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
War in Vietnam (1954–1959) a desire to maintain French influence. France's painful withdrawal may have led to its lack of cooperation in European defense arrangements that included the United States. France rejected European Defense Community on August 30, 1954, possibly to thank the Soviets for help at Geneva. But it is certain that many French were persuaded that the U.S. and the UK furnished inadequate support to France during the latter phases of the war, and at the Conference. And it is equally certain that American policy in the aftermath of Geneva widely alienated affection for the U.S. in France, and created that lack