Vietnam during World War II between 1939 and 1945 Vietnamese (Viet Minh) guerrillas had fought against the French and Japanese. Before World War II the French ruled Vietnam, then the Japanese took over, when this happened the communist leader Ho Chi Minh, who established the Vietminh in 1945, fought the Japanese and defeated them. When the Japanese were defeated, the French attempted to rule Vietnam again, Ho Chi Minh also fought them, however the Americans supported the French because they did not want Vietnam to become communist under Ho Chi Minh. However Ho Chi Minhalso defeated the French. The VietMinh was founded in Vietnam by Ho ChiMinh in 1941. The Vietminh drew inspiration mainly from Ho ChiMinh who was known as a patriot and Marxist-Leninist and was a devout communist. In the years between 1946 and 1954 the North Vietnamese defeated the French army after the return of the French to Indochina, where negotiations between France and the Vietminh over the status of Vietnam broke down, and in December 1946 war broke out. The Vietminh enjoyed popular support in the countryside while the French force was located in urban areas. This war ended on May 8, 1954 when, with the help of the Chinese Communists, the Vietminh managed to defeat the French army in the Battle of Äiên Biên Phu. The colonial rulers, France, had fought hard since the end of World War II and 1954 to regain their former territories, but with a poorly organized and demoralized army their efforts failed. After the defeat at Dien Bien Phu on May 8, 1954, the French decided to start a discussion... mid-paper... about aid, food, etc. This meant they had a strong hold on South Vietnam. In the Gulf of Tonkin, in 1964, a reported attack by North Vietnamese gunboats on U.S. naval vessels stationed in the gulf led to increased U.S. military involvement in Vietnam . Vietnamization was a policy instituted by President Nixon in 1969 which meant strengthening the South Vietnamese army and withdrawing American combat troops. In March 1970, General Lon Nol took power, declared Cambodia public and sent his army to fight the Viet Cong in the border areas. This attracted the North Vietnamese to Cambodia, followed by the United States. and South Vietnamese troops. For the next two years Cambodia was a battlefield of the Vietnam War. While in 1971 South Vietnamese forces invaded Laos to cut off the Communist supply route, but were repelled..