July 1845 marked the division of the country at the 16th Parallel to allow for a Japanese surrender. The ensuing French- Indochina wars would be hard-fought through the 1940s and 1950s until the defeat of the French and loyalists in the 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu, which resulted in the creation of Cambodia and Laos as well as the division of the country at the 17th Parallel.
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