1954 in the Vietnam War establishment of a demilitarized zone 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide separating the two provisional states. Viet Minh soldiers were to withdraw to the north and military forces allied to France to the south. Free movement between north and south was granted for 300 days. The Final Declaration stated that the demarcation line at the 17th parallel between North and South Vietnam was only "provisional and should not in any way be interpreted as constituting a political or territorial boundary." Elections by secret ballot were to be held in July 1956 to unite the north and the south into a single
1954 Geneva Conference as constituting a political or territorial boundary." Separate accords were signed by the signatories with the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Kingdom of Laos in relation to Cambodia and Laos respectively. The British and Communist Chinese delegations reached agreement on the sidelines of the Conference to upgrade their diplomatic relations. The DRV at Geneva accepted a much worse settlement than the military situation on the ground indicated. "For Ho Chi Minh, there was no getting around the fact that his victory, however unprecedented and stunning was incomplete and perhaps temporary. The vision that had always driven him on, that of