In 1953, the armed forces of Pathet Lao in collaboration with the Vietnamese volunteer army launched a series of battles, which liberated vast areas of the country: Samnuea, Xiengkhouang, Khammouane, Attopeu, Boliven Plateau. In early 1956, the northernmost Phongsaly Province and most of Luang Prabang Province were liberated by the victory in Dien Bien Phu (Vietnam), this forced the French imperialists to sign the 1954 Geneva Accord to restore peace in Indochina, and to acknowledge the independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Lao, Vietnam and Cambodia. The Accord further acknowledges the legitimate position of the Lao revolutionary forces and the status of the province of Phongsaly and Samneua as the concentration zone of the Pathet Lao forces.

Not long after the signing of the Geneva Accord, the American imperialists, who had been involved in the Indochina War from the outset., jumped in, kicked the French out, and invaded Laos. The US had forced the French to sign an US-France joint communiqué in Washington on 29 September 1954, as a legal basis for direct US assistance. The document also allowed the US to take over from the French in training the Royal Army of the kingdom of Laos, and the armies of South Vietnam and Combodia.

The situation worsened during the Vietnam war although the Geneva accord of 1962 had recognised the neutrality of Laos and forbade the presence of all foreign military perssonel. By bombing the portion of the Ho Chi Minh trail crossing Laos, US forces dropped more bombs on Laos than they did world-wide during World War II. On a per capita basis Laos is hence the most heavily bombed nation in history. Especially in Huaphanh and Xieng Khuang provinces, where international teams are still clearing the terrain of unexploded ordinance, people still suffer from the legacy of the war.

It took 20 years of struggle against US imperialism before the Lao people of all ethnic groups could rid themselves of the yoke of foreign domination, abolish backward feudalism, and proudly and gloriously establish a new regime, the regime of Lao people’s democracy on 2nd December 1975. At present the multi ethnic Lao people are making afforts to defend and develop Laos in line with the new policy of the Party and Government in order to lead the country to progress and prosperity.