Bahá'í Faith in Vietnam decisive French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, both sides met at the Geneva Conference on July 21, 1954. A provisional division of Vietnam was made at the 17th parallel, creating the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north and the State of Vietnam (later the Republic of Vietnam) in the south. Much of the development of the Bahá'í Faith during the following period took place in South Vietnam; the first Bahá'í groups in the north would not be established until 1992, long after the country's reunification. In February 1954, Shirin Fozdar, a Bahá'í from India who had
1954 Geneva Conference annihilating all the French troops. A demarcation line allowing the temporary regroupment of both sides would be necessary ..." The plenum endorsed Ho's analysis, passing a resolution supporting a compromise settlement to end the fighting. However, Ho and Truong Chinh plainly worried that following such an agreement at Geneva, there would be internal discontent and "leftist deviation," and in particular, analysts would fail to see the complexity of the situation and underestimate the power of the American and French adversaries. They accordingly reminded their colleagues that France would retain control of a large part of the country and that people