1. Strong Vietnamese leadership
1.1. Ho Chi Minh
1.1.1. Influential and very popular among the Vietnamese
1.1.1.1. referred to as "Uncle Ho", a sense of intimacy with villagers and colleages
2. Viet Minh's strengths
2.1. General Giap
2.1.1. Had strategies that made use of Viet Minh strengths and exploited French weaknesses
2.1.1.1. Set up remote bases where French cannot attack them to train and prepare Viet Minh for battle
2.1.1.2. Guerrilla tactics
2.1.1.2.1. Surprise attacks, ambushes to inflict casualties on French and damage their resources so they will be weakened in a decisive battle
2.1.1.2.2. 'hit-and-run' tactics, sabotage, camouflage
2.1.1.2.3. resulted in massive casualties for French forces who did not know how to deal with these type of tactics
2.2. sought to win the hearts and minds of villagers
2.2.1. confiscated land from landlords and redistributed them to villagers
2.2.2. educational campaigns to increase literacy
2.3. dug tunnels and underground shelter for soldiers to take refuge from fighting above ground
3. Vietnam received support from China and Soviet Union.
3.1. equipped Viet Minh with machine guns, large amounts of ammunition and communication euqipment
4. French weaknesses
4.1. not trained in guerrilla warfare
4.1.1. unable to develop effective counter-insurgency tactics against guerrilla tactics of Viet Minh
4.2. French used unsuitable tactics
4.2.1. They used tanks in the forest, which was very unsuitable terrain for tanks as the bushes entangled and debilitated them
4.2.2. Chose to fight at Dien Bien Phu
4.2.2.1. Unsuitable location at bottom of a valley where Vietnamese in surrounding jungles constantly launched surprise attacks from above without warning and French could not escape easily
4.2.2.2. Villagers at Dien Bien Phu often provided Vietminh with information about French
4.2.2.3. a remote location far away from French headquarters, it took a longer time to send French reinforcements when heavy casualties were suffered
4.3. French overconfidence
4.3.1. French underestimated Vietminh
4.3.1.1. They thought that the Vietnamese were backwards and poorly trained as they were trained in the tactics of Western military academics and believed in the total superiority of the European way of war
4.3.1.2. They were stunned that the Vietnamese managed to haul heavy artillery up onto ridges overlooking the valley.