Vietnam War: casualties of the French Union in the First Indochina War 1946 to 1954

Vietnam was colonized by France in the late 19^th century (along with Cambodia and Laos as French Indochina), with the French Empire controlling the country as a protectorate from 1883 to 1939, and then as a possession from 1939 to 1945. These territories were occupied by the Japanese during World War II, after which the Vietnamese nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh declared the country's independence in September 1945. France did not recognize the declaration of independence and soon became engaged in a military conflict against the pro-independence forces, which would become known as the First Indochina War (1946-54). The French forces fighting in this conflict came from a diverse range of countries within the French Empire, with the largest number of casualties being among the "regular indigenous" troops - largely ethnic Vietnamese soldiers, who fought on the French side. Casualty statistics for those who fought on the Vietnamese side in the war are not available, however, historians estimate as many as half a million people were killed, including civilians.
The conflict ended in 1954 with the signing of peace agreements at the Geneva Conference, which gave independence to Laos and Cambodia, while Vietnam was partitioned into North Vietnam, controlled by Ho Chi Minh's Communist Party of Vietnam, and South Vietnam, where a regime allied with France and the U.S. was installed. This partition would be the driving cause of the war between North and South Vietnam from 1955, which the United States would join on the South Vietnamese side in 1964.