Pertempuran Dien Bien Phu merupakan pertempuran terakhir dalam Perang Indochina antara tentara Vietnam melawan Kolonial Prancis. Puncak pertempuran ini terjadi mulai Maret sampai dengan Mei 1954, yang berakhir dengan kekalahan Prancis secara besar besaran hingga menyudahi peperangan itu. Penaklukan benteng Dien Bien Phu oleh Tentara Rakyat Vietnam merupakan puncak Perang Pembebasan Vietnam dari Perancis, sebuah kemenangan yang membawa perubahan besar dalam situasi militer dan politik di Indochina. Jenderal Vo Nguyen Giap menuturkan, “Kami di Dien Bien Phu membunuh atau menawan lebih dari 16.200 prajurit musuh, termasuk seluruh komandan kamp perkubuan dengan satu jenderal, 16 perwira senior dan 1790 orang bintara tinggi. Kami menghancurkan 17 batalion infanteri, hampir satu batalion zeni, menjadi total hampir 20 batalion. Jika dihitung dari pertempuran-pertempuran di seluruh wilayah Vietnam selama Musim Dingin-Semi 1953-1954, kami telah membinasakan 112.000 prajurit musuh atau sekitar seperempat pasukan musuh yang berada di Indochina. Total sama dengan penghancuran 25 batalion.”
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General in the Vietnam People's Army and a politician. Giap is considered one of the greatest military strategists of all time. He first grew to prominence during World War II, where he served as the military leader of the Viet Minh resistance against the Japanese occupation of Vietnam. Giap was a principal commander in two wars: the First Indochina War (1946–54) and the Vietnam War (1960–75). He participated in the following historically significant battles: Lạng Sơn (1950), Hòa Bình (1951–52), Điện Biên Phủ (1954), the Tết Offensive (1968), the Easter Offensive (1972), and the final Ho Chi Minh Campaign (1975). Giap was also a journalist, an interior minister in President Hồ Chí Minh's Việt Minh government, the military commander of the Viet Minh, the commander of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), and defense minister. He also served as a member of the Politburo of the Vietnam Workers' Party, which in 1976 became the Communist Party of Vietnam. He was the most prominent military commander, beside Ho Chi Minh, during the Vietnam War, and was responsible for major operations and leadership until the war ended.
