A Critical Evaluation of Charles De Gaulle's Handling of the Algerian Insurrection

The beginning and end of the war is still disputed over today, but it is widely seen to have started in November of 1955. Prior to this, Vietnam was colonized by the French and under their rule. The trouble in French Indochina began when Vietnam declared their independence and raged war against France. The anti-colonial war lasted from 1945 to 1954 with Americas monetary support (Overview of the Vietnam War). The French received 2.6 billion dollars from the U.S. but eventually lost the battle.

When many people think about the 1960s, Vietnam and President John F. Kennedy (JFK) come to mind, and for a good reason for that period in history changed millions of lives. Faced with the possible spread of communism through Asia, JFK stayed with his word to fight communism, thus the Vietnam conflict as we know today was started. In the early 1900s, France conquered Vietnam and made it a protectorate, which is a relationship of protection and partial control assumed by a superior power over a dependent country or region For about forty years Vietnam had not experienced settled peace, as a result, The League for the Independence of Vietnam (Viet Minh) was formed in 1941, which sought independence from the French. On September 2,1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed Vietnam independent from France. The French government wanted to reestablish their rule in Vietnam but were beaten at the battle of Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954.

Marxism-Leninism in Vietnam In the region of Vietnam there had been many uprisings. All of these uprisings were for one reason, freedom. The Vietnamese were willing to accept Communism in return for what they had been fighting for over 2000 years: self rule. In 1950 the United States, owing a debt of gratitude towards France, sent several advisors to aid French control in Vietnam. Over the next decade and a half, the United States would send an entire Army and Navy to aid the French in maintaining control in South Vietnam, which had separated from the Communist North Vietnam by treaty in 1954.

There had been more than one million Algerian casualties and nearly two million Algerians had lost their homes. For over a century the French had deprived the Algerians of any but the most minimal opportunity to become involved in its infrastructure and institutions. Algerians had been made a subclass of servants, unskilled labourers and peasants. The departure of the French left the country without the skilled labour to keep the country running. At the same time, internal conflicts within the FLN that had been set aside during the war emerged and a power struggle between various factions of the FLN flared up.

In 1830 Algeria became a French territory and in 1848 was made a département attached to France . During this period political and economic power were held mainly by the minority of white settlers, and the indigenous Moslem minority did not have equal rights. Moslems were killed before independence was declared on July 5, 1962. Later that year the Algerian provisional government transferred authority to the Poli... ... middle of paper ... ...ely compelled French authorities to announce independence for the Algerian people. This war of independence passed through many ups and downs and millions of innocent people suffered badly but the ultimate will of the people found its way to the final success.

The Vietnam War, also known as the American War, and the Second Indochina War started on December 1956. 58,000 Americans were killed. The war ended on the 30th April 1975, along with a withdrawal of the United States army, and the South and the North of Vietnam reunited. The US government, led by Lyndon Baines Johnson, tried to stop communism from spreading in North Vietnam, because if Vietnam became a communist country, the nearby countries, such as Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia may be affected and become communist countries as well, like a domino, gradually turning down the countries in agreeing in being a communist, called the ’domino theory’. On the other hand, South Vietnam was a capitalist.

Meanwhile, a man by the name of Nguyen Ai Quoc, who later came to be known as Ho Chi Minh, formed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) as well as an army of Vietnamese freedom fighters called the Viet Minh. Finally on December 19, 1946 the Vietnamese troops attacked French troops stationed on the outskirts of Hanoi. This began the start of the eight year Franco-Viet Minh War. Shortly prior to this conflict President Roosevelt had died, fanning the flame of anti-colonialism and leaving the official policy of the U.S toward the Franco-Vietnam war as neutral. Due to the neutrality of the United States during the first four years of the Franco-Viet Minh War, the Vietnam War became, inevitably, the destiny of the United States.

This war ended on May 8th 1954 when, with the help of the Chinese Communists, the Vietminh was able to defeat the French army at the Battle of Äiên Biên Phu. The colonial rulers, France, had fought hard since the end of World War II and 1954 to regain their former territories but with a poorly organised and demoralised army their efforts collapsed. Following their defeat at Dien Bien Phu on 8th May 1954 the French decided to start discussion... ... middle of paper ... ...ition, aid, food etc. This meant that they had a strong hold on South Vietnam. On the Gulf of Ton kin in 1964 a reported attack by North Vietnamese gunboats on United States naval craft stationed in the gulf led to increased US military involvement in Vietnam.

When the Algerian Crisis broke way and virtually destroyed the Fourth Republic, the people of France turned to Charles de Gaulle, who was at the age of sixty-seven. De Gaulle inherited a mess, which he had to solve. As de Gaulle predicted and his countrymen found out the hard way, the Fourth Republic, like the Third Republic, was too strongly parliamentary. When de Gaulle was given his six-month emergency rule in 1958, which was the time allotted to write a new constitution, he created the Fifth Republic to have a strong presidential aspect. Although many criticized the Fifth Republic for being excessively authoritarian, there were numerous democratic aspects.

They drafted the Geneva Accords, which were a set of agreements that the Vietnamese and French would adhere to. The Accords stated that the country would be temporarily split at the 17th Parallel with Ho Chi Minh ruling the north and the Emperor Bao Dai decreeing the south until elections could be held in July 1956 to decide on the government for the re-united Vietnam. However the peace brought about by this Accord was short-lived as the agreements was broken by Diem and South Vietnam who refused to call for elections. Consequently, war was declared between the north and south of Vietnam and the Second Indochina War took place. One of the most important feature when describing the Vietnam War was why the United States became involved in the war, and their reasons for conflict amongst the Vietnamese in the North of the 17th Parallel.