The final declaration of the Geneva Conference on the problems
of restoring peace in Indochina was dated 21 July 1954. The
second war in Indochina began two years later as the deadline
passed for reunification elections and ended on 27 January 1973
as "The Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in
Vietnam" took effect. But the two-year respite that followed the
Geneva Conference of 1954 was not to be repeated. What could be
called a third Indochina war began immediately after the 1973
agreement. Although some traces of the Viet Cong (VC) guerrilla
forces remained, as well as a few unconvincing contrivances
intended to demonstrate the legitimacy of the Provisional
Revolutionary Government (PRG) of South Vietnam, the third
Indochina conflict quickly assumed the character of conventional
war between regular ground forces. Irregulars played an
insignificant role in the final outcome. The war's central
characteristic was an invasion across well-defined frontiers.
With a secure base in the north and a larg