Recently, Vietnam celebrated the 60th anniversary of the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu at the hands of the communist Vietminh forces led by General Vo Nguyen Giap. The government in Hanoi played this up considerably, emphasizing the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party as being responsible for the independence of Vietnam from the French. They do this, of course, to secure their own hold on power and reinforce the communist dictatorship. The truth is that the communists never really fought for independence at all but simply for power over their own people who were trapped in communist tyranny before ever really having a chance to understand communism or what it meant. This is more vital today because the people have access to more information in the past and the Communist Party is worrying about their monopoly on state power. The truth is that the communists had nothing to do with Vietnam first gaining independence from France and, indeed, they actively worked to delay real Vietnamese independence for many years and at the cost of many lives. The real credit for the first liberation of Vietnam from French control must go to the Vietnamese Emperor, the traditional leaders of the country and to the Empire of Japan.
The Japanese Imperial Army stationed in Vietnam carried out a coup in 1945 to remove the French colonial authorities from power and offered the reigning monarch, HM Emperor Bao Dai, the opportunity to declare independence. The Emperor, educated in France. had no ill-will or animosity toward the French but wanted his country to be independent and realized the colonial era had come to an end. So, before the communists tried to do the same in Hanoi several months later, Emperor Bao Dai declared the independence of the Empire of Vietnam, repudiated all the treaties with France and pledged Imperial Vietnam's full support for the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and expressed his sincere thanks to the Empire of Japan for making the unity and independence of Vietnam possible. This was the first time Vietnam had been united and independent since the reign of Emperor Tu Duc and it was thanks to the actions of the Empire of Japan. It is also important to remember that the communists, the Vietminh, were at this same time fighting against the Japanese forces, armed and supported by the United States OSS (Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA) as part of the Allied war effort against Japan. This, obviously, was a mistake that would cost the United States dearly in the future.
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