Quote:I rather like the idea of the WW's version being strictly a French-Indochina conflict... and one with a bloody French victory, at that.
France was one of the 'Free Powers', stet? An American ally. If it had been deemed neccessary by the French government that Indochina was a winning proposition in power terms, they would at least have tried to keep it. And the US would have helped, because, hey, stronger ally vs. Those Damned Filthy Commies.
I mean, consider the attitude with which France approached its colonies. President De Gaulle, yeah? He said it was not possible for France to recove vigour, self reliance and consequently her role if she gave up the colonies. And that France excluded any idea of autonomy, all possibility of evolution of the empire outside the French bloc; the eventual constitution, even in the future of self government in the colonies is denied.
Which is pretty harsh terms. Of course, we know what eventually happened - they didn't manage to hang on to any of those colonies...and large-scale disasters in Indochina and Algeria when they tried to use force. That eventually doomed the Fourth Republic.
Couple of things here, though. The French government was pretty much a multi-party system, and hence...not really all that strong. Opinion polls from the period seem to indicate the French people themselves weren't all that commited to the Empire. They believed it was a good idea to hang on to the colonies, sure...but...y'know, is it really worth all that?
But if, say, there was a stronger French government, greater resolve among the French public, and a heckova lot stronger French military (WALKERTANKS WIN!) ...
As for the US supporting that kind of conflict in Indochina... it isn't terribly farfetched. I mean, many people like to think that the United States was all rah-rah about granting independence and self-government to the old European colonies after WWII. Democracy and all that, right?
But really, the US didn't do that much to promote decolonization. For a while after WWII, a lot of folks in Britain and France believed they still needed to cling onto the colonies, onto, y'know, power. For as long as they could. And the US didn't seem particularly inclined to hurry 'em.
After all, you need strong allies against the Commies...
-- Acyl