HO CHI MINH was the leader of the Viet Minh Resistance to the French Colonizers.
If you are looking for a complex discussion on the history of Vietnamese independence, please see the Expert Answer from "Chuck Siata" below. If you are looking for a specific person, HO CHI MINH, the leader of the Viet Minh, led the resistance to the French Occupation.
The debacle with Vietnam begins in 1900, when France took away nominal Chinese control of IndoChina. Within the area were several small countries. In WW 2, Imperial Japan took over the area as an extension of its war against China. The part of this region was Vietnam and the locals were led by a group called the Vietminh. It was a mixed political group dominated, however, by communists. Leaders of the Vietminh had been trained in Moscow. Ho Chi Minh led the group. Now France had promised partial independence of the area as soon as WW 2 ended. To lay out a more specific landscape the small countries within the French mini-empire there were Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.The French offer of a limited independence of the area was rejected by the Vietminh and gained popular support by promising to drive out the French and distribute land to the peasant farmers. From 1946 to 1954, the armed conflict between French forces against the Vietminh raged on. At this time, the new communist regime in China was helping the locals with training and supplies.
The peoples loyal to France were recieving military equipment from the Eisenhower administration.
Eventuall the communists held sway and the battle called Dien Bien Phu saw victory for Ho Chi Minh as his followers. Skipping some time here for space reasons, an accord was reached in Geneva dividing Vietnam by the 17th parallel. The northern part communist and the southern part friendly to France. By the Geneva agreement, France was to conduct free elections in 1954 to determine what would be a single government ruling a united Vietnam.
As an aside, Laos and Cambodia were to be neutral independent countries.
As it turned out, communists in Laos were receiving aid from Moscow. The area remained a mess and another Geneva cease fire stopped the fighting for awhile.
In 1961, US President Kennedy stated that the communist forces had to halt their actions that were aimed at taking full control of the area. More Geneva talks and it appeared that Ho Chi Minh would run the communist North Vietnam, and with Soviet aid were threatening to take the South as well.
The war escalated. Most people know the end result. After President Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon Johnson took over the war and US troops were pouring into South Vietnam to keep it non-Communist.
Johnson was fighting a war of containment while the communists were fighting for full control. After thousands of Vietnamese on both sides were killed and the US mounted up large losses itself. Johnson did not run for election in 1968. US President Nixon won the White House and promised to end the war. Finally that happened and the North took over the entire area.
58,000 Us military were killed and well over a million Vietnamese were killed until the war was over.
As an aside the one good thing that came out of the war, was the Nixon decree of ending the US draft..
Depending on one's outlook, one can say that Ho Chi Minh led the Vietnam to the communist version of "freedom". Which was not really freedom at all.
There was once a South Vietnam in the 20th Century; there is no, nor has there been, a South Vietnam in the 21st century.
Colonization in the nineteenth century answers the "how" and "when" of Vietnam becoming French-speaking. The French arrived in southern Vietnam because of the counter-weights to British presence in East, South, and Southeast Asia and the earnings which could be had from plantation economies. The colonialists simultaneously established a countrywide system of educational and governmental facilities which quickly turned the Vietnamese peoples into bilingual speakers of French and Vietnamese.
The 21st century's F22 Raptor is still armed with a 20mm cannon, thanks to the Vietnam War.
Europe colonized Africa during the Age of Imperialism in the 19th century.
France had vietnam as a colony through half of the 20th century because they wanted another country helping them during the war
Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Who led resistance to British oppression in India in the early 20th century
Mohandas Gandhi - Apex (Just took the Quiz)
French was introduced to Vietnam during the French colonization period, which lasted from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. As a result, French became the administrative language and was widely used in education and government. Even after Vietnam gained independence, French continued to be spoken by some Vietnamese people due to its historical influence and legacy.
The sixteenth century.
There was once a South Vietnam in the 20th Century; there is no, nor has there been, a South Vietnam in the 21st century.
Mohandas Gandhi - Apex (Just took the Quiz)
It came to Vietnam in the 1st century
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North Vietnam won the war.
Colonization in the nineteenth century answers the "how" and "when" of Vietnam becoming French-speaking. The French arrived in southern Vietnam because of the counter-weights to British presence in East, South, and Southeast Asia and the earnings which could be had from plantation economies. The colonialists simultaneously established a countrywide system of educational and governmental facilities which quickly turned the Vietnamese peoples into bilingual speakers of French and Vietnamese.