Hô Chi Minh, in Vietnamese Hồ Chí Minh (literally, "one who enlightens") to listen, whose real name is Nguyễn Sinh Cung, born May 19, 1890 in the village of Huang Tru bordered by rice fields 360 km from Hué and 1442 from Saigon, is a Vietnamese statesman and founder of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In 1975, his name was given to Vietnam's first city, formerly Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City.
Childhood and youth
Ho Chi Minh's father was a mandarin in the administration of the protectorate of Annam. According to Vietnamese communist historians and French colonial archives, he was degraded from his position by the new colonial power, he gradually sank into a depression tinged with alcoholism. The decline of his father following this colonial injustice, strongly marked the young Ho Chi Minh.
He first studied in Huế, at the “Quoc Hoc” school (literally “national school” in Vietnamese) founded by the father of Ngô Dinh Diêm.
His life in the West
He continued his studies in London between 1914 and 1919 and then in France in 1921. He developed photos to support himself.
From a nationalist family line like Phan Châu Trinh and Phan Boi Chau, he was disappointed by the Treaty of Versailles (1919) which did not apply the right of peoples to self-determination to the colonies.
His adherence to communism
He was initiated into communism in France by the director of L'Humanité, Marcel Cachin.
At the Tours Congress of December 25, 1920, he became one of the founding fathers of the French Communist Party through his intervention on the colonies. for artistic works that constituted his livelihood.
In May 1923, two leading communist militants in France were invited to Moscow by Dmitri Manouilsky:Nguyen Aï Quoc and Jean Cremet. He follows the formation of the Comintern and will create networks in Vietnam thanks to the Chinese CP. He then made several trips to Soviet Russia in April 1927, following Chiang Kai-shek's anti-communist coup in Shanghai, and in 1936-1937.
In 1930, with the help of Mao, he founded the Indochinese Communist Party (PCI) to include Cambodia and Laos, then in 1941 the League for the Independence of Vietnam (Vietnam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi or its contraction in Viêt Minh) who fights both the Japanese occupiers and the French colonizers. In 1941, he returned to Vietnam to fight against the Japanese occupation. In 1942, it took the name of Hô Chí Minh. The same year, he was arrested by Chinese nationalists and spent a year in prison in China.
Independence
Freed, Ho Chi Minh continues his struggle with the August Revolution.
In 1945, he proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi and the independence of the country on September 2 on Ba Dinh Square. Election of a Constituent Assembly on January 6, 1946.
Indochina War
After the failure of negotiations with Jean Sainteny, he leads the Viet Minh to victory against the French:May 7, 1954. At the battle of Diên Biên Phu during the Indochina War, the Viet Minh obtains the surrender of the French entrenched camp.
Partition of Vietnam
The following day, negotiations on Indochina began at the Geneva Conference with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, Pham Van Dong, which led to the establishment of the Geneva Accords. Vietnam is temporarily divided into two military assembly areas along the 17th parallel:
* in the North, the Vietnamese People's Army
* in the South, the French Expeditionary Force in the Far East - CEFEO.
Vietnam War
Ho Chi Minh continues the fight for the reunification of the country against Ngô Dinh Diêm who leads the Republic of South Vietnam, following a coup d'etat which forced Emperor Bao Dai to abdicate with the support of the Americans.
From 1960, Ho Chi Minh and his followers supported the creation of the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam - FNL - soon nicknamed Viêt Công [2] by the Americans and the South Vietnamese. The FNL was supplied with men, weapons and equipment by the Democratic Republic of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War [3].
His death
Ho Chi Minh died on September 2, 1969 while conflict was still raging in Vietnam. His death is officially announced as having taken place on September 3 so as not to tarnish the National Independence Day of September 2.
Ho Chi Minh wanted his ashes to be spread over the country, from north to south, and absolutely did not want to be embalmed like Lenin. However, his heirs will decide to embalm him while waiting for reunification so as not to harm the South Vietnamese during the scattering of the ashes. This having never been done, his mummy still rests in the Hanoi Mausoleum on Ba Dinh Square.
Propaganda
During his lifetime, Ho Chi Minh used "Soviet-style" propaganda based on his image. His communist comrades will use his mummified corpse in order to strengthen the interests and their legitimacy in power.
Guardian figure of Vietnamese patriotism, known by the "affectionate" name of Uncle Hô - Bác Hồ, his name will be used after reunification to rename the capital of South Vietnam. Thus, Saigon becomes Ho Chi Minh City - Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh - following a 1975 decision by the first government of the Young Democratic Republic of Vietnam.