Geneva Accords
Geneva Accords research papers examine the nations involved in the accords and what was settled. The writers of world history at Paper Masters can custom write research on any aspect of the Geneva Accords you need.
In the spring of 1954, the Viet Minh had gained strength and forced the French forces to surrender at Dien Bien Phu. After fifty-six days of siege, the French fortress there fell to the Vietnamese. Later that year, representatives from the following countries met:
- France
- Britain
- The Soviet Union
- China
- The United States
- Vietnam
- Laos
- Cambodia
These nations met in Switzerland to draft a plan for French evacuation from Southeast Asia. These were called the Geneva Accords.
The Geneva Accords Split Vietnam
The Geneva Accords temporarily split Vietnam in two at the 17th parallel. The northern part of the country was left in control of the Viet Minh, while Bao Dai was given South Vietnam. Elections were to be held in two years in order for the Vietnamese people to choose a unified government.
The United States refused to sign the Geneva Accords, and the CIA, under President Eisenhower's orders, installed Ngo Dinh Diem as premier of South Vietnam. The following year, Diem staged an election only in the South, and won an unlikely 98.2 percent of the vote to become President of an independent South Vietnam. He then called off the 1956 elections, all of which violated the Geneva Accords.
Eisenhower and the Geneva Accords
President Eisenhower began sending massive amounts of economic aid to South Vietnam, and in 1957, the first military advisors. President Kennedy saw Vietnam as the perfect place to experiment in counterinsurgency warfare, but also to deal with the increasing unpopularity of (and resistance to) Ngo Dinh Diem. In early November 1963, the United States sponsored a coup in which President Diem was assassinated.