Founded in 1930, the Indo-China Communist Party under BoChi Minh had achieved firm control over the Viqtnamese nationalist revolution by the end of World War I1 and, im- mediately following.the surrender of the Japanese, had es- tablished the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. After a period of fruitless negotiations for independence, Ho initiated a full-scale war against France in December 1946. The appear- ance of a powerful Communist China in 1949, the meeting of Sino-Vietnamese forces along a common border the following year, and massive Chinese military, economic and technical aid were indispensable to North Vietnam's final victory in
the field at Dien Bien Phu.