Geneva accords

Geneva accords, agreements reached during a series of conferences held in Geneva, Switzerland, Apr.–July 1954, to settle the conflict in Indochina, which was then a French colony. The negotiations were attended by delegates from the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, China, and several of the contending forces in Indochina, especially Vietnam. The pacts provided for cease-fires in Laos and Cambodia and the temporary division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel. Control of northern Vietnam was ceded to the revolutionary forces led by Ho Chi Minh; southern Vietnam was controlled by the government of the Emperor Bao Dai, supported by France. Nationwide elections were supposed to be held by July 20, 1956 to unify the country. Bao Dai's government refused to hold the elections, the division of North and South Vietnam become frozen, and the stage was set for the next Vietnam war; which began in 1960.