Ho Chi Minh

Once in Vietnam, you will immediately notice that the old Ho Chi Minh is a very revered figure here: many museums and monuments are dedicated to him, his portrait is on Vietnamese money, and even the second largest city in the country is named after this politician. Ho Chi Minh had an interesting life path and greatly influenced the history of Vietnam. This article tells briefly the biography of Ho Chi Minh and why he earned universal respect in this country.

Table of Contents

The beginning of the path of the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh was born in a village in the province of Nghe An. Vietnam’s colonial subordination to France made the future leader think about the importance of freedom and independence at a young age. Like many other revolutionary figures, Ho Chi Minh adopted a pseudonym. His real name given to him by his parents is Nguyen Sinh Cung. He got his second name of Nguyen Tat Thanh once he got accepted to school. It was only later in his political career, after changing several names, that he became Ho Chi Minh.

The young Nguyen Tat Thanh studied at the University located in Hue, was a teacher of Vietnamese and French, and then went on a voyage, enlisting as a sailor. The future leader traveled a lot, lived in different countries and joined the French Communist party in 1920.

The final formation of Ho Chi Minh as a communist leader

Nguyen Tat Thanh visited the Soviet Union as well. His desire to meet with Lenin has not come true. The Soviet revolutionary was ill and soon died, and Ho Chi Minh only managed to attend a farewell ceremony with the leader. It is believed that it was in the Soviet Union that Ho Chi Minh’s personality as a Communist leader was formed.

After that, Ho Chi Minh lived in several other countries: he was active in Hong Kong and Siam, worked in China, and even hid from persecution in Cambodia, near Vietnam . In China, the leader campaigned with revolutionary Vietnamese immigrants and supervised the production of pamphlets and Newspapers.

Ho Chi Minh’s fight for the freedom and independence of Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh considered the fight for freedom and independence of his country to be the main goal of his activity. Meanwhile, Vietnam was again under the influence of foreign invaders. During the Second World War, they were the Japanese. To fight for the independence of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh created the Viet Minh League. During his trip to China, the leader was arrested and spent a year and a half in prison.

After the Japanese left the country, Ho Chi Minh took advantage of the situation. The then emperor resigned, and Ho Chi Minh’s associates took over Hanoi. Ho Chi Minh became the Prime Minister and President of North Vietnam. The government carried out agrarian reform. The country began to receive assistance from the Soviet Union and China.

However, the French, British, and Chinese military were still in Vietnam. The fight for the liberation of the country went until 1954. As a result, the Northern part of Vietnam remained under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, and the southern part of the country was under the influence of the United States. Ho Chi Minh served as President until his death. He died on September 2, 1969. The body of the Vietnamese leader is still in a mausoleum in Hanoi, despite the fact that he expressed a desire to be cremated.

The memory of Ho Chi Minh

The memorial Museum dedicated to Ho Chi Minh is located in his native village. It is situated a couple of kilometers from where his parents’ house stood. In Hanoi, visitors can visit the President’s house, where he lived the last years of his life, in addition to the mausoleum. The architectural ensemble also includes a Museum dedicated to the leader.

As mentioned above, the portrait of Ho Chi Minh is on banknotes, and the city of Saigon was renamed in honor of the man who helped Vietnam to become an independent state. You can also find streets and squares named after the Vietnamese leader in Russia, reminding of the friendly relations between these countries.