Ho-chi-minh biography

At this same meeting, Ho ceded his position as party secretary-general to Le Duan. The U. President Lyndon Johnson made the decision to halt escalation of the war and called for peace talks to begin. The conflict was still ongoing by September 2, , when Ho Chi Minh died in Hanoi at the age of The last U. Following months of secret U.

American bombers dropped more than 2 million tons of bombs over the country as part of a covert attempt to wrest power from communist forces. The conflict in Vietnam ended in with the largest helicopter evacuation of its kind in history. Seven thousand people, mainly Americans and South Vietnamese, were evacuated from the city. Aggression, for National Salvation.

Wiegersma, Nancy. Vietnam: Peasant Land, Peasant Revolution. New York: St. Martin's Press, He knew that Japan would be forced to end its occupation of Vietnam. He hoped that the Allies would then support Vietnam's bid for independence rather than allowing France to regain control over its former colony. As a way of appealing to the United States and other democratic nations, Ho quoted from the American Declaration of Independence in his statement.

All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free.

The Declaration of the French Revolution made in on the Rights of Man and the Citizen also states: "All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights. Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity [brotherhood], have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow citizens.

They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice. In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic liberty. In the field of economics, they have fleeced [cheated] us to the backbone, impoverished [reduced to poverty] our people and devastated our land. They have robbed us of our rice fields, our mines, our forests, and our raw materials.

In the autumn of , when the Japanese fascists [brutal dictators] violated Indochina's territory to establish new bases in their fight against the Allies, the French imperialists [people who seek to extend their power or influence over others] went down on their bended knees and handed over our country to them. After the Japanese had surrendered to the Allies, our whole people rose to regain our national sovereignty [independence and self-rule] and to found the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

The truth is that we have wrested [taken] our independence from the Japanese and not from the French. The French have fled, the Japanese have capitulated [surrendered], Emperor Bao Dai has abdicated [given up claim to the throne]. Our people have broken the chains which for nearly a century have fettered [restrained] them and have won independence for the Fatherland.

Our people at the same time have overthrown the monarchic regime [a government ruled by a king or queen] that has reigned supreme for dozens of centuries. In its place has been established the present Democratic Republic. For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government, representing the whole Vietnamese people, declare that from now on we break off all relations of a colonial character with France.

The whole Vietnamese people, animated [energized] by a common purpose, are determined to fight to the bitter end against any attempt by the French colonialists to reconquer their country. We are convinced that the Allied nations, which at Teheran and San Francisco [sites of peace negotiations following World War II] have acknowledged the principles of self-determination and equality of nations, will not refuse to acknowledge the independence of Vietnam.

A people who have courageously opposed French domination for more than eighty years, a people who have fought side by side with the Allies against the fascists during these last years, such a people must be free and independent. For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, solemnly declare to the world that Vietnam has the right to be a free and independent country—and in fact it is so already.

The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty. Experts on the Vietnam War have often debated the question of whether Ho Chi Minh was motivated primarily by nationalism an intense feeling of loyalty to a country or communism.

There is little doubt that Ho believed strongly in the Communist political system, in which the government controls all resources and means of producing wealth. By eliminating private property, this system is designed to create an equal society with no social classes. But Ho also felt a deep passion for Vietnam and truly wanted to bring independence to his people.

He often downplayed his Communist beliefs in order to appeal to the patriotic feelings of the Vietnamese people. He also emphasized his nationalism as he tried to gain the support of democratic nations like the United States. In his book Dragon Ascending Henry Kamm noted that historians may never know the truth behind Ho's motivations: "What is certain is his singleminded passion for the independence of his people, by peaceful means if possible, by war if necessary.

Rightly or wrongly. Being a Communist Vietnamese would have meant patriotism came first. Ho certainly loved his country, but patriotism was no longer his chief concern. It had become a means to an end, a way of uniting people. His chief loyalty, however, was to communism. By many accounts, both nationalism and communism played important roles in determining Ho's actions before and during the Vietnam War.

Perhaps a more important factor in causing the war was the U. If American leaders had not believed that Ho was first and foremost a Communist, they may not have tried to prevent him from gaining control over Vietnam. Nationwide elections might have taken place in , as outlined in the Geneva Accords, and the United States might never have become involved in Vietnam.

Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. January 8, Retrieved January 08, from Encyclopedia. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.

H o Chi Minh was a leading figure in the international communist movement and the principal force behind the Vietnamese struggle against French colonial rule.

Ho-chi-minh biography

Today, he remains the symbol of national pride in Vietnam. One of the most influential political figures of the twentieth century, Ho Chi Minh had magnetic appeal as well as practical leadership skills. At a time when most of his Vietnamese colleagues were trained only in China or the Soviet Union , Ho Chi Minh traveled extensively and developed a broad world view.

Ho spoke and wrote a number of languages, including English, French, Chinese, and Russian, as well as his native Vietnamese. The youngest of three children, he was born in in a rural hamlet in central Vietnam. Along with Cambodia, Laos, and several other countries, Vietnam forms a peninsula called Indochina, which extends from the southeastern border of China into the South China Sea.

Rich in natural resources, especially rubber and rice, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam became French colonies in the nineteenth century before Ho Chi Minh was born. Confucian scholars study the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, who was born in b. In keeping with Vietnamese tradition, Sinh Cung's parents gave him a new name when he reached adolescence.

The new name was to reflect the parents' aspirations for their child and was recorded at the village registry. Sinh Cung's father assigned him the name Nguyen That Thanh, meaning "he who will succeed. Sinh Sac had moved his family to the city of Hue in Later, Sinh Sac and his family moved to the town of Kim Lien, where he was an associate of the well-known scholar and revolutionary patriot Phan Boi Chau — , who often visited their home.

Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary out-look may have been inspired by these sessions with Phan Boi Chau and then intensified by his later experiences in France. In order to pursue his political interests without placing his family back in Vietnam in danger, he traveled under the assumed name Nguyen Van Ba. Nguyen saw vast areas of the world, including Latin America and the United States , before he arrived in Paris.

At that time, Paris had become the worldwide center for anticolonial groups to debate the issue of colonialism. Colonialism is the policy or practice of controlling a dependent country or people—for example, a Western European nation controlling an underdeveloped and economically dependent nation in Asia or Africa. The French colonized Indochina Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam primarily for its rice and rubber resources.

Their rule of the economy drained the countries of their wealth since profits went to farm and plantation owners in France, not the Indochinese. Vietnam wanted to gain control of its economy and raise the country's standard of living. Communism is a system of government in which a single political party , the Communist Party, controls nearly all aspects of people's lives.

In a communist economy, private ownership of property and business is prohibited so that goods produced and wealth accumulated can be shared equally by all. In this petition, titled "The Demands of the Annamite [Vietnamese] People," he outlined French colonial abuses in Vietnam: plantation owners ruling the local workers harshly, taking profits out of the country, and keeping a tight control on society to quell any rebellions.

The French had established the colony through force in the first place in the s and s and maintained it with force. Nguyen also proposed that Vietnam would be governed by Vietnamese and would control its own economy. Not many nations wanted to challenge France because of long ties, but Nguyen's petition served as an important call to action among the Vietnamese.

Like many Asian leaders of that era, he had not had a happy experience with capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system where property and businesses are privately owned. Prices, production, and distribution of goods are determined by competition in a market relatively free of government intervention. Nguyen had personally observed the brutalities perpetuated by Western colonialism, and those experiences had led him to embrace the concept of a future global federation of communist societies, an idea proposed by the Russian communist leader Vladimir Lenin — In China, he learned guerrilla warfare , or irregular and independent attacks, from Mao Zedong —; see entry , the future leader of the Communist People's Republic of China.

After founding the Indochinese Communist Party ICP among Vietnamese exiles in Canton, China, Nguyen was arrested by the British for adopting radical politics and threatening the colonial countries, and spent two years in prison. After his release, he returned to the Soviet Union and spent several years recovering from several illnesses.

In , as part of their military expansion throughout Asia, Japanese troops swept into Indochina to gain control of natural resources for their own industries. Nguyen resumed contact with Indochinese Communist Party leaders and announced the formation of the League for the Independence of Vietnam, popularly known as the Vietminh. The Vietminh's purpose was to fight French rule and the Japanese occupation.

In , Nguyen was arrested in China by Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek —; see entry who despised communists and was fending off Mao within China. Nguyen was falsely charged with being a spy, which Chiang believed would tarnish his reputation back home in Vietnam and undercut his power. After spending thirteen months in jail, Nguyen returned to Vietnam in , where he continued his resistance.

The name means "enlightener" or "bringer of light. After approximately thirty years as a revolutionary, Ho Chi Minh was about to become the first president of the new communist republic. After the bloody battles of World War II , the world found itself engaged in a different kind of conflict—the so-called Cold War. The Cold War was an intense political and economic rivalry between the world's two superpowers—the United States and the Soviet Union—that lasted from to The Cold War rivalry would eventually lead to the collapse of colonialism.

Both sides advocated the liberation of their former colonies in order to win those colonies over and make them allies in the Cold War struggle for domination. As a relatively small player in the global Cold War drama, France did not stand to gain much by liberating its colonies. Therefore, the French were unwilling to grant independence to their colonial subjects in Indochina, and in late war broke out in Vietnam.

For eight years, Vietminh guerrillas fought French troops in the mountains and rice paddies of Vietnam. However, South Vietnam remained out of Ho's grasp. The terms of the peace agreement would keep Vietnam a divided country. After his victory over the French, Ho returned to Hanoi. He devoted his efforts to constructing a communist society in North Vietnam but did not give up on his vision of a unified Vietnam under his leadership.

Ho appeared rather humble in his threadbare bush jacket and frayed rubber sandals. When surrounded by luxury, he often seemed uncomfortable; he preferred to live in a stilt house built in the style used by citizens who lived in the mountains. He once vetoed a proposal to construct a small museum that was meant to commemorate his life. Ho argued that the funds could be better used to build a school.

The Western powers sometimes suspected that Ho cultivated this image of simplicity to more easily gain popularity. Ho did openly enjoy the adulation that he received from his compatriots, but in the final analysis there is little doubt that Ho Chi Minh actually preferred to live in simple, unpretentious surroundings. He sought to portray himself as a loyal adherent of the communist teachings of German political philosopher Karl Marx — However, Ho also made an effort to soften communism's strict policies in order to ease the lives of Vietnam's citizens.

The United States was concerned about the situation in Indochina for a combination of reasons. Indochina had raw materials that the world needed, especially tin and tungsten; therefore, the United States wanted to continue free trade with Indochina. The Americans feared that other nations in Indochina would fall to communism and that trade with the entire region would cease.

There was a real concern among all the Western capitalist nations that the existence of a communist government in one country would cause neighboring countries to fall to communism. This idea was referred to as the " domino theory. Even within the United States, people feared the infiltration of communist influence, both in the U.

Communism itself was the enemy, and top U. Eisenhower —; served —61; see entry , sincerely believed in the domino theory ; they thought that any communist victory was a threat to U. He incorporated many of its ideals in his Vietnamese Declaration of Independence. One of Ho's slogans was "Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom.

Despite his admiration for the United States, Ho knew that the U. In fact, by the late s and early s, the United States would send a considerable number of military advisors to South Vietnam to help resist any communist advances orchestrated by Ho. In foreign policy, Ho adopted a practical attitude and moved slowly in order to adjust his communist goals to the conditions of the world at the moment.

The Vietnam War —75 involved U. Steadily, U. As American casualties mounted, U. Johnson —; served —69; see entry was increasingly anxious to arrange peace negotiations with North Vietnam. However, Ho made it clear to Johnson that North Vietnam would never negotiate. Even as the war physically destroyed his country, Ho remained committed to Vietnam's independence.

Millions of Vietnamese fought and died to attain the same goal. Ho saw communism as a means to reach independence. During the war, Ho was frequently ill or in China for medical treatment. He died of heart failure in at the age of seventy-nine. But the final communist triumph—the capture of Saigon, South Vietnam's capital city, in —was the result of Ho Chi Minh's lifelong revolutionary efforts.

Upon Ho's death, an official statement from Moscow lauded the Vietnamese leader as an important communist leader and friend of the Soviet Union. The reaction from Western capitals was more muted. Some U. Even those who opposed Ho's regime respected Ho himself as someone who had dedicated his life to the independence and unification of his country.

Ho's critics, on the other hand, refused to overlook his long record as a follower of Joseph Stalin —; see entry , the brutal communist dictator of the Soviet Union. This group felt that Ho's decades of service to the communist world revolution had done irreparable damage to the cause of democracy. Ho Chi Minh's last will and testament contained his wish to be cremated; it also indicated that he wanted his ashes deposited at three unnamed locations in the northern, central, and southern sections of Vietnam.

Ho intended this to be a symbolic act that would express his devotion to the cause of national reunification. However, Communist Party leaders ignored Ho's request for a simple funeral ceremony and cremation. They decided to erect a mausoleum a building where bodies are entombed aboveground to display his embalmed body for future generations.

Ho Chi Minh: A Life. New York : Hyperion, While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. This page has been archived and is no longer updated.

Find out more about page archiving. World War One Centenary. Settings Sign out. Some were forced to join, others volunteered willingly. Seeking support from anyone who would give it, Ho formed alliances with American diplomats and intelligence officers who also were looking for alliances to defeat the Japanese. Together, they worked to address a famine that had killed millions of Vietnamese in Ho Chi-Minh moved quickly before the French could to regroup and take back their colony.

On September 2, , he stood before a crowd at Ba Dinh square in Hanoi. They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had promised a postwar world that would respect the right of all people to choose their form of government.

But Roosevelt was now dead. Ho Chi-Minh traveled to Paris to persuade the French to honor their promise of more autonomy for its colonies including Vietnam. But the French were not listening. In France returned to Vietnam to gain control of their colony, and Ho returned determined to fight for independence. The Soviet Union soon followed.

Americans were envisioning South East Asia as a row of dominos, precariously positioned to fall one at a time to communism.