ABSTRACT
The French dismissed the Vietnamese claim of independence and maneuvered to reestablish their Indochina colony. In the aftermath of World War II, the French instinct was to hang on to all of their overseas possessions and privileges, and they were willing to use military force if necessary to preserve them in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. According to historian George Kahin, the most important reason for the French drive to regain control of their former Southeast Asian possessions transcended Indochina and concerned the political cohesion of France’s entire overseas empire. The French forces, armed with the US weapons, and joined by newly arriving French troops carried to Indochina in British ships, overthrew the Vietminh government in Saigon on September 23, 1945. In the summer of 1946, French and Vietnamese delegates met for a series of talks at Fontainebleau Palace near Paris.
