The Geneva conference lasted until 21 July before reaching a formal agreement. Among the terms of the Geneva Agreement were: Dulles fell out with British delegate Anthony Eden over the UK`s perceived failure to support joint action and US positions on Indochina; he left Geneva on 3 May and was replaced by his deputy, Walter Bedell Smith. [5]:555-8 The State of Vietnam refused to participate in the negotiations until Bidault wrote to Bảo Đại, assuring him that any agreement would not divide Vietnam. [5]:550–1 After intense negotiations that began on May 8, 1954, the day after the fall of the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu, agreements were finally signed on July 21 between the French and Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian representatives. The most important provisions were an armistice line along the 17th line. latitude (which effectively divided Vietnam into two parts); 300 days for each party to withdraw its troops to its side of the line; and communist troops and guerrillas to evacuate Laos and Cambodia, where free elections would be held in 1955 and where French troops could be stationed if the Lao or Cambodian government so requested. It was explicitly stated that the demarcation line „shall in no way be interpreted as a political or territorial border“. The implementation of the agreements should be monitored by a commission composed of representatives of India, Poland and Canada. A provision known as the Final Declaration provided that by July 1956, Vietnamese elections as a whole should be held under the supervision of the Committee for the Reunification of the Country. This was very important in getting the Viet Minh to agree to the temporary regrouping of its armed forces in the northern half of the country, since it controlled three-quarters of Vietnam on the eve of the conference. Discussions on the Vietnamese issue began at the conference, when France suffered its worst military defeat of the war, when Vietnamese forces conquered the French base at Dien Bien Phu. The Geneva Conventions were signed in July 1954.

As part of the deal, the French agreed to withdraw their troops from northern Vietnam. Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel until elections were held within two years to elect a president and reunify the country. During this two-year period, no foreign forces were able to enter Vietnam. Ho reluctantly signed the deal, even though he believed it had deceived him with the spoils of his victory. The non-communist puppet government installed by the French in South Vietnam refused to sign, but without French support, it was of little importance at the time. The United States also refused to sign, but pledged to end the agreement. While the three agreements (later known as the Geneva Conventions) were dated July 20 (to meet the 30-day deadline for Begging France), they were actually signed on the morning of July 21. [5]:605[19] Our editors will review what you have submitted and decide whether or not to revise the article. There were also divisions and disagreements within the communist bloc. China and the Soviet Union, for their own strategic reasons, refused to support the Viet Minh`s claim to rule all of Vietnam. .