Editing Viet Minh (section)

==Victory and dissolution==
On 7 March 1951, Viet Minh and National United League of Vietnam (''Hội Liên Việt'') merged to form the '''Vietnamese United Front''' ('''''Mặt trận Liên Việt''''').<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mttq.tuyenquang.gov.vn/DetailView/24800/2/Hoi-thao-khoa-hoc-%E2%80%9CMat-tran-Lien-Viet-voi-cach-mang-Viet-Nam---bai-hoc-ve-phat-huy-suc-manh-dai-doan-ket-toan-dan-toc-trong-giai-doan-hien-nay%E2%80%9D..html |title=Hội thảo khoa học "Mặt trận Liên Việt với cách mạng Việt Nam – bài học về phát huy sức mạnh đại đoàn kết toàn dân tộc trong giai đoạn hiện nay". |website=mttq.tuyenquang.gov.vn |access-date=8 August 2024 |archive-date=8 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240808072946/http://mttq.tuyenquang.gov.vn/DetailView/24800/2/Hoi-thao-khoa-hoc-%E2%80%9CMat-tran-Lien-Viet-voi-cach-mang-Viet-Nam---bai-hoc-ve-phat-huy-suc-manh-dai-doan-ket-toan-dan-toc-trong-giai-doan-hien-nay%E2%80%9D..html |url-status=live }}</ref> Nonetheless, people continued to call the new front as Viet Minh.

Later the United Front changed into the current [[Vietnam Fatherland Front]] (''Mặt trận Tổ quốc Việt Nam'') on 10 September 1955.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

Following their defeat at the [[Battle of Dien Bien Phu|Battle of Điện Biên Phủ]], the French began negotiations to leave Vietnam. As a result of peace accords worked out at the [[Geneva Conference (1954)|Geneva Conference]] in [[Geneva]], Switzerland, Vietnam was divided into [[North Vietnam]] and [[South Vietnam]] at the [[17th parallel north|17th Parallel]] as a temporary measure until unifying elections could take place in 1956. Transfer of civil administration of North Vietnam to the Viet Minh was given on 11 October 1954. Ho Chi Minh was appointed [[Prime Minister of North Vietnam]], which would be run as a [[socialist state]]. [[Ngo Dinh Diem]], who was previously appointed Prime Minister of South Vietnam by Emperor [[Bảo Đại]], eventually assumed control of South Vietnam.
[[File:Đại đoàn quân ta từ các cửa ô tiến vào giải phóng Thủ đô (1946).jpg|thumb|Viet Minh troops on parade in Hanoi]]
The Geneva Accords promised elections in 1956 to determine a national government for a united Vietnam. Neither the United States government nor Ngô Đình Diệm's State of Vietnam signed anything at the 1954 Geneva Conference. With respect to the question of reunification, the non-communist Vietnamese delegation objected strenuously to any division of Vietnam, but lost out when the French accepted the proposal of Việt Minh delegate [[Phạm Văn Đồng]],<ref>''The [[Pentagon Papers]]'' (1971), Beacon Press, vol. 3, p. 134.</ref> who proposed that Vietnam eventually be united by elections under the supervision of "local commissions".<ref>''The [[Pentagon Papers]]'' (1971), Beacon Press, vol. 3, p. 119.</ref> The United States countered with what became known as the "American Plan", with the support of South Vietnam and the United Kingdom.<ref name="The Pentagon Papers 1971 p. 140">''The [[Pentagon Papers]]'' (1971), Beacon Press, vol. 3, p. 140.</ref> It provided for unification elections under the supervision of the [[United Nations]], but was rejected by the Soviet delegation.<ref name="The Pentagon Papers 1971 p. 140" /> From his home in France, Vietnamese Emperor [[Bảo Đại]] appointed Ngô Đình Diệm as [[Leaders of South Vietnam#Prime Ministers|Prime Minister of South Vietnam]]. With United States support in rigging the referendum of 1955 using secret [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) funding,<ref>Annie Jacobsen, "Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins", (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2019), p. 110</ref> Diệm removed the Emperor and declared himself the [[Leaders of South Vietnam|president]] of the [[South Vietnam|Republic of Vietnam]].

The United States believed Ho Chi Minh would win the nationwide election proposed at the Geneva Accords. In a secret memorandum, Director of CIA [[Allen Dulles]] acknowledged that "The evidence [shows] that a majority of the people of Vietnam supported the Viet Minh rebels."<ref>Annie Jacobsen, "Surprise, Kill, Vanish: The Secret History of CIA Paramilitary Armies, Operators, and Assassins," (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2019), p. 109</ref> Diem refused to hold the elections by citing that the South had not signed and were not bound to the Geneva Accords and that it was impossible to hold free elections in the communist North.<ref>Keylor, William. ''"The 20th Century World and Beyond: An International History Since 1900,"'' p. 371, Oxford University Press: 2011.</ref> Vietnam wide elections never happened and Việt Minh cadres in South Vietnam launched an insurgency against the government. North Vietnam also occupied portions of Laos to assist in supplying the insurgents known as the [[Viet Cong|National Liberation Front]] (''Viet Cong'') in South Vietnam. The war gradually escalated into the [[Vietnam War|Second Indochina War]], more commonly known as the "Vietnam War" in the West and the "American War" in Vietnam.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/asia_pac/05/vietnam_war/html/introduction.stm |access-date=14 May 2021 |website=BBC News |archive-date=14 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514003325/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/asia_pac/05/vietnam_war/html/introduction.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>