1954 in the Vietnam War was a Catholic appointed to rule a country that was predominantly Buddhist. In the words of one historian, "Diệm's attractiveness to his first American patrons derived from three qualities: he was a certified anti-communist nationalist, he was a Roman Catholic, and he understood English." English language ability was rare among Vietnamese at the time. 21 July The Geneva Accords were signed in Paris. The accords called for a cease fire in the war, the independence of Vietnam, its division at the 17th parallel of latitude into two provisional states, North Vietnam and the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam), and the
Russia–Chechen Peace Treaty Russia–Chechen Peace Treaty Russian-Chechen Peace Treaty, also known as the Moscow Peace Treaty, was a formal peace treaty "on peace and the principles of Russian-Chechen relations" following the First Chechen War of 1994-1996. It was signed by the president of Russia Boris Yeltsin and the newly elected president of Chechnya Aslan Maskhadov, on May 12, 1997, at the Moscow Kremlin. The 1997 agreement was preceded by the Khasavyurt Accord signed by Maskhadov, then the chief of staff of Chechen separatist forces, and the Russian general Alexander Lebed on August 30, 1996, which had formally ended the war in Chechnya with