Origins of the war in Vietnam The origins of American involvement in Vietnam date back to the end of the Second World War, when the Vietnamese were struggling against the continued French colonial presence in their country. [10]:21 His father was eligible to serve in the imperial bureaucracy, but he refused because it meant serving the French. About this time he began to use the name Ho Chi Minh ("He Who Enlightens"). [116] There was a deep distrust and fear of China within the North Vietnamese Politburo, and the suggestion that Chinese troops, even support troops, be allowed into North Vietnam, caused outrage in the Politburo. [162] According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as many as 20 countries across Asia, Europe, America and Africa have erected monuments or statues in remembrance of H Ch Minh. Those who replaced him charged him with nationalist tendencies. [131] After Vietnam gained independence from France, the new government exclusively promoted Ch Quc Ng (Vietnamese writing system in Latin characters) to eliminate illiteracy. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. 10 and was translated into many languages. Who is Ho Chi Minh: Facts about Vietnam's beloved leader - Vinpearl The ship then left for Le Havre and Dunkirk, returning to Marseille in mid-September. Adviser, ditions du Seuil, Paris. Undersecretary of state Walter Bedell Smith delivered a "unilateral declaration" of the United States position, reiterating: "We shall seek to achieve unity through free elections supervised by the United Nations to ensure that they are conducted fairly". [129]. In 1946, when he traveled outside of the country, his subordinates imprisoned 2,500 non-Communist nationalists and forced 6,000 others to flee. It supplied itself from captured American arms and from material that came through from the North. Ton That Thien 18, 1890 is the most likely year of his birth. [164][165] His thought and revolution inspired many leaders and people on a global scale in Asia, Africa and Latin America during the decolonization movement which occurred after World War II. Only the Americans have been defeated. That day, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. During the mourning period, North Vietnam received more than 22,000 condolences letters from 20 organizations and 110 countries across the world, such as France, Ethiopia, Yugoslavia, Cuba, Zambia, China, the USSR and many others, mostly Socialist countries. [160], Many activists and musicians wrote songs about H Ch Minh and his revolution in different languages during the Vietnam War to demonstrate against the United States. [103] On 2 September 1963, Maneli met with Ng nh Nhu, the younger brother and right-hand man to Diem to discuss the French peace plan. Ho Chi Minh - Figures in History - WorldAtlas Ho Chi Minh led his country to independence through numerous . To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, here are six things you didn't know about Ho Chi Minh. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. North Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin, accepting the surrender of South Vietnam later in the day, remarked, You have nothing to fear; between Vietnamese there are no victors and no vanquished. In 1930, he founded the Communist Party of Vietnam and in 1941, he returned to Vietnam and founded the Vit Minh independence movement, an umbrella group. [125] Thanh expressed much concern about the Americans invading Laos to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and to preempt this possibility, urged an all-out offensive to win the war with a sudden blow. Six months later, from June 17 to July 8, he took an active part in the Fifth Congress of the Communist International, during which he criticized the French Communist Party for not opposing colonialism more vigorously. A CIA report from 1964 stated the factionalism in South Vietnam had reached "almost the point of anarchy" as various South Vietnamese leaders fought one another, making any sort of effort against the Viet Cong impossible, which was rapidly taking over much of the South Vietnamese countryside. One of those is Poems from the Prison Diary, written when he was imprisoned by the police of the Republic of China. In the early 1960s, the North Vietnamese Politburo was divided into the "North first" faction who favored focusing on the economic development of North Vietnam, and the "South first" faction, who favored a guerrilla war in South Vietnam to reunite Vietnam shortly. Fighting broke out in the North soon after the Chinese left. Ho Chi Minh Was Noted for Success in Blending Nationalism and Communism [26] They had been publishing newspaper articles advocating for Vietnamese independence under the pseudonym Nguyn i Quc ("Nguyn the Patriot") prior to Thnh's arrival in Paris. Bao Dai abdicated in favor of the revolution, but French military troops gained control of southern Vietnam, including Saigon, and Chiang Kai-Sheks Chinese forces moved into the north according to the terms of an Allied agreement. Conversely, the pioneers of constitutional nationalism tended to be from the more "Westernised" coastal south (Saigon and surrounding French direct-rule Cochinchina) and to be from "commercial families without a traditional Confucian background". [30], In December 1920, Quc (H) became a representative to the Congress of Tours of the Socialist Party of France, voted for the Third International and was a founding member of the French Communist Party. These young people would become the seeds of a new revolutionary, pro-communist movement in Vietnam several years later. The only evidence that he was in the United States is a single letter to French colonial administrators dated 15 December 1912 and postmarked New York City (he gave his address as the poste restante in Le Havre and his occupation as a sailor)[19] and a postcard to Phan Chu Trinh in Paris where he mentioned working at the Omni Parker House Hotel. It was the capital of the French protectorate of Cochinchina (1862-1954) and of South Vietnam (1954-75). Reportedly, by 2014 the movement had around 24,000 followers. Pop Quiz: 19 Things to Know About the Vietnam War. However, he insisted that his forces in the South continue fighting until all of Vietnam was reunited regardless of the length of time that it might take, believing that time was on his side. During the land reform, testimonies by North Vietnamese witnesses suggested a ratio of one execution per 160 village residents, which if extrapolated would indicate a nationwide total of nearly 100,000 executions. The campaign was particularly focused on Vietnam's Catholics, who were to provide Dim's power base in his later years, with the use of the slogan "God has gone south". It declared independence after World War II, but France continued to rule until its 1954 defeat by communist forces under Ho Chi MINH. During North Vietnam's final campaign in 1975, a famous song written by composer Huy Thuc[vi] was often sung by PAVN soldiers: "Bc vn cng chng chu hnh qun" ("You are still marching with us, Uncle H"). Ho Chi Minh - U-S-History.com HistoryGuy The main reason why the Ho Chi Minh Trail was important to the North Vietnamese and the NLF was because it provided for vital supply lines for the Viet Cong during the war. In addition to being a politician, H Ch Minh was also a writer, journalist, poet[130] and polyglot. Led by Vo Nguyen Giap, Viet Minh forces seized the northern city of Hanoi and declared a Democratic State of Vietnam (known commonly as North Vietnam, or the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) with Ho as president. In Hong Kong in early 1930, he chaired a meeting with representatives from two Vietnamese communist parties to merge them into a unified organization, the Communist Party of Vietnam. Why did the US intially get involved in Vietnam after WW2? [64][65] The French Socialist leader Daniel Gurin recalls that when in Paris in 1946 he asked H Ch Minh about the fate of the Trotskyist leader T Thu Thu, H Ch Minh had replied, "with unfeigned emotion," that "Thu was a great patriot and we mourn him, but then a moment later added in a steady voice 'All those who do not follow the line which I have laid down will be broken.'"[66]. He was also one of the founding members of the French Communist Party. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), Ho Chi Minh: Founding of the Viet Minh and North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh: Toward War with the United States, https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/ho-chi-minh-1. Despite Hos best efforts to maintain peace, his more militant followers called for war, which broke out that December. [10]:565. While the conference was ongoing, Nguyn i Quc was already delivering speeches on the prospects of Bolshevism in Asia and was attempting to persuade French socialists to join Lenin's Communist International. [20][21][pageneeded], At various points between 1913 and 1919, Thnh (H) claimed to have lived in West Ealing and later in Crouch End, Hornsey. He had three siblings: his sister Bch Lin (Nguyn Th Thanh), a clerk in the French Army; his brother Nguyn Sinh Khim (Nguyn Tt t), a geomancer and traditional herbalist; and another brother (Nguyn Sinh Nhun), who died in infancy. [46] Following his release in 1943, he returned to Vietnam. Who is Ho Chi Minh and why is he important? - WisdomAnswer Declaration of Independence, Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh invoked those same words when declaring his country free from French colonial rule. He would remain nominally as North Vietnams head of state during the Vietnam War, but would take a more behind-the-scenes role. NXB chnh tr quc gia, This page was last edited on 24 June 2023, at 19:53. In 1928 he went to Brussels and Paris and then to Siam (now Thailand), where he spent two years as a representative of the Communist International, the world organization of communist parties, in Southeast Asia. Aside from being a politician, H was a writer, poet, and journalist. While being interviewed by Western journalists, he used French. On April 30, 1975, the last few Americans still in South Vietnam were airlifted out of the country as Saigon fell to communist forces. Forced to seek Chinas aid for the new organization, Ho was imprisoned for 18 months by Chiang Kai-Sheks anti-Communist government. He had done many "nice" things to kill Vietnamese people and leaders. [5][141] His embalmed body is currently on display in a mausoleum in Ba nh Square in Hanoi despite his will which stated that he wanted to be cremated. All Rights Reserved. [94] It allowed the North to send manpower and material to the Vit Cng with much less exposure to South Vietnamese forces, achieving a considerable advantage.