Hồ Chí Minh appeals to President Truman for support

After Japan’s surrender, Viet Minh-led forces and mass mobilization took control of Hanoi. The August Revolution spread unevenly across the country and drew on years of organizing as well as the...

Bảo Đại signed a declaration relinquishing the throne as the August Revolution advanced. The declaration date and the later public ceremony are distinct moments in the transition. The end of the...

At a public ceremony in Huế, Bảo Đại transferred the imperial seals and sword to representatives of the revolutionary government. This formalized the monarchy’s end, though it did not by itself settle...

Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam at Ba Đình Square. The declaration rejected colonial rule and asserted national self-determination, but French efforts to restore control soon...

French troops, backed by British occupation forces, reasserted control in Saigon. Vietnamese resistance followed. The episode exposed the gap between Allied rhetoric about freedom and the...

France and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam signed an agreement describing Vietnam as a Free State within the French Union, while postponing unresolved questions including Cochinchina. Competing...

French and Vietnamese representatives began talks on Indochina’s future. Negotiations failed to settle the status of Cochinchina and the meaning of Vietnamese independence. The impasse followed...

French forces bombarded Haiphong after a customs dispute and escalating confrontation. Civilian deaths were severe, though figures differ across accounts. The bombardment deepened the breakdown of...

Fighting in Hanoi followed the collapse of negotiations and a French ultimatum. The Việt Minh called for resistance. The conflict was an anti-colonial war whose international alignment increasingly...

French forces began a major offensive in the Việt Bắc region, seeking to capture Viet Minh leadership and disrupt its wartime base. Viet Minh forces avoided encirclement and sustained resistance;...