Introduction
The independence of Vietnam could not have been possible without the great effort of Ho Chi Minh. He is regarded as a great man in Vietnam because it is through his organization, skills, dedication, effort, and the great sacrifice that the people of the Republic of Vietnam are today free. Such great men like Ho Chi Minh command a lot of respect even after their death because they suffered a lot in order to free their country. He left behind a rich legacy on the people of Vietnam and especially on governance and foreign relations. This paper will therefore give a life history of Ho Chi Minh and his great contribution in the gaining of independence by the Republic of Vietnam.
Family Life
Ho Chi Minh was born in the year 1890 in Vietnam. His father was a teacher and was quite intelligent. Though the French government employed him, he totally refused to learn the French language. But he encouraged his son Ho Chi Minh to learn the language. Nguyen Sinh Huy. Ho Chi Minhs father brought up his children in an anti-French way. That is early in life Ho Chi Minh and his siblings had learned to resist the French rule and this really prepared Ho Chi Minh very well for the struggle and the fight for independence for his country (Spartacus Educational). Ho Chi Minh and his siblings inherited nationalistic feelings from their father. Consequently, Ho Chi Minh’s sister who used to work for the French government used to steal ammunitions that she hoped would be used to drive away from the French from Vietnam. This is how nationalistic this family was, but when she was caught, she was sentenced to life imprisonment. To a very large extent Ho Chi Minhs father prepared and equipped him for his duties as the leader of a revolutionary movement.
His early Life
Through his knowledge of the French language Ho Chi Minh was employed as a teacher but he later decided to be a sailor. This opportunity offered him a chance to travel to many different countries, some that were even part of the French territory. In so doing Ho Chi Minh realized that it is not only the Vietnamese that suffers at the hands of the French but other people as well. He noted with a lot of sadness that the French were exploiting so many people. His journey saw him visit many countries but by around 1917, he settled in Paris (Sophie, 2003).
The Revolution
While in Paris, Ho Chi Minh began to read various books that inspired him to join revolutionary movements. Some of the books that he read were like the ones written by Karl Max. This gave him the basis of the revolutionary movements. So in 1920 Ho Chi Minh and others founded the French Communist Party, the books he read inspired this movement. It is at this point that Ho Chi Minh felt the need to awaken the masses. Since he was inspired by the Soviet Union, he went there in 1924. Ho started writing to his fellow friends about the need to return home and awaken the masses. This was to be done by uniting, organizing, training, and leading the people in the fight for their independence (Ministry of foreign affairs). Ho was aware that he could not go back home because he was already involved with the revolutionary movement, and he knew that the French government would arrest him. So he decided to move near the Vietnam border, that is, China. From here he helped to organize the Vietnam Revolutionary league with the other exiled people who were willing to be nationalists.
The war
In 1940 Ho and other nationalists saw an opportunity of freeing their country from French rule. This happened when the Japanese invaded Indochina, and by this time Germany had already occupied Paris and so the French surrendered to the Japanese. Ho and other nationalists planned to conduct guerilla warfare against the Japanese and therefore they formed an organization called Vietminh (Eleanor, 2006).
Initially, the Vietminh got their supplies from the Soviet Union and after the bombing of the parlor harbor, they got more from the United States. At this point, the Vietminh was ready to take control of their country but this occurred after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and thus the Japanese surrendered in 1945. Ho Chi Minh announced the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in September 1945. In a meeting held in Potsdam, it was agreed that Vietnam would be divided into two, the north and south. The southern part would be led by the British while, the north would be controlled by China. This information was not revealed to the Vietminh. Arrangements were made for France to establish her rule in Vietnam after the Second World War but she refused to re-organize the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as Ho Chi Minh had earlier announced (Eleanor, 2006). This sparked out war between the Vietminh and the French troops. The Vietminh was not able to fight the well-trained French troops but in 1949 the communists took control of China and this gave the Vietminh a training ground for its troops. With this new training, the Vietminh took control of a large side in the north but not so much in the south (Pierre, 2007). The French government wanted to make a deal with Vietminh but Ho Chi Minh and his fellow nationalists refused (Sophie, 2003). By this time the French government was so much against the war for various reasons:
- A lot of people in France had realized that they had no good grounds to be in Vietnam (there was no moral justification).
- Between 1946 and 1952 a lot of the French troops had been killed meaning that the French troops were very few in numbers and could not continue for long in the war.
- The war had gone on for a very long time (seven years) and so far there was no sign of victory for France.
- The devastation caused by the Second World War was being felt in the French economy. This meant that France wanted to seize the war so that she can rebuild her economy.
By 1954 Vietminh under the leadership of General VO Nguyen Giap was able to defeat the French troops, and by May of that year the French had surrendered (Eleanor, 2006). Several states meant to try and resolve the conflicts in Vietnam and Korea. Some of the states include Britain, France, United States, and the Soviet Union. The meeting concluded with the following solutions:
- An international committee would be formed to oversee a general election in Vietnam, which was supposed to be held before July of that year.
- Seven regions would be formed in Vietnam (seventeen in total).
- Ho Chi Minh would be the leader of North Vietnam.
- Ngo Dinh Diem would be the leader of South Vietnam.
- Vietnamese would freely choose where to live either north or south.
- South Vietnam would be free from Vietminh.
- French troops would be withdrawn from Vietnam.
Since Ngo Dinh Diem was an opponent of communists, some members of the Vietminh were reluctant to accept the deal. But Ho Chi Minh was able to convince the members that the situation was temporary and they would be able to elect a communist leader. The communist leader would then unite the two parts of Vietnam, north, and south (Pierre, 2007).
But during the Geneva conference in 1954 Ngo Dinh Diem was named the leader of South Vietnam and with time it became clear that he had no intentions of holding national elections for a united Vietnam. People, therefore, realized that it is only through violence that they could get what they want-a a united Vietnam. This realization saw a lot of people move to the forests to form guerilla warfare. Initially, Ho Chi Minh was against this move and opted for dialogue but when he sent a trusted source to South Vietnam he changed his stand (Spartacus Educational). This is because he found out from the source that the southern government was willing and ready to imprison anyone against it. Ho Chi Minh has therefore begun supplying the forest groups with ammunition and further encouraged them to unite and form one group that will help fight for a united Vietnam. This encouragement led to the formation of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, under the leadership of Hua Tho. The group used guerilla warfare to attack the south. The organization was organized in small groups of around 10 men and the information about each group was kept a secret. This ensured that the information about the organization stayed within the group and this promoted its effectiveness, (Eleanor, 2006). The NLF’s aim was to reach out to the common people who lived in the south and these were mainly the peasants. They knew if they got the support of this group of people then they would succeed. So if and when they went to a certain village they respected the peasants and observed a strict code of conduct. For instance, the guerilla groups would:
- Help in the daily activities of the people.
- Not destroy crops or their farms, avoid damages where possible.
- Not to abuse the people they found there.
- Only take what they are given by the people.
When President Lyndon Johnson took office he initiated a plan to stop the NLF from attacking the south, (Eleanor, 2006). He bombed Vietnam for the next three years from 1964, therefore interfering with the activities of NLF.
Legacy
Ho Chi Minh had dedicated his life to the liberation of his fellow men. He did this by contributing to ease the struggles of the common man and the need to stop the exploitation of the Vietnamese by the French. Ho Chi Minh died in 1969 and six years after his death the communists were able to conquer the south and united Vietnam under one leader. Ho Chi Minh is referred to as the father of a great nation because it is his contribution to his country that led to its independence. His legacy is best felt with the deep interaction of Vietnam’s independence with socialism. He is also attributed to have laid the groundwork for Vietnam’s foreign relations policy that seeks friendship with neighboring countries, paying attention to superpowers. In fact, the present government appreciates his contribution to laying the groundwork: “Ho Chi Minh’s Diplomacy thoughts are the guideline for all Vietnamese diplomatic activities” (Ministry of foreign affairs). His idea was based on seeking sympathy and “using invariable to respond to variables.” As shown above, his contribution to Vietnam and the world is immense and hence Ho Chi Minh remains a formidable figure in history.
References
Eleanor, J. Vietnam: A Natural History, New York: Yale University Press, 2006.
Pierre, Brocheux. Ho Chi Minh: A Biography, London: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Sophie, Quinn-Judge. The Missing Years, 1919-1941, New York: C. Hurst & co. Publishers, 2003.
Spartacus Educational “Ho Chi Minh” 2009. Web.
Ministry of foreign affairs, “A brief diplomatic history of Vietnam”. (2009). Web.