Geneva Agreements
Geneva Agreements, settlements reached at the 1954 Geneva Conference, ending the war in French Indochina between the Communist Vietminh and the French. The agreements were signed by France, China, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Cambodia, Laos, and the Vietminh. The United States and the French-supported Vietnamese government of Bao Dai did not sign.
Important provisions included:
- The cessation of hostilities in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
- Neither foreign troops nor foreign arms and munitions would be allowed into Indochina.
- The Vietminh would administer the northern part of Vietnam to the 17th parallel, which would serve as a temporary military demarcation line. Bao Dai's government at Saigon would administer the southern part.
- Vietnam would be reunified on the basis of free general elections by secret ballot to be held by July, 1956.
The agreements succeeded in ending the war, but adherence to many of the other provisions was short-lived. Reunification elections were never held, and within a few years there was large-scale foreign assistance in arms and troops in Indochina.