The Geneva Accords

• The Geneva Accords in July 1954 were attended by nine countries. They agreed on:

  • Vietnam was temporarily split along the 17th parallel, with a demilitarised zone in the middle
  • Elections would be held in 1956 to decide who would rule the whole of Vietnam
  • No foreign military forces could set up military bases anywhere in Vietnam
• They also agreed on:

  • Ho Chi Minh would control a small area of the North
  • Bao Dai would run the South, but was soon replaced by Ngo Dinh Diem- a strong anti-communist
  • Nobody could move into the other half of the country for 300 days
• • The USA and South Vietnam refused to agree to the demands
  • The North was forced to accept the demands by China, although they felt that they had been given a smaller area than the one they had controlled in 1945
• The Accords led to the end of French rule in Vietnam. This worried the USA as:

  1. Vietnam as divided by two opposing views which could lead to a war for power
  2. The Vietminh was under control of Ho Chi Minh - a victory for the Vietminh was a victory for communism
  3. The USA followed the policy of containment as fear of the Domino Theory grew - the USA learned from experience in the Korean War as North Vietnam fell communist