Organizer: The Department of History at New York University

Description:

On May 7, 1954, when the bullets stopped and the air stilled in Dien Bien Phu, there was no doubt that Vietnam could fight a mighty colonial power and win. After nearly a decade of struggle, a nation forged in the crucible of war had achieved a victory undreamed by any other national liberation movement. The Road to Dien Bien Phu tells the story of how Ho Chi Minh turned a ragtag guerrilla army into a modern fighting force capable of bringing down the formidable French army. Nationalism was part of it. But Christopher Goscha will also explore other reasons that allowed the Vietnamese to execute a set-piece battle at Dien Bien Phu with no equivalent in the 20th-century history of decolonization.

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