The PoD is a different outcome to the Geneva Conference. The French government of Pierre Mendes-France, partly in response to British and Soviet urging, agrees to an ultimate demilitarized zone in Vietnam further south, at the 15th parallel instead of the 17th parallel.
As illustrated in map:
In return, the pro-Vietnamese Communist Pathet Lao area for regroupment in the French-leaning Kingdom of Laos is shrunken by 2/3, and the timeline for Vietnamese interzonal reunification elections is delayed by two years, to July 1958 rather than OTL's July 1956.
American dissatisfaction with the Accord is still greater than in OTL, but the differences in the settlement are still not enough to cause America to conduct a unilateral military intervention to upset the settlement in 1954.
The North Vietnamese are pleased to have more territory in their pocket, especially the central cities of Hue and Da Nang. The Chinese are pleased to have added buffer space for southern China and Hainan. The French, while disappointed in having a smaller zone on the map, still retain control over the most economically valuable portions of southern Vietnam by far, and are glad to have more time to settle their affairs in the country. The British and Soviets, neither of whom want a resumed war, are pleased that the lengthened election timeline allows for more delay before the prospect of unification elections raises communist-noncommunist tensions again. They are also happy that the reunification elections are not scheduled for a US Presidential election year, but safely after Eisenhower's anticipated 1956 re-election.
Immediate effects:
1954-1958 Population exchanges take place between the two Vietnamese zones. The Viet Minh set up the DRV in the north. Ngo Dinh Diem is Prime Minister in the south with Bao Dai as President.
A US-Vietnamese Catholic campaign encourages Catholics to migrate from North Vietnam. Among the most prominent refugees are Ngo Dinh Diem's brother, Ngo Dinh Thuc, the Archbishop of Hue, which is falling under Communist rule.
However, prominent Buddhist clerics of the city of Hue, notably Thich Tri Quang (who in ATL played an activist role in South Vietnam), see no need to move south out of their stronghold.
1955 - Diem proves his political determination and apparent viability by successfully ousting the French advisors, foiling an Army coup and crushing criminal and sectarian organizations in the south including the Binh Xuyen, Hoa Hao and Cao Dai. This early success ensures Eisenhower support for the Diem regime.
In the meantime, in North Vietnam, the Communists launch reconstruction and state-building and economic development campaigns, including land reform, that gets excessive at times and causes some concerns about internal stability.
After dealing with the sects in Saigon and the Mekong Delta, Diem suppresses those Communists who stayed behind in village areas of South Vietnam. The economy begins to go, even as there is agrarian discontent in areas where peasants feel land reforms are insufficient.
As illustrated in map:
In return, the pro-Vietnamese Communist Pathet Lao area for regroupment in the French-leaning Kingdom of Laos is shrunken by 2/3, and the timeline for Vietnamese interzonal reunification elections is delayed by two years, to July 1958 rather than OTL's July 1956.
American dissatisfaction with the Accord is still greater than in OTL, but the differences in the settlement are still not enough to cause America to conduct a unilateral military intervention to upset the settlement in 1954.
The North Vietnamese are pleased to have more territory in their pocket, especially the central cities of Hue and Da Nang. The Chinese are pleased to have added buffer space for southern China and Hainan. The French, while disappointed in having a smaller zone on the map, still retain control over the most economically valuable portions of southern Vietnam by far, and are glad to have more time to settle their affairs in the country. The British and Soviets, neither of whom want a resumed war, are pleased that the lengthened election timeline allows for more delay before the prospect of unification elections raises communist-noncommunist tensions again. They are also happy that the reunification elections are not scheduled for a US Presidential election year, but safely after Eisenhower's anticipated 1956 re-election.
Immediate effects:
1954-1958 Population exchanges take place between the two Vietnamese zones. The Viet Minh set up the DRV in the north. Ngo Dinh Diem is Prime Minister in the south with Bao Dai as President.
A US-Vietnamese Catholic campaign encourages Catholics to migrate from North Vietnam. Among the most prominent refugees are Ngo Dinh Diem's brother, Ngo Dinh Thuc, the Archbishop of Hue, which is falling under Communist rule.
However, prominent Buddhist clerics of the city of Hue, notably Thich Tri Quang (who in ATL played an activist role in South Vietnam), see no need to move south out of their stronghold.
1955 - Diem proves his political determination and apparent viability by successfully ousting the French advisors, foiling an Army coup and crushing criminal and sectarian organizations in the south including the Binh Xuyen, Hoa Hao and Cao Dai. This early success ensures Eisenhower support for the Diem regime.
In the meantime, in North Vietnam, the Communists launch reconstruction and state-building and economic development campaigns, including land reform, that gets excessive at times and causes some concerns about internal stability.
After dealing with the sects in Saigon and the Mekong Delta, Diem suppresses those Communists who stayed behind in village areas of South Vietnam. The economy begins to go, even as there is agrarian discontent in areas where peasants feel land reforms are insufficient.
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