Dien Bien Phu - The End of a World

Spring 1954: the spearhead of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps faces, in the high valley of Dien Bien Phu, the elite units of the People's Army of Vietnam commanded by General Giap. This ferocious and unequal close-quarters fighting, set against a backdrop of intense artillery duels, is of unimaginable violence: between 13,000 and 25,000 Vietnamese soldiers are killed or wounded, while French losses amount to 65% of the forces engaged. After a long and gruelling siege, the battle ends in an implacable defeat for the French army, with nearly 9,000 soldiers enduring a painful captivity in Viet Minh camps.

Against a backdrop of Cold War rivalry in which France was massively backed by the United States and Vietnam supported by Communist China, this colossal confrontation led to a diplomatic agreement signed in Geneva enshrining the disappearance of French Indochina, a prelude to the end of the colonial era. France's defeat hastened the FLN's decision to launch its own armed struggle in Algeria, while simultaneously radicalising a section of the French army haunted by the "Indochinese syndrome" and determined never again to endure such humiliation.

Drawing on numerous testimonies from both sides, Pierre Journoud, in collaboration with Dao Thanh Huyen, places this mythical battle — which changed the face of the twentieth century — within a considerably broader spatial and temporal framework for the first time.