Princeton's WordNet(3.00 / 6 votes)Rate this definition: et al., et al, et alii, et aliae, et alia(adverb) and others ('et al.' is used as an abbreviation of `et alii' (masculine plural) or `et aliae' (feminine plural) or `et alia' (neuter plural) when referring to a number of people)
The 17th parallel division between North and South Vietnam was the  result of a Chinese proposal at the Geneva Conference of 1954 which  ended the French war in Vietnam. Chi â¦ na did not want a strong,  unified Vietnam on its southern border and easily convinced the  great powers to go along with their proposal.
The nationalist, Communist leader of the Viet Minh movement, which sought to liberate Vietnam from French colonial rule throughout the 1950s. After being rebuffed by the United States, Ho received aid from the USSR and won a major victory over French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. This French defeat forced the Geneva Conference of 1954, which split Vietnam into Communist-dominated North Vietnam and French-backed South Vietnam.