During the first Indochina War, the perspectives of the combatants, both French and Vietminh, differed greatly. Each side faced different obstacles and had to overcome varied setbacks and problems. The Vietminh faced serious issues, such as disease, while the French dealt with the unfriendly terrain of Vietnam among other things. They also faced similar obstacles, and the way each side maneuvered around them differed, and their costs may very well have been absolute victory, or certain defeat.
From the start of the war, the Vietminh had several major problems staring them in the face. One was the rampant disease that plagued many of their guerrilla cells. Malaria and dysentery among other diseases spread throughout the area. Probably the biggest problem the Vietminh faced was the lack of weapons and equipment that they needed to fight off the French at the outset of the war. Help arrived from China, as Chinese communists supplied the Vietminh with more modern weapons, as well as advisors. The Chinese communists also offered sanctuaries across the border for the Vietminh, which provided them with safer areas to train and rest.
The Vietminh, though lacking initially in physical strength, possessed the one element crucial to victory in Indochina, nationalism. The fervor of the nationalistic people of Vietnam was perhaps the single most important factor in the war. They possessed the willingness to sacrifice themselves for independence. They were motivated, and xenophobic to foreign interference in Vietnam. Vietminh activists promoted their cause and the ranks of the Vietminh grew. Though for the most part, the masses were not as ferverent as the Vietminh, the Vietminh's resistance to the French swayed the general population to their cause. .
Nationalism can motivate a nation in war, but it requires force to elevate it to victory. The Vietminh, under General Vo Nguyen Giap's command, would see to that.
