Ho Chi Minh

Template:TOC-right Born as Nguyen Tat Thanh and known by several names associated with his political career, Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969) was a revolutionary against French rule in then-Indochina, who became President of the (Communist) Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) after the partition of Indochina in 1954. He remained the national leader, certainly symbolically and at least part of the time operationally, through the rest of his life.

While he died before the forcible unification of North Vietnam and South Vietnam in 1975, his symbolic importance was such that the former Southern capital of Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

Early life

Born in 1890 to a former French colonial official who had resigned in protest, Ho attended school in Hue and Phan Thiet. He traveled abroad, working as a cook on a French ship, in 1911, then as a seaman for several years, and settled in London. After moving to France in 1920 he became a founding member of the French Communist Party.

Following World War I, under the pseudonym Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the Patriot), he was among the founders of the French Communist Party, received training in Moscow, and went to China in 1924, where he organized a revolutionary organization among Indochinese exiles.

Ejected from China in an anticommunist crackdown in 1927, he returned, in 1930, and founded the Indochinese Communist Party. From the roots of the party, he formed an independence organization, the Viet Minh.

Second World War

When Japan occupied French Indochina in 1940 and collaborated with French officials loyal to France's Vichy regime. Ho, contacted the Allies and assisted actions against the Japanese in South China and Indochina. Especially in Indochina, however, the Allies were cautious about causing tensions with the French, after the fall of the pro-Axis Vichy French government.

In 1943, the Chinese released him from jail and allowed him to head the Dong Min Hoi coalition. Their goal was to get better intelligence from Indochina, where only the Viet Minh actually had personnel.

Attempt at independence

On September 2, 1945, Ho declared independence for Vietnam, but was soon under a French crackdown on revolutionary activity.

He remained the national leader through the Indochinese revolution.

The Two Vietnams

Ho remained active in leadership until his health declined and he became more of a symbol. Nevertheless, he addressed North Vietnam shortly before the Tet Offensive in January 1968, which was symbolically important to many in the People's Army of Viet Nam

Late years and death

By the 1960s, Ho was primarily a symbol rather than an active leader.