Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969)
Ho Chi Minh is often associated with being America's main enemy during the Vietnam War. He was the leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He was one of important reasons Vietnam was unified.
There isn't much known about Minh's life because he distanced himself from his past and origins. Almost everything known about him is an assumption about his life.
He was probably born in Kim Lien Village of Nghe, a province in Central Vietnam on May 19, 1990. His original name was most likely Nguyen Van Thanh, the youngest child of Nguyen Tat Sac. During his teen years, he attended and left two schools for unknown reasons.
Minh rejected the traditional Vietnamese nationalist path through militarism and accepted republicanism, popular sovereignty, and democracy. He entered politics through the Peace Conference at Versailles in 1919 after World War I. After attending the conference he came up with an eight-point program based off of President Wilson's Fourteen Points. His reforms would have gave the Vietnamese people more basic freedoms and equalities. He was a member of the French Socialist Party. At one meeting in 1920, he sided with the Communist party since they went for independence for all colonial areas. After that meeting, he became one of the founders of the French Communist Party. Through the new Communist Party, he became associated with other communist figures such as Lenin.
He was a ruthless ruler, he carefully got rid of the undependable nationalist soldiers and kept the the good ones who he knew would support him. After spending many years in other countries, he returned to Vietnam in 1941. At a meeting in the town of Pac-Bo, he and others created the Viet Minh party which was an organization to gain support from the Vietnamese people who opposed the French but it wasn't a communist party yet.
After being imprisoned by a Chinese warlord for a year, that's when he took the name of Ho Chi Minh which means "He Who Enlightens." By 1943 he had freed 6 provinces from Japanese control thanks to the aid of the United States and China. By 1954, Minh took control of the entire country. He held most of his power in the North of Vietnam at first. It could be said that the Vietnam war helped Minh gain power. He copied land reforms similar to that of Lenin, one of which lead to peasants in his home province protesting and 6000 of the people there were murdered. This made him an opponent to Lenin.
Ho Chi Minh died on September 3, 1969. He is commonly associated with Lenin and Mao Tse-tung. He led his Communist Party through 40 years of success. He benefited as a leader by staying throughout Europe and Asia for almost 20 years. He is also said to be a contradictory leader because he was a communist but at the same time he was also a nationalist. His whole life, he had the one goal of creating an independent Vietnamese state.
There isn't much known about Minh's life because he distanced himself from his past and origins. Almost everything known about him is an assumption about his life.
He was probably born in Kim Lien Village of Nghe, a province in Central Vietnam on May 19, 1990. His original name was most likely Nguyen Van Thanh, the youngest child of Nguyen Tat Sac. During his teen years, he attended and left two schools for unknown reasons.
Minh rejected the traditional Vietnamese nationalist path through militarism and accepted republicanism, popular sovereignty, and democracy. He entered politics through the Peace Conference at Versailles in 1919 after World War I. After attending the conference he came up with an eight-point program based off of President Wilson's Fourteen Points. His reforms would have gave the Vietnamese people more basic freedoms and equalities. He was a member of the French Socialist Party. At one meeting in 1920, he sided with the Communist party since they went for independence for all colonial areas. After that meeting, he became one of the founders of the French Communist Party. Through the new Communist Party, he became associated with other communist figures such as Lenin.
He was a ruthless ruler, he carefully got rid of the undependable nationalist soldiers and kept the the good ones who he knew would support him. After spending many years in other countries, he returned to Vietnam in 1941. At a meeting in the town of Pac-Bo, he and others created the Viet Minh party which was an organization to gain support from the Vietnamese people who opposed the French but it wasn't a communist party yet.
After being imprisoned by a Chinese warlord for a year, that's when he took the name of Ho Chi Minh which means "He Who Enlightens." By 1943 he had freed 6 provinces from Japanese control thanks to the aid of the United States and China. By 1954, Minh took control of the entire country. He held most of his power in the North of Vietnam at first. It could be said that the Vietnam war helped Minh gain power. He copied land reforms similar to that of Lenin, one of which lead to peasants in his home province protesting and 6000 of the people there were murdered. This made him an opponent to Lenin.
Ho Chi Minh died on September 3, 1969. He is commonly associated with Lenin and Mao Tse-tung. He led his Communist Party through 40 years of success. He benefited as a leader by staying throughout Europe and Asia for almost 20 years. He is also said to be a contradictory leader because he was a communist but at the same time he was also a nationalist. His whole life, he had the one goal of creating an independent Vietnamese state.
Fun Fact
- In 1911, he completed courses and a school for bakers in Saigon and in 1912 got a job as a dish cleaner on a French liner.