<P> Between 1946 and 1954, the Việt Minh captured and controlled most of the rural areas of Vietnam . In 1954, after the French were defeated, the negotiation of the Geneva Accords ended the war between France and the Việt Minh and granted Vietnam independence . The Geneva Accords divided the country provisionally into northern and southern zones, and stipulated general elections in July 1956 to "bring about the unification of Viet - Nam". The northern zone was commonly called North Vietnam, and the southern zone was commonly called South Vietnam . </P> <P> Supervision of the implementation of the Geneva Accords was the responsibility of an international commission consisting of India, Canada, and Poland . The United States did not sign the Geneva Accords, which stated that the United States "shall continue to seek to achieve unity through free elections supervised by the United Nations to insure that they are conducted fairly". In July 1955, the prime minister of the Republic of Vietnam, Ngô Đình Diệm, announced that the Republic of Vietnam would not participate in elections to unify the country . He said that South Vietnam had not signed the Geneva Accords and was not bound by it . </P> <P> After the failure to reunify Vietnam by elections, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam attempted to unify the country by force in the Vietnam War (1955--75). North Vietnam and the Việt Cộng insurgents supported by their communist allies, including the Soviet Union and China, fought against the military of South Vietnam, the United States and other anti-communist military forces, including South Korea, Australia, Thailand, and smaller players . North Vietnam also supported indigenous communist rebels in Cambodia and Laos against their respective U.S. - backed governments . The war ended when North Vietnamese forces and the Việt Cộng defeated the Republic of Vietnam and in 1976 united the two parts of the country into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam . The expanded Democratic Republic retained North Vietnam's political culture under Soviet influence and continued its existing memberships in international organisations such as Comecon . </P> <P> After about 300 years of partition by feudal dynasties, Vietnam was again under one single authority in 1802 when Gia Long founded the Nguyễn dynasty, but the country became a French protectorate after 1883 and under Japanese occupation after 1940 during World War II . Soon after Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, the Việt Minh in the August Revolution entered Hanoi, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed on September 2, 1945: a government for the entire country, replacing the Nguyễn dynasty . Hồ Chí Minh became leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam . U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt had spoken against French rule in Indochina, and U.S.A. was supportive of the Viet Minh at this time . </P>

Who supported north vietnam in the vietnam war