WHAT WAS BILLY JOEL TALKING ABOUT?

We have all heard the song, but can anybody really sing along with “We Didn’t Start The Fire” by Billy Joel? The jingle gets stuck in your head, but it’s as inscrutable as a James Joyce novel. However, if you listen closely, it does mention some important historical events. While everyone surely understands the reference to the JFK assassination, listeners may not realize what Billy means when he sings about Dien Bien Phu. They should! On this day in 1954 in Dien Bien Phu, the Viet Minh launched a surprise attack and siege to take the area from the French. More than a battle, it would prove to be the first domino to fall in a cascade of rebellion.

Located in northwest Vietnam, Dien Bien Phu had been turned into a military base by the occupying French forces. This was not the first time that the Vietnamese had to deal with a foreign power in their midst. In fact, off and on for thousands of years, various countries had ruled their lands: China, Japan, and the French, among others over the ages. Now, in the early fifties, France was attempting to rebuff the growing nationalist movement spreading across the globe and hold onto Vietnam to maintain its empire.

They built a base in Dien Bien Phu to block entry to freedom fighters crossing over from Laos into Vietnam. They were coming to aid the rebel forces antagonizing the occupying French. The French presumed that guerrilla forces could not touch them because of the dense forest wall guarding the area and its distant location. They were mistaken. The Viet Minh coalition, organized by Ho Chi Minh in the early 1940s to achieve Vietnam’s independence, carried armaments and everything they needed for a siege on their backs, through the jungles, and over the mountains. When coalition forces finally unleashed their fury onto the French, they were surprised to say the least.

While the French had as many as ten thousand troops standing guard, Viet Minh strength easily outnumbered them. Plus, the rebels maintained the high ground. War raged back and forth between the two for months, and thousands and thousands of people died in the process. Eventually, the French realized they were surrounded and surrendered.

This defeat precipitated France’s retreat from the whole country. America soon followed in their footsteps and learned the hard way over the next decade and a half that they should not have entered either. Both misunderstood the nature of the Vietnamese resistance. Where America and France assumed that local rebels were instigating violence to push a communist ideology over the region, the Viet Minh were actually organizing around nationalistic principles. Ho Chi Minh himself adopted the language of our Founding Fathers to gain assistance after World War I and World War II before turning to communist countries for help only out of necessity. He recited specific parts of the Declaration of Independence in front of American military forces to really lay it on them that he wanted to work together. Unfortunately, the US did not get the message, so they went looking for help from China and the Soviet Union. This decision would haunt the US government.

Maybe this misunderstanding is what led to so many years of violence, death, and destruction. American history describes the folly of its actions in Southeast Asia as an example of a proxy war gone wrong: when two countries indirectly fight each other by supporting opposing sides of a battle. This is true. However, the corollary of this lesson is often ignored. We should listen to the rebels. We should understand their concerns. We should not cover our ears as we cover their lands with military force. We should not project our values and agenda onto our neighbors or distant lands. This will only breed confusion, just like listening to Billy Joel’s classic tune.