(VOVworld)- The French Military Museum and the Strategy Research Institute of the French Defense Ministry have held a series of seminars on Indochina and Dien Bien Phu covering the history of the military, politics, and culture.

France Military Museum

In their presentations, scholars and military historians agreed on the need to study the Indochina war and the Dien Bien Phu battle more closely because they were important historical periods not much mentioned in French history. History Professor Hugues Tertrais is from the Paris 1-Sorbonne University: “I always think that it is necessary to closely study history and reconsider previous ideas to have a wider view. We now can access different materials and other conditions to develop a more realistic view of history. Of course, we can not fully grasp history but we can further understand it thanks to diverse material”.

In a seminar on the impacts of and memories of Dien Bien Phu, Pierre Journoud, one of France’s leading experts on Dien Bien Phu presented a new and more open look at the war that the French fought against Vietnamese communist soldiers. Journoud revealed General Vo Nguyen Giap’s strategy in the Dien Bien Phu battle: “General Vo Nguyen Giap’s strategy was notable and worthy of further study. The General knew France’s history and military very well. He had thoroughly studied General Bonapart’s military strategy. More importantly, the General learned lessons from other outstanding military strategists of Vietnam’s struggles against foreign invaders from the 13^th to the 15^th centuries. The General combined all this knowledge to create an astonishing military strategy on sudden attack and logistical force to win”.

History Professor Hugues Tertrais at the workshop