Carmelite friar and Free French admiral whose Republic of Cochinchina as High Commissioner opened the road to war
On 1 June 1946, while Ho Chi Minh was negotiating in France, he unilaterally proclaimed Cochinchina’s provisional government, intensifying the conflict with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
A naval officer from Brest who became a Carmelite friar after the First World War, he returned to the navy in the Second and led de Gaulle’s Free French naval forces. Arriving as High Commissioner for Indochina on 31 October 1945 to restore colonial administration, he set up an autonomous Republic of Cochinchina in 1946 while the Viet Minh leaders were negotiating in France, breaking the Ho–Sainteny agreement of 6 March and effectively starting the war. He directed a hard line including the Haiphong shelling and was recalled in 1947.
Career timeline
1920Entered the Carmelite order as a friar.
1940Joined de Gaulle’s Free French forces.
1945De Gaulle named him High Commissioner for Indochina; he arrived there on 31 October.
1946Proclaimed Cochinchina’s provisional government on 1 June and supported the armed seizure of Lang Son and Haiphong in November.
1947On 4 March, the French government recalled him and relieved him of his post.
Last commander of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps, who chose to fortify Điện Biên Phủ and met defeat there in 1954
Navarre ordered French troops into Điện Biên Phủ in November 1953 and directed its defense. He did not order a withdrawal during the siege, which began in March 1954; the fortress fell in May, erasing France’s expected negotiating advantage.
A French army general of both world wars, he succeeded Salan as commander of French forces in Indochina in May 1953, and soon reported to his government that the war could not be won and that stalemate was the best hope. Under the “Navarre plan” of holding the cities and main roads to force the Viet Minh to negotiate, he dropped paratroopers into Điện Biên Phủ in November 1953 to block the Viet Minh route into Laos and fortified the valley. The fall of the fortress in May 1954 sealed France’s defeat.
Career timeline
1916–1918Entered Saint-Cyr military academy and served at the front in World War I as a cavalry platoon commander.
1942–1945Went underground after being recalled for anti-German activity, joined the French Resistance, and commanded an armored regiment of the First Army in the liberation of France.
1945–1953Promoted to brigadier general, he served in Germany as commander of the 5th Armored Division and chief of staff to Marshal Alphonse Juin, with a division command in Algeria in 1948–49.
1953–1954As commander of French forces in Indochina, he directed the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ and was replaced after the fortress fell.
1956Retired from the Army and published Agonie de l’Indochine, a book on the Indochina War.
From Resistance chief to architect of the Marshall Plan response, the foreign minister who told Molotov that Soviet actions divided Europe
On July 2, 1947, when Molotov denounced the Marshall Plan as a plot to divide Europe, Bidault rose and quietly replied that it was the Soviet Union, by its own actions, that was splitting the continent; the next day he and Bevin sent invitations to 16 nations.
Bidault succeeded Jean Moulin as president of the National Resistance Council in 1943, leading the French internal Resistance, and after the Liberation co-founded the Christian-democratic MRP. As foreign minister at the 1947 Paris Three-Power Conference, he answered Molotov's charge that the Marshall Plan was 'dividing Europe' with the retort that Soviet actions alone were splitting the continent; when Molotov walked out, Bidault and Bevin rallied 16 Western European nations behind the plan. He served as premier in 1946 and 1949–50, and as foreign minister during Dien Bien Phu he even asked the US for atomic bombs. An irreconcilable opponent of Algerian independence, he organized a clandestine 'second CNR' in 1962, lost his parliamentary immunity, and spent four years in Brazilian exile before the 1968 amnesty.
Career timeline
1899Born in Moulins, Allier, France
1925First in the agrégation in history and geography; teaching and Christian-democratic journalism
1943–1944President of the CNR, succeeding Jean Moulin; led unified Resistance
1944–1946Foreign minister under de Gaulle; chief French delegate to the UN founding conference in San Francisco
1947Foreign minister; faced down Molotov at the Paris Three-Power Conference and led Marshall Plan adoption
1946Chairman of the Provisional Government
1949–1950President of the Council of the Fourth Republic
1954Foreign minister during the Dien Bien Phu crisis
1962–1968Stripped of immunity for opposing Algerian independence; exiled in Brazil; returned under the 1968 amnesty
French commander in the First Indochina War and leader of the OAS.
Salan commanded French forces in Indochina in 1952–53 and later served as the French government's delegate in Algeria. Opposed to Algerian independence, he joined the generals' April 1961 coup; after its failure, he went underground and founded and led the clandestine Organisation armée secrète (OAS), which sought to keep Algeria French and carried out attacks and violence in Algeria and France. Arrested in 1962, he was sentenced to life detention and pardoned and amnestied in 1968.
Career timeline
1952–1953Commander-in-chief of French forces in Indochina
1958–1960French government's delegate in Algeria
1961–1962Participant in April coup; subsequently OAS leader
French general who commanded the Điện Biên Phủ fortress in 1954 and was captured when it fell
He commanded French forces at Điện Biên Phủ in 1954 and was captured after their defeat. After his release, he commanded a division and later ran a recycling firm.
A cavalry officer from an old French noble family, he served through the Second World War and into the Indochina War, taking command at Điện Biên Phủ in December 1953. After the Viet Minh attack began on 13 March 1954, artillery wrecked the airstrips and the monsoon cut supply until only three strongpoints remained. On 7 May General Cogny in Hanoi ordered him to cease fire and destroy his equipment without raising a white flag, and de Castries was taken prisoner as the fortress fell, to be released after the Geneva Accords.
Career timeline
1923Enlisted in the army and attended the Saumur Cavalry School.
1926Commissioned as a cavalry officer, then left the army to pursue equestrian sports.
1940–1945Rejoined the army during World War II, was captured and escaped, then fought with Allied forces in North Africa, Italy, southern France and Germany. Near the war’s end, he commanded the 3rd Moroccan Spahis.
1946Was sent to Indochina and commanded a battalion of Moroccan goumiers.
1953–1954After a wound and a year recovering in France, he returned to Vietnam. As a colonel he was charged with defending Điện Biên Phủ and was promoted to brigadier general near the end of the siege. French forces were defeated on 7 May 1954; he was held prisoner for four months while the Geneva armistice was arranged.
1954–1959After returning to France, commanded the 5th Armored Division stationed in West Germany. Retired from the army after a car accident in 1959.
French resistance veteran and official who concluded the 6 March 1946 preliminary agreement with Ho Chi Minh
On 6 March 1946, he reached an agreement with Ho Chi Minh that allowed French troops to enter Hanoi without fighting.
Born Jean Roger, he led the Normandy section of the Alliance resistance intelligence network during the Second World War. After the war, appointed French Republic commissioner for Tonkin and northern Annam, he negotiated with Ho Chi Minh; their 6 March 1946 agreement enabled French troops to enter Hanoi without fighting.
Career timeline
1907Born in Le Vésinet, France.
1940–1944Led the Normandy section of the Alliance resistance network.
1945–1946French Republic commissioner for Tonkin and northern Annam; negotiated with Ho Chi Minh.
1946Signed the preliminary agreement on 6 March.
1954Appointed French government delegate to North Vietnam.
1962–1966Served as minister for veterans and war victims.
French prime minister who promised a ceasefire within four months after Điện Biên Phủ and concluded the 1954 Geneva Accords
As prime minister in 1954, Pierre Mendès France negotiated directly with the Viet Minh at Geneva, securing the July armistice that ended the fighting in Indochina, while also initiating talks on Tunisian autonomy.
A Radical Party lawyer and economist of Jewish descent, he joined the Free French during the war. An early critic of the Indochina War, he became prime minister on 17 June 1954, after the fall of Điện Biên Phủ, promising to resign if he failed to secure a ceasefire within four months, and kept the promise with the Geneva Accords of 21 July. In eight months in office he conceded autonomy to Tunisia, and the Algerian War broke out that November; he also laid the groundwork for military co-operation with Israel and the French nuclear programme.
Career timeline
1932Elected Radical deputy for Louviers in the Eure département.
1938Served as undersecretary of state for finance in Léon Blum’s government.
1943–1945Served Free France as commissioner for finance and then minister of national economy; he resigned in April 1945 after Charles de Gaulle rejected his austerity program.
1954–1955As prime minister, negotiated an end to the Indochina War and opened talks on Tunisian autonomy. He opposed the European Defence Community and left office after his government lost a confidence vote in February 1955.
