Born in a countryside
rich in patriotic traditions, directly witnessing the oppression and
exploitation of his compatriots by the colonialists and henchmen, Vo Nguyen
Giap has burned with boiling will and determined to stand up and fight for the
national independence. In 1925, when he was
still a student, due to early absorbing the revolutionary thought of Leader
Nguyen Ai Quoc, Vo Nguyen Giap actively participated in the movement of
struggle and strike at Quoc Hoc Hue School, joined the revolutionary Tan Viet Party (1927); participated in the Nghe
Tinh Soviet movement, was arrested by the French colonialists and imprisoned in
Thua Phu prison, Hue (1930). At the end of 1931, thanks to the intervention of
the Red Relief association of France, he was released. When he was released
from prison and lost contact with the organization, he went to Hanoi and taught
at Thang Long Private School, wrote propaganda articles to build revolutionary
foundations among youth and students, and continued to study at the University
of Law and Economy.
In 1940, Comrade Vo
Nguyen Giap with the alias Duong Hoai Nam and Comrade Pham Van Dong were sent
to China to meet with Leader Nguyen Ai Quoc. In November 1941, returning to Cao
Bang, under the leadership and guidance of Leader Nguyen Ai Quoc, Comrade Vo
Nguyen Giap and other comrades built a revolutionary base, actively propagated
and enlightened the masses. , attracting people of all ethnic groups to
participate in revolutionary activities, organizing and taking charge of the
Southern Volunteers Committee, paving the way to connect the Cao Bang
revolutionary base with the lowland provinces.
In December 1944, he
was assigned by President Ho Chi Minh to establish the Vietnam Liberation Army
Propaganda Team, the predecessor organization of the Vietnam People's Army. After
that, he led the team to win the first-two matches in Phai Khat and Na Nang. In
the positions of member of the Central Committee, Standing Committee of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Indochina, member of the National
Uprising Committee, member of Committee for National Liberation of Vietnam,
Commander of the Vietnamese Liberation Army. , comrade made important
contributions to the victory of the August Revolution General Uprising in 1945.
On 19 December 1946, when
the resistance war against the French colonialists broke out; under the
direction of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, in the position of
Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Secretary of the Central Military Commission,
he and the Central Committee of the Party led the 9-year armed struggle against
the French colonialists (1945 - 1954) to victory. As the Commander-in-Chief of
the campaign, Secretary of the Party Committee, he led many important
campaigns, such as: Campaigns of Border (September – October 1950), Trung Du
(December 1950), Delta (May 1951), Hoa Binh (December 1951-February 1952),
Northwest Region (October - December 1952), Upper Laos (April - May 1953).
In particular, in 1954, being trusted and directly vested by the Party and President
Ho Chi Minh to command the Dien Bien Phu Campaign, Comrade commanded army corps
and forces to attack Dien Bien Phu fortress group, defeating the elite army of
the French colonialists, contributed to the whole Party, people and army to
make the historic Dien Bien Phu victory, forcing the French colonialists to
sign the Geneva Agreement on cessation of war, restoration of peace in Indochina,
and completely liberating of the North.
Not long after the
Geneva Agreement was signed, the US imperialists quickly ousted France, turning
South Vietnam into a US military base, plotting to permanently divide our
country. In the face of the new revolutionary situation, the General and the
Party Central Committee led the entire people and army to simultaneously carry
out two strategic tasks: building and defending the socialist North and
promoting the national revolution, People's democracy in the South, successively
defeated the war strategies of the US imperialists, making glorious victories
culminating in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign in the spring of 1975,
completely liberating the South, reunifying the country, bringing whole country
moved to socialism.
When the country was
peaceful and unified, in the position of Secretary of the Central Military
Commission (until 1978), Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Minister of
National Defense, he joined the collective leadership of the Party, State and
Army to lead the entire people and army to carry out the two strategic tasks of
building and defending socialist Vietnam, and carrying out the renewal process.
In 1980, the General resigned as Minister of National Defense but continued to
be a Politburo member (until 1982) and Deputy Prime Minister in charge of
science and technology. In 1991,the General retired at the age of 80. From 1992
until his death, the General was the Honorary President of the Vietnam Veterans
Association; Project Manager: "Ho Chi Minh's ideology and Vietnam's revolutionary
path", cum advisor of the State-level scientific program on "Research
on Ho Chi Minh Thought"; Honorary President of
the Vietnam Historical Science Association; Honorary President of the Vietnam
Study Promotion Association; Honorary President of Vietnam Science and
Technology Innovation Support Fund; Honorary President of Vietnam Association
of Former Teachers.
His whole life was attached to the revolutionary career of the Party and
the nation, General Vo Nguyen Giap always shone the noble qualities of a
steadfast revolutionary soldier, absolutely loyal to the revolutionary career
of the Party, Devotedly sacrifice, wholeheartedly strived for the goals
and ideals of communism. Whether the revolution had advantages or difficulties,
he still believed, remained faithful to the Party and the people, just like
when I was alive, comrade once said "I live every day, it's also for the
country ".
The general was an
Excellent and close disciple of President Ho Chi Minh. Before, during the
August Revolution of 1945, during the nine-year resistance war, the General
lived and worked next to Uncle Ho, was educated, trained by Uncle Ho and given
many responsibilities in the fields of
military, politics, diplomacy... The General made
great efforts to learn the will, ideology, morality, style and lifestyle of
President Ho Chi Minh, always cultivating, practicing, speaking and following
the Uncle Ho Role model. In the process of revolutionary
activities, General Vo Nguyen Giap attaches great importance to practical
summary and from there, he has a deeper understanding of Ho Chi Minh's
ideology, morality and style. He
was one of the earliest people to study and write about Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi
Minh's ideology in a basic, comprehensive and systematic way and made many
important contributions to the study and application of Ho Chi Minh's ideology,
especially contributed to building the foundation for Ho Chi Minh's science
subject. With three treatises: "Ho Chi Minh's ideology and Vietnam's
revolutionary path", "Ho Chi Minh's military ideology",
"The world changes, Ho Chi Minh's ideology lives forever", General Vo
Nguyen Giap has contributed to bringing Ho Chi Minh's ideology into life,
becoming the ideological foundation and guideline for the actions of the entire
Party, army and people in the new era. Studying and learning Ho Chi Minh's ideology,
applying Ho Chi Minh's ideology in various fields, especially the military
field, is the main thread throughout the process of revolutionary activities of
General Vo Nguyen Giap. The General always reminds us that the decisive thing
in studying Ho Chi Minh's ideology is to follow and properly implement his
ideology.
General
Vo Nguyen Giap - Commander-in-Chief - The eldest brother of the Vietnam
People's Army made great contributions to building a powerful army, contributed decisively with the whole
people to defeat the two empires, the French colonists and the American
imperialism. Comrade
Vo Nguyen Giap was conferred the rank of General and became the first General
of the Vietnam People's Army. Taking on great responsibility at a relatively
young age (37 years old); But by non-stop studying, training, and striving,
comrade always successfully completed his tasks, worthy of the trust of the
Party, President Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese people. With 30 years as
Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Secretary of the Central Military Commission,
he has always proved to be an outstanding military man, a leader with great
prestige of our Party, State and People; loved, respected and revered by Army
officers and soldiers as the "eldest brother" of the Vietnam People's
Army. Under the leadership of the Party and Uncle Ho, General Vo Nguyen Giap
was a meritorious general, making great contributions to building a powerful,
regular, elite, and increasingly modern Vietnam People's Army. From the Vietnam
Propaganda and Liberation Army - the first main force with only 34 soldiers and
a few dozen rudimentary rifles and flintlocks, then gradually grew into Resilient
and good-fighting regiments, Brigade, fighting and defeating the invaders. The
Dien Bien Phu victory "splendid in five continents, shaking the earth"
is a vivid proof of the maturity and growth of our Army under the wise
leadership and direction of the Party, Uncle Ho and ingenuity direction of
General Vo Nguyen Giap. For the first time in the world, the army of a small
Asian colony defeated the army of a European power.
Entering the resistance war against the
American empire to save the country, General Vo Nguyen Giap continued to hold
the position of head of the Army, together with the Politburo to make strategic
decisions. The
general was an early petitioner and had many merits in urgently building the
People's Army to become a regular and modern Army, building the Air Defense -
Air Force, Navy, Special Forces, building Truong Son road - Ho Chi Minh road on
land and Ho Chi Minh road at sea to support the great front line in the South
and reach the enemy's stronghold on the day of victory. In particular, near the
end of the resistance war against the US, General Vo Nguyen Giap proposed to
urgently establish main Corps (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Corps) to multiply the
combined strength of the divisions, to meet the requirements of synergistic
combat with armies, to carry out large annihilation battles. The Spring 1975
General Offensive and Uprising, culminating in the historic Ho Chi Minh
Campaign, proved that the above proposal of the Commander-in-Chief was creative
and accurate, suitable for the requirements of the actual battlefield,
sensitively responding to the requirements of military development and the
development laws of war at that time.
General Vo Nguyen Giap - a military
genius who together with the entire Party, people and army, got many victories
, establishing glorious feats. In all the historical turning points of the
Vietnamese revolution after the August Revolution in 1945 and the military
campaigns in the resistance war against the French colonialists and the
American imperialists; Under the banner of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh,
General Vo Nguyen Giap contributed to the great victories, strong impacted on
the flow of national history; ; became a legendary general, a military genius
of the era... and received the admiration and respect of many heads of state,
statesmen, scholars, historians, journalists, writers and many people all over
the world.
General Vo Nguyen Giap is a leading
expert on the People's war line of the national liberation movement in the
country and in the world. The art of long-term fighting to transform and
compare forces when our initial forces are still small and weak; the art of
seizing the opportunity to win a strategic victory that turns the tide of war;
the art of building, organizing and
using a combination of the armed forces of the three armies, the art of
organizing and using the army, from the initial small scale to the actual
formation of the armies, branches, The main corps - steel fists that decide victory on the
battlefield; the art of the initiative in strategies and campaigns, properly
analyzing and assessing the situation with sharp strategic thinking, correct
judgment, early forecasting of the enemy's plots and actions to take the
initiative in force, battle position and strategies; The art of organizing
strategic and campaigns logistics …
General Vo Nguyen Giap is a military
commander with outstanding strategic talent, a master of military strategies
and tactics. The general is a talented general, the military leader is very
careful in comparing the relationship of the two sides' forces, always actively
forcing the opponent to passively change the position, fighting according to
our way of fighting, thus breaking early on tactics, campaigns, strategies,
leading to the complete defeat of the enemy. Typically, the decision to change
the combat motto from "fight fast, win quickly" to "strike
firmly, advance firmly" won the Dien Bien Phu Campaign in 1954, ending the
resistance war against the invading French colonialists. That was the decision
to choose the right direction to break through the campaign into Buon Ma Thuot
- Central Highlands; promptly seize strategic opportunities, propose to switch
to the plan of early liberattion the South in 1975; promptly direct the opening
of campaigns to liberate Hue - Da Nang and liberate the Truong Sa archipelago,
approve the proposal to establish the Eastern army and give the order “Fast,
faster; bold, bolder…” for the whole army to rush; order the Eastern army to
continue to develop and attack, without waiting to quickly enter and liberate
Saigon, together with 4 other armies fiercely attacked the enemy's stronghold
in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the resistance war against the US was
completely successful, liberating the South and reunifying the Fatherland. In
major campaigns of decisive nature, General Vo Nguyen Giap always shows
decisiveness, sharpness and has special military, tactical and commanding
thinking.
General Vo Nguyen Giap's military
knowledge and talents were all self-taught from the history of fighting against
foreign invaders of the Vietnamese nation and world’s military history, self-trained,
self-experienced through the actual combat of our Army, that made the difference of the General,
making world's people admire and respect
Vo Nguyen Giap as a famous general, one of the most outstanding marshals in
human history … is one of the few people who has the ability to change the
course of history. General Vo Nguyen Giap made great contributions to the
formation and development of military doctrine - the unique People's war line
of Vietnam in the Ho Chi Minh era. Not only a military genius, directly
organizing and creating great battles, defeating the top famous generals of the
French colonial and American empires, but also General Vo Nguyen Giap made a
great contribution to the formation and development of Vietnam's military
doctrine in the Ho Chi Minh era, that is the line of People's war, using
justice to win against brutality. The doctrine has inherited and promoted
valuable lessons from the history of fighting against foreign invaders in the new
era. The Party's war line and Ho Chi Minh's military ideology clearly stated
many basic points, such as: waging an all-people and all-sided people's war;
long-term resistance by self-reliance as the main, external aid as important; building
an armed force consisting of three types of troops (guerrillas militancy, local
troops, and regular troops), regular troops as the core; conducting guerrilla warfare combining regular warfare
with appropriate scale in each stage; the whole people fought against the enemy
in many flexible forms, using the weak against the strong, using the small to
defeat the large, using the quality to win the large quantity, concentrating
and dispersing the force flexibly, fighting bravely, wisely, keeping strict
discipline and absolute secrecy; getting partial victory and then getting comprehensive victory ….
Not
only steadfastly and deeply grasping, General Vo Nguyen Giap conducted a very
unique, creative, lively and effective People's war line. He attaches great
importance to building a "clean and strong" party organization in the
armed forces, paying special attention to building political will, combat
spirit, military tactics and combat ability; educating and fostering the
quality of "Uncle Ho's soldiers" among officers and soldiers of the
Vietnam People's Army. The General closely and skillfully combined armed
struggle with political, diplomatic, ideological and cultural struggles;
national defense struggle with economic and security struggle... to achieve
comprehensive results on both the tasks of resistance war and national
construction.
Under
the leadership and direct direction of the Politburo, led by President Ho Chi
Minh, together with the Heroic People's Army , General Vo Nguyen Giap managed
miraculous warfare of Vietnamese people
to reach the pinnacle of military art. The superior strategic of the
all-people, all-sided, and long-term resistance war completely defeated and
bankrupted the strategic of quick war, quick victory and other strategies of
the most powerful empires (France and America) in the twentieth century. This
is a unique event in world military history.
General Vo Nguyen
Giap - A great writer, made important contributions in the fields of education,
journalism, diplomacy, history... and the world revolutionary movement. Not only shining brilliantly in
the military field, the General is also one of the great writer of Vietnam. The general devoted a lot
of energy to writing memoirs and history. Works of the General, such as:
"From the people", “Unforgettable period”, “Fighting in the siege”, “Dien
Bien Phu historical rendezvous”, “Headquarters in the spring win”, “Ho Chi
Minh's ideology and Vietnam's revolutionary path”... helped readers both at
home and abroad understand more deeply about the identity, cultural traditions,
source of strength of the Vietnamese nation, and love and admire the country
and Vietnamese people more and more.
General
Vo Nguyen Giap is not only an illustrious General of the Vietnam People's Army
but also Comrade made many important contributions in other fields such as
education - training, science - technology, journalism, diplomacy, culture,
history, He is really a man of entirely
talent - morality, completed literature - martial arts. When he was a teacher
of history at Thang Long private school, Hanoi (May 1939), teacher Vo Nguyen
Giap brought his revolutionary enthusiasm together with his colleagues to
instill Patriotism into students, aroused enthusiasm and a responsible
lifestyle towards oneself, fatherland, and the nation. When the country entered
the era of knowledge economy and international integration, the General
expressed his enthusiasm many times to revive the education of the country. As
Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers, General Vo Nguyen Giap has made many
contributions to the scientific and technical development of the country. General
Vo Nguyen Giap was a fine political journalist from a very young age. Comrade's
first article in French was published in the newspaper L'Annam on 24 March
1927, chaired by Lawyer Phan Van Truong in Saigon with the title "Down
with the minor tyrant at Quoc Hoc school!" left a deep impression on
journalists at that time. During the Democratic Front period 1936 - 1939, he
founded the newspaper "Young Soul"; together with a number of
comrades founded and worked as editors for public newspapers at that time, such
as “People's voice”, “Our language”, “Labor”, “Go ahead”, “Aggregation”…; He
compiled the work "The problem of peasants" with comrade Truong
Chinh, which was of great value to the practical direction of our Party at that
time. At the first Tonkin Press Conference meeting on 24 April 1937, he was
elected Chairman of the Tonkin Press Press.
In
the field of historical research, General Vo Nguyen Giap is the leading
historical summator of contemporary history of Vietnam. From articles about
peasants, the French bourgeois revolution and many history-related issues in
newspapers, to history lectures on the podium of Thang Long school to hundreds
of speeches about history in the occasion of commemoration of famous people or
historical events or scientific conferences... these are extremely valuable
historical information, documents. From war summaries to theoretical works on
the military, Ho Chi Minh's ideology, the two resistance wars and especially,
the collection of memoirs on General Vo Nguyen Giap, they are scientific works on
the most important historical events of the second half of the twentieth
century.
In
the field of diplomacy, he also made very important contributions. After
President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence on 2 September 1945,
the fledgling Democratic Republic of Vietnam (now the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam) faced many difficulties and Ethnicity fate is likened to
"thousands of pounds hanging by a thread", Comrade Vo Nguyen Giap in
the position of Minister of Home Affairs (including Home Affairs and Public
Security) was assigned by President Ho Chi Minh (now President of the
Government and Minister of Foreign Affairs) to perform many especially foreign
affairs, such as: contacting with the American Mission to Vietnam with the
French in the plane, the "confrontation" with J. Saintely at the
great room of the Governor General's office, preparing to proceed to the
Agreement on 6 March 1946 , as well as meeting General Leclerc after signing
the Preliminary Agreement, or the battle of wits and arguments at the Da Lat
Conference … At those meetings, he did not
miss any negotiation opportunity to come to peace in order to realize the noble
goal: independence and reunification of the country.
For
the world revolutionary movement, General Vo Nguyen Giap made very important
contributions, especially in the struggle for peace, national independence,
social progress, against oppression, exploitation, injustice, and social
progress in colonial countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. This has
been recognized by politician and political and social forces in many countries
on all continents. General Vo Nguyen Giap - An exemplary leader in
revolutionary ethics, great prestige leader of the Party, State, People, Army
and international friends.
Over
80 years of revolutionary activities, General Vo Nguyen Giap's life is closely
associated with the revolutionary cause of our Party, Nation and Army. The General always shone with the personality
qualities of a great cultural researcher, an exemplary model of revolutionary
morality: Laboriousness, thrift, integrity, righteousness, justice,
impartiality; In particular, the 6
must-have virtues of generals pointed out by Uncle Ho "Intelligence,
bravery, benevolence, prestige, Integrity, Loyalty" were always fully and
completely implemented by General Vo Nguyen Giap. The General is a shining example of integrity, simplicity, tolerance,
benevolence, humility, inquisitiveness, solidarity, living with gratitude,
wholeheartedly loving comrades and compatriots. The General's love
for people was mixed with love for his homeland and country and left in the
Vietnamese people and international friends the image of a virtuous, talented
leader, an excellent practice activist, a steadfast revolutionary soldier,
spending whole life to devotely serve the Party, the people, and the country,
regardless of fame or personal gain.
General
Vo Nguyen Giap always remembers, imitates and practices the advice of President
Ho Chi Minh: revolutionary work is to “puting the common interest first”, “keeping
calm is to cope with multi-unexpected changes”, “Revolution is the cause of the
masses”… considering as the motto of life and strive throughout life. The General
not only clearly demonstrates the independent and creative thinking of a leader
at a strategic level, but also an organizer and activist with a high sense of
responsibility, seriousness, and exemplary; Scientific and principled working
style but very flexible; The General always upholds the role of the collective,
organizational obedience; always attaches importance to practice, hard-study,
acquisition of good ideas of the masses, experts, scientists... always believes in the strength
of the People's masses, has close contact and attachment to the People; strives
tirelessly to build the great national unity block; brings all wisdom and
strength to complete all the tasks assigned by the Party, People and Army.
General
Vo Nguyen Giap was deeply respected by the People and honored as the
"General of the People". Cadres and soldiers admire and respect as
the "Old Brother" of the Army, worthy of being "The Political
Commissar of Political Commissars, Commander of Commanders, General of
Generals", "Commander-in-Chief appreciates every drop of blood of
every warrior." The people of the world also respect the General's
personality and virtue, honoring him as the national hero of the Vietnamese
people.
With
103 years of age, more than 70 years of Party life, General Vo Nguyen Giap has
made great and outstanding contributions to the Vietnamese revolutionary cause.
His life of revolutionary activities is a shining example for compatriots,
cadres and soldiers nationwide to respect, love, study and follow. The image and contributions of the General to the
revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation will always live forever in the
country, in the hearts of the people and in international friends. In the eulogy at the General's national
mourning ceremony, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized: "Our
Party, State and people highly appreciate the great merits of General Vo Nguyen
Giap, generations of cadres, Soldiers of our army venerate comrade as Old
brother of the Vietnam People's Army. His person, personality and great contributions are imprinted in
the People's heart, he is the People's general, forever inscribed in the
nation's history./.
