The 8th century
Thai locality of
Muang Then is believed to have been centered here.
Nineteenth and early twentieth century Điện Biên Phủ was rather politically removed from central Vietnamese control until 1841. In this year, under the
Nguyễn dynasty, Điện Biên Phủ was directly incorporated into the Vietnamese political system when they established the town as an administrative district. This was partly done for more direct control of the region and to stop bandits who were exploiting the opium trade. In 1887, Điện Biên Phủ became a French protectorate. To ensure that the French would control the local opium trade, they appointed a sole administrator to supervise the trade and control the town. Other than a Hmong rebellion in 1918, the town was under French control until the Japanese occupied it during World War II. By early
May 1945, the Japanese occupied Điện Biên Phủ and planned to convert it into a large military and logistical base. However, with an airstrip barely being enlarged, Chinese nationalist troops took the town in August of the same year. Subsequently, the nationalist forces then gave way to returning French troops. The region was fortified in November 1953 by the French Union force in the biggest airborne operation of the 1946–1954
First Indochina War,
Operation Castor, to block Việt Minh transport routes and to set the stage to draw out Việt Minh forces.
Siege of Điện Biên Phủ (1954) at the top of A1 Hill (named Eliane 2 by French) The following year, the important
Battle of Điện Biên Phủ was fought between the Việt Minh (led by General
Võ Nguyên Giáp), and the
French Union (led by General
Henri Navarre, successor to General
Raoul Salan). The siege of the French garrison lasted fifty-seven days, from 17:30, 13 March to 17:30, 7 May 1954. The southern outpost or fire base of "Camp Isabelle" did not follow the
cease-fire order and fought until 01:00 the following day. The long-scheduled
Geneva Meeting's Indochina conference involving the United States, the UK, the French Union and the
USSR had already begun on 26 April 1954. The battle was significant beyond the valleys of Điện Biên Phủ. Giáp's victory ended major French involvement in
Indochina and led to the
Geneva accords which partitioned Vietnam into
North and
South. Điện Biên Phủ apparently recovered quickly after the siege. When
Wilfred Burchett visited the area in 1962, he found a 5,000-acre state-owned farm growing coffee, cotton, rice, and sugar cane on land that had once been a battleground. For example, the airstrip at Isabelle was now a rice field, and most of the approach trenches used by the Việt Minh had been filled in. The farm manager told him that 1,500 soldiers from 176th regiment arrived in 1958 to cultivate the area, followed by 1,200 volunteers from the
Red River Delta, of which 900 were women. During their first season there, they cleared away the leftover land mines and rushed to grow enough crops in time, to the exclusion of other activities. They did not have housing until after the first season; in the meantime, they sheltered with the local
Thái tribe, who also gave them extra seeds for growing rice. Burchett claimed he also saw a hospital with 60 beds, some pottery-making facilities, the remains of a French tank and various airplanes, two tombstones dedicated to the two soldiers who blew up said tank, a "modest" monument packed with more tombstones, and a "small museum" filled with homemade weapons used in the battle. ==Climate==