Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The defeat marked the end of France's eight-your battle to recover its former colony. . . . French negotiators at Geneva agreed to withdraw from Southeast Asia, and Vietnam was divided. The communists, under Ho and Giap, were in control in the north and an anti-communist republic, underwritten by the United States, was established in the south." [1001 Days] "The conflict pitted a range of forces . . . led by France and supported by Bảo Đại's Vietnamese National Army against the Việt Minh, led by Hồ Chí Minh and the People's Army of Vietnam led by Võ Nguyên Giáp. . . . At the International Geneva Conference on July 21, 1954, the new socialist French government and the Việt Minh made an agreement which effectively gave the Việt Minh control of North Vietnam above the 17th parallel. The south continued under Bảo Đại. The agreement was denounced by the State of Vietnam and by the United States. A year later, Bảo Đại would be deposed by his prime minister, Ngô Đình Diệm, creating the Republic of Vietnam. Soon an insurgency, backed by the north, developed against Diệm's government. The conflict gradually escalated into the Vietnam War (1955-1975)."