Party, wrote in the Workers' Daily on May 10, 1954: “The victory at Dien Bien Phu is a tremendous encouragement to the forces fighting against imperialism in colonial and semi-colonial countries… The liberation of Dien Bien Phu is a crucial victory in the struggle for freedom and world peace.”

The Indonesian newspaper, in its May 11, 1954 issue, noted that the liberation of Dien Bien Phu was not only a victory for Vietnam but also "proved that the people of Asia are capable of ending the history of colonialism that conspired to use armed force to realize its ambitions."

In 1955, just one year after the Dien Bien Phu victory, the Conference of 29 Asian and African nations met in Bandung (Indonesia). For the first time in history, nations that had been marginalized for centuries united to openly condemn colonialism and cooperate in helping each other for peace and national independence. At this conference, the Vietnamese delegates were welcomed as heroes.

The French weekly magazine Paris Match, on May 12, 1956, published an article titled "The Lesson of Dien Bien Phu." The article stated: "The day of defeat at Dien Bien Phu was a crucial day, from which the French empire began to disintegrate… French generals and officers – who had fought over a hundred battles, with the strength of tens of thousands – were now taught a lesson by these small, yellow-skinned people… This defeat shattered a piece of French strength, and it was through this vulnerability that the Vietnamese, then the Moroccans, the Tunisians, and the Algerians poured in."

Jean Pouget, a former officer in the French expeditionary forces, bitterly remarked: "The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu marked the end of colonialism and the beginning of the era of Third World independence." French journalist Jules Roy commented: "It was one of the West's greatest defeats, signaling the disintegration of the colonies."

Looking back, the French expeditionary army in Indochina accounted for only 25% of the total troops; the rest were mobilized from 17 colonial countries. Therefore, after the victory at Dien Bien Phu, the French colonial system gradually began to crumble as these colonial soldiers brought the fighting spirit of the Vietnamese people back home.

The movement began with the formation of the Algerian National Liberation Front. After eight years of persistent struggle (1954-1962), the Algerian people forced the French government to recognize their independence and territorial integrity. Abdelkader Bensalah (born in 1941), President of the Algerian People's Assembly (1997-2002), President of the Algerian National Council (2002-2019), stated: "The victory at Dien Bien Phu answered our question: If the Vietnamese people could defeat imperialist colonialism, why couldn't Algeria?"

Notably, just four years after the Dien Bien Phu victory, 1960 went down in human history as the "Year of Africa," with 17 African countries declaring independence. By 1968, as many as 39 countries on the continent (comprising 85% of the territory and 93% of the population) had achieved victory in their wars for national independence.

When President Ho Chi Minh passed away on September 2, 1969, in a letter to the Central Executive Committee of our Party, the Secretary of the Communist Party of Tunisia, Mohamed Hartman, wrote: “His name will be associated with the Dien Bien Phu victory… We know that the victorious struggle of the Vietnamese people against French colonialism played a decisive role in promoting the national movement in Africa and in the Arab world, and initiated the disintegration of the colonial system of imperialism” [1]

In a letter to the Central Committee of our Party, the Central Committee of the African Party for Independence of Senegal wrote: “We will not forget that President Ho Chi Minh led the heroic Vietnamese people to inflict a decisive defeat on French colonialism, thus promoting and facilitating the awakening of national consciousness and the consciousness of achieving political independence of our country” [2]

In 1987, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) honored President Ho Chi Minh as a national liberation hero and outstanding cultural figure of Vietnam, and recommended that member states organize worldwide commemorations of him in 1990, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth.

At the international conference commemorating the 100th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh's birth in 1990, Dr. M. Ahmed, Director of UNESCO in charge of the Asia-Pacific cultural region, stated: "He will be remembered not only as the liberator of the homeland and the colonized humanity but also as a modern sage who brought new vision and hope to those who relentlessly fight to eliminate injustice and inequality from this earth" [3]

[1] The world praises and mourns President Ho Chi Minh, Truth Publishing House, Hanoi, 1976, p. 631

[2] The world praises and mourns President Ho Chi Minh, Truth Publishing House, Hanoi, 1976, p. 363

[3] UNESCO and the Vietnam Social Science Committee, International Conference on President Ho Chi Minh (Excerpt from the presentation of international delegates), Social Science Publishing House, Hanoi, 1990, p. 37.

Nguyen Van Toan