Twilight Territory

by Andrew X. Pham

Wherever we go, we take with us the scars and the karma we’ve earned.”

With the French firmly in control, the nascent Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) quickly fell into disarray. Factions within DRV became polarized between the two leading groups, the Viet Minh and the Nationalists. The former was generally popular with the peasantry, the latter with the middle and upper classes. Faced with an unbreakable deadlock, Viet Minh general Vo Nguyen Giap launched “the Purge,” a vicious campaign to eliminate all opposition within DRV ranks.

Abandoned by the Americans, deceived by the Brits, and betrayed by the Japanese as well as the Chinese, the Viet Minh adopted Communist doctrines.