Symposium examines historical value of Vietnam’s Dien Bien Phu victory
VOV.VN - Scholars looked at the historical value and the magnitude of the victory of the Dien Bien Phu campaign in northern Vietnam over French colonialism 70 years ago at a symposium held in Hanoi on March 27.
On March 13, 1954, the Vietnamese revolutionary army launched its first attack against the French colonialists’ heavily fortified base of Dien Bien Phu, marking the start of a 56-day historic campaign whose victory directly led to the signing of the Geneva Accords on ending the war and restoring peace in Indochina.
In his opening speech, Doan Xuan Bo, editor-in-chief of the People’s Army newspaper, noted that there have been thousands of publications, along with seminars and conferences held in order to highlight the great stature and significance of the victory. A range of scientific works both in Vietnam and abroad have conducted in-depth analyses discussing the reasons for the strength that culminated in the globe-shaking victory.
However, there are issues that need to be further researched and summarised comprehensively regarding the historical value and magnitude of the victory, said Bo.
In their presentations, speakers affirmed that the victory of the Dien Bien Phu battle was the pinnacle of Vietnamese military art in the resistance war against French colonialism, particularly as it demonstrated all three areas of strategic direction, campaign art, and tactics.
Colonel Nguyen Van Truong of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, pointed out that the Party Central Committee’s decision to launch the Dien Bien Phu Campaign offers many valuable lessons to the Vietnamese revolution. Indeed, those lessons include steadfastly sticking to the goal of national independence and socialism, maintaining and strengthening the Party’s leadership, promptly seizing opportunities, and formulating resolute strategies in order to garner the entire country’s strength behind the win.
Those lessons have continued to be fine-tuned and creatively applied by the Party in the following revolutionary stages, as well as in the cause of national construction and defense today, stressed Col. Truong.
The presentations also drew profound lessons about increasing the strength of the great national unity bloc, combining national strength with the strength of the times, whilst also promoting political and spiritual factors, military science and art, political-ideological work, logistics, engineering, communication, as well as greater coordination between agencies, units, and arms.
