The Japanese surrender at the end of World War II created a power vacuum that Ho Chi Minh quickly seized upon. On August 15, 1945, he called for a national uprising, an event that became known as the August Revolution. Within just four days, Hanoi erupted with pro-Viet Minh demonstrations, and within two weeks, much of Vietnam had fallen under their control. By the end of August, Emperor Bao Dai surrendered his Imperial sword to Ho’s provisional government. On September 2, 1945, in a momentous event attended by a massive crowd at Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh declared the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. For the first time in eighty years, Vietnam was an independent nation. In his famous Declaration of Independence, Ho quoted the American Declaration of Independence: “All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” However, his subsequent appeals for American support against the impending threat of recolonization went unheeded, as the U.S. grew increasingly wary of Communist expansion.

The Potsdam Agreement, which concluded World War II, did not recognize the newly established Republic of Vietnam. Instead, Japanese troops south of the Sixteenth Parallel were to surrender to British forces, while those in the north would yield to the Chinese Kuomintang. By the time these forces arrived, however, the Viet Minh had already established control, having disarmed the Japanese troops. In the south, competing nationalist factions clashed in Saigon, where French troops also re-entered the conflict. The chaos prompted the British commander to declare martial law and even use Japanese soldiers to help restore order. In defiance of orders, he rearmed approximately six thousand freed French soldiers, enabling them to reclaim Saigon for the French. Soon after, General Leclerc arrived with the first units of the French Expeditionary Force, tasked with reinstating colonial authority in Indochina.

In the north, the situation was slightly more stable, although the two hundred thousand Chinese soldiers stationed there began to resemble an occupying army. The Viet Minh could only muster around five thousand poorly equipped troops in response. Facing a tough choice for survival, Ho Chi Minh ultimately deemed French colonial rule the lesser of two evils, reportedly stating, “I prefer to smell French shit for five years rather than Chinese shit for the rest of my life.” In March 1946, Ho’s government signed a treaty permitting a limited number of French forces to replace Kuomintang troops in the north. In exchange, France recognized the Democratic Republic as a “free state” within the proposed French Union, though the treaty’s terms were intentionally vague. It also called for a referendum to decide whether Cochinchina would join the new state or remain independent.

As summer 1946 wore on, negotiations continued, but both sides were actively rearming, revealing the French’s unwillingness to uphold the treaty. By late April, the French Expeditionary Force had surpassed the agreed troop levels, and the promised referendum never materialized. By September 1946, talks had effectively collapsed. Tensions escalated into skirmishes between Vietnamese and French troops in the northern delta, culminating in a conflict over customs control in Haiphong. In response to rioting, the French navy bombarded the town on November 23, killing thousands of civilians and announcing that French troops would take over law enforcement in the north. The Viet Minh responded by attacking French installations in Hanoi on December 19, and during the ensuing chaos, Ho Chi Minh and the regular army retreated into the northern mountains, preparing for a prolonged struggle ahead.