At the Potsdam Conference in July , to which de Gaulle was not invited , a decision was made to divide Vietnam , which had been a French colony for over a hundred years , into British and Chinese spheres of influence . Soon after the surrender of Japan in August 1945 , de Gaulle sent the French Far East Expeditionary Corps to re-establish French sovereignty in French Indochina . However , the resistance leaders in Indo-China proclaimed the freedom and independence of Vietnam , and a civil war broke out that lasted until France was defeated in 1954
Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
Charles de Gaulle