The First Indochina War, or the Vietminh War, lasted from 1946 to 1954. The French had an overpowering advantage in the amount of weapons. They were able to conquer any particular area they wanted. The French, however, lacked the man power of the Vietminh forces, as it was not politically practical for them to send a large amount of French soldiers to Vietnam. The Vietminh also were able to recruit from local villages.

Throughout the war, the French had a difficult time to tell who was the enemy. The Vietminh forces often hid themselves in jungles and pretended they were peasants in the villages. While using these techniques, they were able to surprise the French easily.

The French formed a puppet government through the Elysee Agreements called the "State of Vietnam." They claimed to be fighting for the government in order to defend them from the Communist forces. The government had relatively no power because they knew that most Vietnamese citizens had resented foreign rule and that if they had administered too much power to the State of Vietnam, the leaders would revolt.

When the Chinese Communist Party had taken control over China in 1949, the Chinese began to distribute equipment to the Vietminh. Around the same time, the United States had begun to aid the French but it would not make a difference, since the French had weapon superiority from the start of the war and still was powerless.

By 1954, the French was defeated at Dien Bien Phu. Inevitably, the French surrendered to the Vietminh forces and left Vietnam, as the Vietnam forces had wished.