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Birth
Nguyen Sinh Cung (popularly known with the nickname of Ho Chi Minh) was born in the small village of Hoang Tru, located in the region of Annam, in Central Vietnam. -
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Childhood and adolescence
Ho Chi Minh grew up in his father's village, Nguyen Sinh Sac. He had three siblings: Nguyen Thi Thanh, Nguyen Sinh Khiem and Nguyen Sinh Nhuan. Before going to school, Ho Chi Minh was taught by his father, and later on by his father's friend, Vuong Thuc Do. His father was a confucian and imperial magistrate of the district in which the family lived. Ho Chi Minh's father opposed the French imperialism in Vietnam, but young Ho received a French education. -
Anti-slavery demonstration of poor peasants
In 1908, there was an anti-slavery demonstration in Hue, in which Ho's father participated (he was fired from his position). This demonstration made Ho to have a revolutionary perspective.
Being 18 years old, Ho Chi Minh moved to the South of the country, where he started working at a school in Duc Thanh, before moving to Saigón. -
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Working as a cook in a ship
Ho Chi Minh wanted to go to France, so he took one ship and travel from Saigón to Paris. He started working in a french steamer as a cook. The ship moved from Paris to Marseille, where Ho Chi Minh requested to enter the French Colonial Administrative School, but he was rejected. From 1911 to 1919, he made a lot of voyages and visit a big number of places. -
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First years in politics and publications
From 1919 to 1923, Ho Chi Minh started to be interested in politics, and he was greatly influenced by his friend Marcel Cachin (socialist). Ho Chi Minh joined the Group of Vietnamese Patriots, which was made up of indo chinese nationalists. He started to believe in Marxist political ideas, and he joined the Communist French Party, which created the publication Le Paria (edited by Ho). He wrote a lot of articles claiming Vietnamese independence, and he soon became popular. -
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Life in the Soviet Union and return to Asia
In 1923, Ho Chi Minh moved to Moscow, where he participated in several congresses of the Communist International, which asked him to enter the Military School of Huangpu in order to teach Communist ideas there. In April 1927, Chiang Kai-Shek led a slaughter against communists, but Ho Chi Minh managed to escape and organised two revolutions in Siam (Thailand) and China. Ho Chi Minh founded the Communist Party of Vietnam. French occupation of Vietnam was substituted with Japanese occupation. -
Return to Vietnam - Fight against the Japanese occupation
In 1940, Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam, where he fought against the Japanese troops. In order to liberate his country from the occupation, he founded the Viet Minh (alliance between the Communist Indochinese Party and nationalist groups), and a military force led by Vo Nguyen Giap. -
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First Indochina War and Treaty of Geneva
While the Vietnamese were spelling the Japanese in the north, the Viet Minh achieved the national independence in 1945, and founded the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Communist state). After WW2, French troops returned to the country, and a war started. In 1946, France bombed Haiphong, and there was an uprising in Hanoi later that year. French troops began to go back and asked for help to the US. After the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, France was defeated and Vietnam was divided in two countries. -
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President of Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh became president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He introduced agrarian reforms and maintained good relations with socialist countries such as China, North Korea, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. A coup led by Ngo Dinh Diem and supported by the US took place in South Vietnam. Catholic Vietnamese migrated to the south, while buddhists and communists migrated to the North. -
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Ho Chi Minh's influence in the Vietnam War
In 1955, a war between North Vietnam (communists) and South Vietnam (capitalists) took place. Ho Chi Minh acted as the leader of the communists in the North. In 1960, he founded the National Liberation Front (NLF) or Viet Cong, which was a military force that used guerrilla tactics in order to take South Vietnam. The NLF managed to take a big number of territories in the south. In 1968, North Vietnam started an offensive (Tet Offensive), and captured a lot of cities in the South. -
Death
Ho Chi Minh died in his house in Hanoi, being 79 years old. His death was caused by a heart attack. He died before the Vietnam War ended in 1975.