Early Protesting in Vietnam

One could argue that the First Indochina War was a protest by Vietnam. While other countries were losing their colonies abroad, France was desperately trying to hang on to Vietnam after the Japanese invaded Indochina and beat them in 1940. Vietnam was no stranger to resisting French Rule, but in 1945, the Viet Minh had enough. The Viet Minh, led by Communist leader Ho Chi Minh, engaged in guerrilla warfare and revolted against the French.

The war remained in a deadlock, and in 1949, the country split into Communist North Vietnam, and the State of Vietnam in the South. This instilled the feeling of nationalism and gained more supporters to the Viet Minh, due to the national hatred of the French colonial rule. The French were often unfamiliar with the terrain, and were often ambushed. Viet Minh soldiers looked no different from regular civilians, making it difficult for the French to define an enemy. The guerrilla tactics and the new found sense of nationalism made it easy for the Viet Minh to defeat the French. In 1954, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu was a major loss for the French, and proved to be the last straw. Later in the year, the Geneva Accords were signed and France no longer had any holdings in Indochina.

However, North Vietnam and South Vietnam were now separate, and the South feared the communist North. The United States came to the aid of the South Vietnamese, and soon became more involved than originally intended. The protest of foreign involvement in Vietnam that lead to the First Indochina War created the bloody, dragged-out conflict in Vietnam for the United States as the Vietnamese people continued to assert their independence through protest and violence.

Sources:
Disselkamp, R. (n.d.). First indochina war. Retrieved from http://www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/FirstIndochinaWar.asp

Lee, R. (n.d.). The history guy: the wars of vietnam: from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. Retrieved from http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_vietnam.htm