ABSTRACT
A people’s revolutionary war is different from a conventional conflict. In a people’s revolutionary war the opposing sides share the same territorial base and the battle over which type of society is to predominate is fought amongst the people. Traditional guerrilla warfare is also distinct from revolutionary guerrilla warfare. They share many of the same tactics but guerrillas such as the partisans of the French Resistance operated in support of conventional forces. The Resistance is the name given by the Vietnamese to the war fought against the French between 1946 and 1954. Although over 100,000 Viet Minh supporters regrouped to North Vietnam under the provisions of the Geneva Accords, a number of covert Viet Minh and Communist Party activists remained in the South. A number of commentators claimed that the war in South Vietnam began as a result of orders from Hanoi.
