Dien Bien Phu

• The French desperately tried to drop supplies and reinforcements to the beleagured airfield.

• But the Viet Minh’s numbers only grew and soon the French were fighting for survival.

• In the end the French were forced to surrender

• They negotiated a deal to divide Vietnam into a Communist North and a Capitalist South divided at the 17th Parallel

• But French rule had ended in Asia with military defeat.

• The Americans guaranteed South Vietnam from the communist backed North Vietnam

• The Superpower was replacing the tiring Great Power