History of Vietnam since 1945 between France and the Viet-Minh, paving the way for the French to leave Vietnam. The Geneva Conference of 1954 ended France's colonial presence in Vietnam and partitioned the country into two states at the 17th parallel pending unification on the basis of internationally supervised free elections. Ngô Đình Diệm, a former mandarin with a strong Catholic and Confucian background, was selected as Premier of the State of Vietnam by Bảo Đại. While Diệm was trying to settle the differences between the various armed militias in the South, Bảo Đại was persuaded to reduce his power. Diệm created a referendum in
Paris in the 17th century highly skilled artists and craftsmen. Nearly all the clock and watchmakers were Protestants; when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, most of the "horlogers" refused to renounce their faith and emigrated to Geneva, England and Holland, and France no longer dominated the industry. For most of the 17th century Paris was governed by two Cardinals, Richelieu and Mazarin, and Paris was a fortress of the Roman Catholic faith, but it was subject to considerable religious turmoil within. In 1622, after centuries of being a bishopric under the control of the Archbishop of Sens, Paris was finally given