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Norodom Sihanouk នរោត្តម សីហនុ
Norodom Sihanouk in 1972 during a visit to the Socialist Republic of Romania
King of Cambodia (Colonial and independent Cambodia) (1st Term)
Reign	25 April 1941 – 2 March 1955
Coronation	September 1941
Predecessor	Sisowath Monivong
Successor	Norodom Suramarit
King of Cambodia (2nd Term)
Reign	24 September 1993 – 7 October 2004
Predecessor	Chea Sim
Successor	Norodom Sihamoni
Spouse	Norodom Monineath Sihanouk (Since 12 April 1952) See list Phat Kanhol Sisowath Pongsanmoni Norodom Thavet Norleak Sisowath Monikessan Mam Manivann Phanivong
Issue
14 children
Full name
Preah Karuna Preah Bat Sâmdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk Preahmâhaviraksat
House	House of Norodom
Father	Norodom Suramarit
Mother	Sisowath Kossamak
Born	(1922-10-31) 31 October 1922 (age 89) Phnom Penh, French Cambodia, Indochinese Union
Signature
Religion	Theravada Buddhism

Norodom Sihanouk (Khmer: នរោត្តម សីហនុ) (born 31 October 1922) was the King of Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 until his semi-retirement and voluntary abdication on 7 October 2004 in favour of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni. Since his abdication, he has been known as The King-Father of Cambodia (Preahmâhaviraksat), a position in which he retains many of his former responsibilities as constitutional monarch.

The son of King Norodom Suramarit and Queen Sisowath Kossamak, Sihanouk has held so many positions since 1941 that the Guinness Book of World Records identifies him as the politician who has served the world's greatest variety of political offices.^[1] These included two terms as King, two as Sovereign Prince, one as president, two as prime minister, and one as Cambodia's non-titled head of state, as well as numerous positions as leader of various governments-in-exile.

Most of these positions were only honorific, including the last position as constitutional King of Cambodia. Sihanouk's actual period of effective rule over Cambodia was from 9 November 1953, when France granted independence to Cambodia, until 18 March 1970, when Lon Nol and the National Assembly deposed Sihanouk.

Early life[link]

Sihanouk received his primary education in a Phnom Penh primary school. He pursued his secondary education in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam at "Lycée Chasseloup Laubat" until his coronation and then later attended Cavalry military school in Saumur, France. When his maternal grandfather, King Sisowath Monivong, died on April 23, 1941, the Crown Council selected Prince Sihanouk as King of Cambodia. At that time, colonial Cambodia was part of French Indochina. His coronation took place in September 1941. In March 1945, the Empire of Japan deposed the French colonial administration and took control of French Indochina. Under pressure from the Japanese, Sihanouk proclaimed Cambodia's independence. Unlike the Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại, Sihanouk was careful not to compromise himself too much in collaboration with Japan. The Japanese imposed Son Ngoc Thanh as foreign minister then, in August, as prime minister of Cambodia.^[2] After Japan's surrender, the French gradually retook control of French Indochina: Son Ngoc Thanh was arrested in October 1945, while Sihanouk, considered by the French a valuable ally in the chaotic Indochinese situation, retained his throne.

Leadership turmoil[link]

Prime Minister[link]

After World War II and into the early 1950s, King Sihanouk's aspirations became much more nationalistic and he began demanding independence from the French colonists and their complete departure from Indochina. This echoed the sentiments of the other fledgling nations of French Indochina: the State of Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and the Kingdom of Laos. He went into exile in Thailand in May 1953 because of threats on his life by the French and only returned when independence was granted on 9 November 1953. Whilst independent, Cambodia retained an alliance with the French Union, until the end of the First Indochina War and the subsequent official end of French Indochina. On 2 March 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his father, established the Sangkum and took the post of Prime Minister a few months later, after having obtained an overwhelming victory in the parliamentary elections on September 1955.

Meeting in Beijing in 1956: from left Mao Zedong, Peng Zhen, Sihanouk, Liu Shaoqi.

On August 31, 1959, Ngo Dinh Nhu, the younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem, failed in an attempt to assassinate Sihanouk. He ordered his agents to send parcel bombs to the Cambodian leader. Two suitcases were delivered to the Sihanouk's palace, one addressed to the head of state, and the other to Prince Vakrivan, his head of protocol. The deliveries were labelled as originating from an American engineer who had previously worked in Cambodia and purported to contain gifts from Hong Kong. Sihanouk's package contained a bomb, but the other did not; however, Vakrivan opened both on behalf of the monarch and was killed instantly, as was a servant. The explosion happened adjacent to a room in the palace where Sihanouk's parents were present.^[3][4]

Following his father's death in 1960, Sihanouk won general election as head of state, but received the title of Prince rather than King. In 1963, he made a change in the constitution that made him head of state for life. While he was not officially King, he had created a constitutional office for himself that was exactly equal to that of the former Kingship.

When the Vietnam War raged, Sihanouk promoted policies that he claimed to preserve Cambodia's neutrality and most importantly security. While he in many cases sided with his neighbors, pressures upon his government from all sides in the conflict were immense, and his overriding concern was to prevent Cambodia from being drawn into a wider regional war. In so doing he made difficult choices of alliances in pursuit of the least dangerous course of action, within a political environment where genuine neutrality was likely impossible at the time. In the spring of 1965, he made a pact with the People's Republic of China and North Vietnam to allow the presence of permanent North Vietnamese bases in eastern Cambodia and to allow military supplies from China to reach Vietnam by Cambodian ports. Cambodia and Cambodian individuals were compensated by Chinese purchases of the Cambodian rice crop by China at inflated prices. He also at this time made many speeches calling the triumph of Communism in Southeast Asia inevitable and suggesting Maoist ideas were worthy of emulation. In 1966 and 1967, Sihanouk unleashed a wave of political repression that drove many on the left out of mainstream politics. His policy of friendship with China collapsed due to the extreme attitudes in China at the peak of the Cultural Revolution. The combination of political repression and problems with China made his balancing act impossible to sustain. He had alienated the left, allowed the North Vietnamese to establish bases within Cambodia and staked everything on China's good will. On 11 March 1967, a revolt in Battambang Province led to the Cambodian Civil War.

Deposition, exile, and return[link]

On March 18, 1970, while Sihanouk was out of the country travelling, Prime Minister Lon Nol convened the National Assembly which voted to depose Sihanouk as head of state and gave Lon Nol Emergency powers. Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, Sihanouk's cousin who had been passed over by the French government in 1941, retained his post as Deputy Prime Minister. The new Khmer Republic was immediately recognized by the United States.

After he was deposed, Sihanouk fled to Beijing, formed the National United Front of Kampuchea (Front Uni National du Kampuchéa - FUNK) and began to support the Khmer Rouge in their struggle to overthrow the Lon Nol government in Phnom Penh. He initiated the Gouvernement Royal d'Union Nationale du Kampuchéa (Royal Government of the National Union of Kampuchea), which included Khmer Rouge leaders. After Sihanouk showed his support for the Khmer Rouge by visiting them in the field, their ranks swelled from 6,000 to 50,000 fighters. Many of the new recruits for the Khmer Rouge were apolitical peasants who fought in support of the King, not for communism, of which they had little understanding. King Sihanouk would later argue (1979) that the monarchy being abolished, he was only fighting for his country's independence, "even if [his] country had to be Communist."^[5] During Lon Nol's regime, Sihanouk mostly lived in exile in North Korea, where a 60-room palatial residence which even had a cinema, was built for him. He would later return to his Pyongyang palace after the 1979 Vietnamese invasion.^[6]

In Khmer Rouge captivity[link]

When the Khmer Republic fell to the Khmer Rouge in April 1975, Prince Sihanouk became the symbolic head of state of the new régime while Pol Pot remained in power. Sihanouk, who had imagined living like a retired country gentleman and perhaps being 'a public relations man for [his] country and have [...] jazz parties and do some filming'^[7] was to spend the next few years virtually as a hostage of the Khmer Rouge. The next year, on April 4, 1976, the Khmer Rouge forced Sihanouk out of office again and into political retirement. During the Vietnamese invasion, he was sent to New York to speak against Vietnam before The United Nations. After his speech, he sought refuge in China and in North Korea.

The Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in December 1978 ousted the Khmer Rouge. While welcoming the ousting of the Khmer Rouge government, he remained firmly opposed to the Vietnamese-installed Heng Samrin government of People's Republic of Kampuchea. Hence, Sihanouk demanded Cambodia's seat in the UN be left vacant, since neither Pol Pot regime nor Heng Samrin represented the Khmer people.^[8] Although claiming to be wary of the Khmer Rouge and demanding that the Khmer Rouge representatives that still held Cambodia's UN seat be expelled,^[9] Sihanouk again joined forces with them in order to provide a united front against the Vietnamese occupation. It has been argued that one of the reasons was the US pressure to work with the Khmer Rouge.^[10] In 1982, he moved completely into opposition of the Vietnam-supported government, becoming President of the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), which consisted of his own Armée Nationale Sihanoukiste (ANS), Son Sann's Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF), and the Khmer Rouge. The Vietnamese withdrew in 1989, leaving behind a pro-Vietnamese government under ex-Khmer Rouge cadre Hun Sen to run the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK).

United States support[link]

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sihanouk's opposition forces drew limited military and financial support from the United States, which sought to assist his movement as part of the Reagan Doctrine effort to counter Soviet and Vietnamese involvement in Cambodia. One of the Reagan Doctrine's principal architects, the Heritage Foundation's Michael Johns, visited with Sihanouk's forces in Cambodia in 1987, and returned to Washington urging expanded U.S. support for the KPLNF and Sihanouk's resistance forces as a third alternative to both the Vietnamese-installed and supported Cambodian government and the Khmer Rouge, which also was resisting the government.^[11]

Restoration as King[link]

Billboard of King Norodom Sihanouk at Angkor International Airport.

Peace negotiations between the CGDK and the PRK commenced shortly thereafter and continued until 1991 when all sides agreed to a comprehensive settlement which they signed in Paris. Prince Sihanouk returned once more to Cambodia on 14 November 1991 after thirteen years in exile.

In 1993, Sihanouk once again became King of Cambodia. During the restoration, however, he suffered from ill health and traveled repeatedly to Beijing for medical treatment.

Sihanouk's leisure interests include music (he has composed songs in Khmer, French, and English) and film. He has become a prodigious filmmaker over the years, directing many movies and orchestrating musical compositions. He became one of the first heads of state in the region to have a personal website, which has proven a cult hit. It draws more than a thousand visitors a day, which constitutes a substantial portion of his nation's Internet users. Royal statements are posted there daily.

Self-exile and abdication[link]

Sihanouk went into self-imposed exile in January 2004, taking up residence in Pyongyang, North Korea^[12] and later in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Citing reasons of ill health, he announced his abdication of The Throne on October 7, 2004. Sihanouk was diagnosed with B-Cell Lymphoma in his prostate in 1993; the disease recurred in his stomach in 2005, and a new cancer was found in December 2008. Sihanouk also suffers from diabetes and hypertension.^[13]

The constitution of Cambodia has no provision for an abdication. Chea Sim, the President of the Senate, assumed the title of acting Head of State (a title he has held many times before), until the Throne Council met on October 14 and appointed H.R.H. Prince Norodom Sihamoni, one of Sihanouk's sons, as the new King.

Titles and styles[link]

Monarchical styles of King Norodom Sihanouk
Reference style	His Royal Majesty
Spoken style	Your Royal Majesty
Alternative style	Sir

Since his abdication, Sihanouk's official title is "Preah Karuna Preah Bat Sâmdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk Preahmâhaviraksat" (Khmer: ព្រះករុណាព្រះបាទសម្តេចព្រះ នរោត្តម សីហនុ ព្រះមហាវីរក្សត្រ).

The literal translation of the title :

• Preah— "Sacred"
• Karuna— "Compassionate," referring to the Buddhist concept Karuna
• Bat— "Foot," from Sanskrit Pāda.
• Sâmdech— "Lord" or "Excellency"
• Preah— "Sacred"
• Norodom— "Best quality among men," from Sanskrit Uttam ("best in quality") + Nar ("among men")
• Sihanouk— "Jaws of the Lion," from Sanskrit Siha ("lion") + Hanouk ("jaws")
• Preahmâhaviraksat— Preah ("sacred") + Maha ("great") + Vira ("brave or eminent") + Ksat ("warrior or ruler")

Family[link]

Norodom Monineath

Sihanouk reportedly has had several wives and concubines, producing at least fourteen children in a period of eleven years. According to Time (June 30, 1956), however, his only legal wives have been Princess Samdech Norleak (married 1955) and Paule Monique Izzi (married 1955), who is a step-granddaughter of HRH Prince Norodom Duongchak of Cambodia and the younger daughter of Pomme Peang and her second husband, Jean-François Izzi, a banker. A profile of Sihanouk in The New York Times (June 4, 1993, page A8) stated that the King met Monique Izzi in 1951, when he awarded her a prize in a beauty pageant.

1. Neak Moneang Phat Kanhol (1920–1969; married 1942, later divorced)
   • HRH Samdech Preah Ream Bopha Devi (1943-)
   • HRH Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh (1944-)
2. HRH Princess Sisowath Pongsanmoni (1929–1974; married 1942, divorced 1951)
   • HRH Samdech Borom Reamea Norodom Yuvaneath (1943-)
   • HRH Samdech Preah Ang Mechas Norodom Ravivong (1944–1973)
   • HRH Samdech Preah Mohesarra Norodom Chakrapong (1945-)
   • HRH Samdech Preah Ang Mechas Norodom Sorya Roeungsay (1947–1976)
   • HRH Samdach Preah Ang Mechas Norodom Kantha Bopha (1948–1952)
   • HRH Samdech Preah Ang Mechas Norodom Khemanourak Sihanouk (1949–1975)
   • HRH Samdech Preah Ang Mechas Norodom Botum Bopha (1951–1976)
3. Neak Ang Mechas Norodom Thavet Norleak (married 1943)
4. HRH Princess Sisowath Monikessan (née HRH Princess Sisowath Naralaksha Munikesara, 1929–1946; married 1944)
   • HRH Samdech Norodom Naradipo (1946– ????) Adopted son, the real Biological Father is Prince Norodom Chantaraingsey
5. HRH Princess Samdech Preah Reach Kanitha Norodom Norleak (née Princess Devisa Naralakshmi, born 1927; married 1946 and "more formally" on March 4, 1955)
6. Mam Manivan Phanivong (née Mam Munivarni Barni Varman, 1934–1975; married 1949)
   • HRH Princess Norodom Socheatha Sujata (1953–1975)
   • HRH Samdech Preah Anoch Norodom Arunrasmy (1955-)
7. HM Queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk (née Paule Monique Izzi, born June 18, 1936; married April 12, 1952 and "more formally" on March 5, 1955)
   • HM King Norodom Sihamoni (1953-)
   • HRH Samdech Norodom Narindrapong (1954–2003)

Works[link]

• The Cambodian resistance Auckland, Auckland Vietnam Committee, 1973
• Statements by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, 1965-1973 Washington, Embassy of the Khmer Republic, Press Sectin, 1973
• War and hope: the case for Cambodia New York, Pantheon Books 1980
• Prince Sihanouk on Cambodia: interviews and talks with Prince Norodom Sihanouk (with Manola Schier-Oum and Peter Schier) Hamburg: Institut für Asienkunde, 1980
• The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, seen by Norodom Sihanouk Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1980

See also[link]

• Ruler of Cambodia

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Genealogy of the Cambodian Royal Family
• Review of his memoirs
• News release regarding support of gay marriage
• News release regarding his website
• Cambodian politicians biography
• Official Contact with the IPSP
• New York Times
• Norodom Sihanouk at the Internet Movie Database

Ho Chi Minh
Portrait c. 1946
Chairman of the Workers' Party of Vietnam
In office 19 February 1951 – 2 September 1969
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Post abolished
First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Vietnam
In office 1 November 1956 – 10 September 1960
Preceded by	Trường Chinh
Succeeded by	Lê Duẩn
President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
In office 2 September 1945 – 2 September 1969
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Tôn Đức Thắng
Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
In office 2 September 1945 – 20 September 1955
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Phạm Văn Đồng
Personal details
Born	Nguyễn Sinh Cung (1890-05-19)19 May 1890 Nghệ An Province, French Indochina
Died	2 September 1969(1969-09-02) (aged 79) Hanoi, Democratic Republic of Vietnam
Nationality	Vietnamese
Political party	Workers’ Party of Vietnam
Signature

This article contains Vietnamese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of chữ Nôm, chữ Hán and chữ Quốc Ngữ.

Hồ Chí Minh (Vietnamese pronunciation: [hô cǐ miɲ] (Vietnamese pronunciation: [hô̤ tɕǐmɪŋ] ( listen)); 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Tất Thành and Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Stalinist revolutionary leader who was prime minister (1945–1955) and president (1945–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He was a key figure in the foundation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, as well as the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Việt Cộng (NLF or VC) during the Vietnam War.

He led the Việt Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Điện Biên Phủ. He officially stepped down from power in 1955 due to health problems, but remained a highly visible figurehead and inspiration for Vietnamese fighting for his cause – a united, independent Vietnam – until his death. After the war, Saigon, the capital of Republic of Vietnam, was renamed Hồ Chí Minh City in his honor.

Early life[link]

Nguyễn Sinh Cung was born in 1890 in the village of Hoàng Trù, his mother's hometown. From 1895, he grew up in his father's hometown of Kim Liên, Nam Đàn, Nghệ An Province. He had three siblings: his sister Bạch Liên (or Nguyễn Thị Thanh), a clerk in the French Army; his brother Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm (or Nguyễn Tất Đạt), a geomancer and traditional herbalist; and another brother (Nguyễn Sinh Nhuận) who died in his infancy. As a young child, Nguyễn studied with his father before more formal classes with a scholar named Vuong Thuc Do. Nguyễn quickly mastered Chinese writing, a requisite for any serious study of Confucianism, while honing his colloquial Vietnamese writing.^[1] In addition to his studious endeavors, he was fond of adventure, and loved to fly kites and go fishing.^[1] Following Confucian tradition, at the age of 10, his father gave him a new name: Nguyễn Tất Thành (“Nguyễn the Accomplished”).

Nguyễn’s father, Nguyễn Sinh Sắc, was a Confucian scholar and teacher, and later an imperial magistrate in the small remote district of Binh Khe (Qui Nhơn). He was demoted for abuse of power after an influential local figure died several days after receiving 100 strokes of the cane as punishment for an infraction.^[2] In deference to his father, Nguyễn received a French education, attended lycée in Huế, the alma mater of his later disciples, Phạm Văn Đồng and Võ Nguyên Giáp. He later left his studies and chose to teach at Dục Thanh school in Phan Thiết.

In the USA[link]

In 1911, working as the cook's helper on a ship, Nguyễn traveled to the United States. From 1912-13, he lived in New York (Harlem) and Boston, where he worked as a baker at the Parker House Hotel. Among a series of menial jobs, he claimed to have worked for a wealthy family in Brooklyn between 1917–18, and for General Motors as a line manager. It is believed that, while in the United States, he made contact with Korean nationalists, an experience that developed his political outlook.^[3]

In England[link]

At various points between 1913 and 1919, Nguyễn lived in West Ealing, and later in Crouch End, Hornsey. He reportedly worked as a chef at the Drayton Court Hotel in West Ealing.^[4] It is claimed that Nguyễn trained as a pastry chef under Auguste Escoffier at the Carlton Hotel in the Haymarket, Westminster, but there is no evidence to support this.^[3] However, the wall of New Zealand House, home of the New Zealand High Commission, which now stands on the site of the Carlton Hotel, displays a blue plaque, stating that Nguyễn worked there in 1913 as a waiter.

Political education in France[link]

From 1919–23, while living in France, Nguyễn Sinh Cung began to approach the idea of communism, through his friend and Socialist Party of France comrade Marcel Cachin. Cung claimed to have arrived in Paris from London in 1917, but the French police only had documents of his arrival in June 1919.^[3] Following World War I, under the name Nguyễn Ái Quốc ("Nguyễn the Patriot"), he petitioned for recognition of the civil rights of the Vietnamese people in French Indochina to the Western powers at the Versailles peace talks, but was ignored.^[5] Citing the language and the spirit of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Quốc petitioned U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to help remove the French from Vietnam and replace them with a new, nationalist government. Although he was unable to obtain consideration at Versailles, the failure further radicalized Nguyễn, while also making him a national hero of the anti-colonial movement at home in Vietnam.^[6]

In 1920, during the Congress of Tours, in France, Quốc became a founding member of the Parti Communiste Français (FCP) and spent much of his time in Moscow afterward, becoming the Comintern's Asia hand and the principal theorist on colonial warfare. During the Indochina War, the PCF would be involved with anti-war propaganda, sabotage and support for the revolutionary effort. In May 1922, Nguyễn wrote an article for a French magazine criticizing the use of English words by French sportswriters.^[7] The article implores Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré to outlaw such Franglais as le manager, le round and le knock-out. While living in Paris, he reportedly had a relationship with a dressmaker named Marie Brière.^[7]

In the Soviet Union and China[link]

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In 1923, Nguyễn (Hồ) left Paris for Moscow, where he was employed by the Comintern, studied at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East,^[8][9] and participated in the Fifth Comintern Congress in June 1924, before arriving in Canton (present-day Guangzhou), China, in November 1924. In June 1925, Hoàng Văn Chí claimed Nguyễn (Hồ) had betrayed Phan Bội Châu, the head of a rival revolutionary faction, to French police in Shanghai for 100,000 piastres.^[10] Nguyễn (Hồ) later claimed he did it because he expected Châu's trial to stir up anti-French resentment, and because he needed the money to establish a communist organization.^[10] In Ho Chi Minh: A Life, William Duiker repudiated this hypothesis. Other sources claim that Nguyễn Thượng Hiền was responsible for Châu's capture. Châu never denounced Nguyễn.

In 1925-26 he organized "Youth Education Classes" and occasionally gave lectures at the Whampoa Military Academy on the revolutionary movement in Indochina. According to Duiker, he lived with and married a Chinese woman, Tăng Tuyết Minh (née Zeng Xueming), on 18 October 1926.^[11] When his comrades objected to the match, he told them, “I will get married despite your disapproval because I need a woman to teach me the language and keep house.”^[11] She was 21 and he was 36.^[11] They married in the same place where Zhou Enlai had married earlier and then lived together at the residence of a Comintern agent, Mikhail Borodin.^[11]

Chiang Kai-shek's anti-communist 1927 coup triggered a new round of exile for Nguyễn. He left Canton again in April 1927 and returned to Moscow, spending some of the summer of 1927 recuperating from tuberculosis in the Crimea, before returning to Paris once more in November. He then returned to Asia by way of Brussels, Berlin, Switzerland, and Italy, from where he sailed to Bangkok, Thailand, where he arrived in July 1928. “Although we have been separated for almost a year, our feelings for each other do not have to be said in order to be felt”, he reassured Minh in an intercepted letter.^[11]

He remained in Thailand, staying in the Thai village of Nachok,^[12] until late 1929 when he moved on to India, and Shanghai. In June 1931, he was arrested in Hong Kong. To reduce French pressure for extradition, it was (falsely) announced in 1932 that Nguyễn Ái Quốc had died.^[13] The British quietly released him in January 1933. He made his way back to Milan, Italy, where he served in a restaurant. The restaurant is now a traditional Lombard-cuisine temple and harbors a portrait of Hồ Chí Minh on the wall of its main dining hall.^[14][15] He moved to the Soviet Union, where he spent several more years recovering from tuberculosis.

In 1938, he returned to China and served as an adviser with Chinese Communist armed forces, which later forced China's government to the island of Taiwan.^[3] Around 1940, Quốc began regularly using the name "Hồ Chí Minh",^[3] a Vietnamese name combining a common Vietnamese surname (Hồ, 胡) with a given name meaning "He Who enlightens" (from Sino-Vietnamese 志 明; Chí meaning 'will' (or spirit), and Minh meaning "light").^[16]

Independence movement[link]

In 1941, Hồ returned to Vietnam to lead the Việt Minh independence movement. The “men in black” were a 10,000 member guerrilla force that operated with the Việt Minh.^[17] He oversaw many successful military actions against the Vichy French and Japanese occupation of Vietnam during World War II, supported closely but clandestinely by the United States Office of Strategic Services, and later against the French bid to reoccupy the country (1946–54). He was jailed in China by Chiang Kai-shek's local authorities before being rescued by Chinese Communists.^[18] Following his release in 1943, he returned to Vietnam. He was treated for malaria and dysentery by American OSS doctors.

Following the August Revolution (1945) organized by the Việt Minh, Hồ became Chairman of the Provisional Government (Premier of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and issued a Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.^[19] Although he convinced Emperor Bảo Đại to abdicate, his government was not recognized by any country. He repeatedly petitioned American President Harry S. Truman for support for Vietnamese independence,^[20] citing the Atlantic Charter, but Truman never responded.^[21]

According to some unverified sources,^[22] 1945, in a power struggle, the Việt Minh killed members of rival groups, such as the leader of the Constitutional Party, the head of the Party for Independence, and Ngô Đình Diệm's brother, Ngô Ðình Khôi.^[23] Purges and killings of Trotskyists were also documented in The Black Book of Communism.

In 1946, when Hồ traveled outside of the country, his subordinates imprisoned 2,500 non-communist nationalists and forced 6,000 others to flee.^[24] Hundreds of political opponents were jailed or exiled in July 1946, notably members of the National Party of Vietnam and the Dai Viet National Party, after a failed attempt to raise a coup against the Vietminh government.^[25][26] All rival political parties therefore banned and local governments purged^[27] to minimize opposition later on.

However, it was noted that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam's first Congress had over two-third of its members come from non-Vietminh political factions, some without election. NPV party leader Nguyễn Hải Thần was named Vice President.^[28] They also held four out of ten ministerial positions.^[29]

Birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam[link]

On 2 September 1945, following Emperor Bảo Đại's abdication, Hồ Chí Minh read the Declaration of Independence of Vietnam,^[30] under the name of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In Saigon, with violence between rival Vietnamese factions and French forces increasing, the British commander, General Sir Douglas Gracey, declared martial law. On 24 September, the Việt Minh leaders responded with a call for a general strike.^[31]

In September 1945, a force of 200,000 Republic of China Army troops arrived in Hanoi. Hồ made a compromise with their general, Lu Han, to dissolve the Communist Party and to hold an election which would yield a coalition government. When Chiang later traded Chinese influence in Vietnam for French concessions in Shanghai, Hồ Chí Minh had no choice but to sign an agreement with France on 6 March 1946, in which Vietnam would be recognized as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union. The agreement soon broke down. The purpose of the agreement, for both the French and Vietminh was to drive out Chiang's army from North Vietnam. Fighting broke out in the North soon after the Chinese left.

“The last time the Chinese came, they stayed a thousand years. The French are foreigners. They are weak. Colonialism is dying. The white man is finished in Asia. But if the Chinese stay now, they will never go. As for me, I prefer to sniff French shit for five years than to eat Chinese shit for the rest of my life.” — Hồ Chí Minh, 1946^[32]

The Viet Minh then collaborated with French colonial forces to massacre supporters of the Vietnamese nationalist movements in 1945-6.^[33] The Communists eventually suppressed all non-Communist parties but failed to secure a peace deal with France. In the final days of 1946, after a year of diplomatic failure and many concessions in agreements such as the Dalat and Fontainebleau conferences, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam government found that war was inevitable. The bombardment of Haiphong by French forces at Hanoi only strengthened the belief that France had no intention of allowing an autonomous, independent state in Vietnam. On 19 December 1946, Hồ, representing his government, declared war against the French Union, marked the beginning of the Indochina War.^[34] The Vietnam National Army, by then mostly armed with machetes and muskets immediately attacked, waging assault against French positions, smoking them out with straw bundled with chili pepper, destroying armored vehicles by Lunge Mines and Molotov cocktails, holding off attackers by using roadblocks, mines and gravel. After two month of fighting, the exhausted Việt Minh forces withdrew after systematically destroying any valuable infrastructure. Hồ was reported to be captured by a group of French soldiers led by Jean-Etienne Valluy at Việt Bắc in Operation Lea which turned out to be a Việt Minh advisor, who was later killed trying to escape. According to journalist Bernard Fall, after fighting the French for several years, Hồ decided to negotiate a truce. The French negotiators arrived at the meeting site: a mud hut with a thatched roof. Inside they found a long table with chairs and were surprised to discover in one corner of the room a silver ice bucket containing ice and a bottle of good Champagne which should have indicated that Hồ expected the negotiations to succeed. One demand by the French was the return to French custody of a number of Japanese military officers (who had been helping the Vietnamese armed forces by training them in the use of weapons of Japanese origin), in order for them to stand trial for war crimes committed during World War II. Hồ replied that the Japanese officers were allies and friends whom he could not betray. Then he walked out, to seven more years of war.^[35]

In February 1950, after the successful removal of French border's blockade,^[36] Hồ met with Stalin and Mao Zedong in Moscow after the Soviet Union recognized his government. They all agreed that China would be responsible for backing the Việt Minh.^[37] Mao's emissary to Moscow stated in August that China planned to train 60-70,000 Việt Minh in the near future.^[38] The road to the outside world was open for Việt Minh forces to receive additional supplies which allow them to escalate the fight against the French regime throughout Indochina. In 1954, after the crushing defeat of French Union forces at Điện Biên Phủ, France was forced to give up its fight against the Viet Minh.

Becoming president[link]

Hồ Chí Minh (right) with Võ Nguyên Giáp (left) in Hanoi, 1945

Hồ Chí Minh with East German sailors in Stralsund harbour, 1957

House of “Uncle Hồ” in Hanoi

The 1954 Geneva Accords, concluded between France and the Việt Minh, provided Vietminh forces would regroup in the North and the French and their colonial army (which was later known as the Army of Republic of Vietnam) forces regroup in the South. Hồ's Democratic Republic of Vietnam relocated to Hanoi and became the government of North Vietnam, a communist-led single party state. The Geneva accords also provided for a national election to reunify the country in 1956, but this was rejected by Diệm's government and the United States.^[39] The U.S government committed itself to contain the spread of communism in Asia beginning in 1950, when they funded 80% of the French effort. After Geneva, the U.S became the replacement for France as Republic of Vietnam's chief sponsor and financial backer, but there was never a written treaty between the United States and South Vietnam.^{[citation needed]}

Following the Geneva Accords, there was to be a 300-day period in which people could freely move between the two regions of Vietnam, later known as South Vietnam and North Vietnam. Some 900,000 to 1 million Vietnamese, mostly Catholics, as well as many anti-communist intellectuals, former French colonial civil servants and wealthy Vietnamese, left for the South, while around 250,000 people, mostly Vietminh soldiers, went from South to North.^[40][41] Some Canadian observers claimed many were forced by North Vietnamese authorities to remain against their will.^[42] With the backing of the U.S., the 1956 elections were canceled by Diệm, Vietnam's premier, and later the first president of Republic of Vietnam. Diệm formed another election, which he won by fraud.^[43]

In North Vietnam Political opposition groups were suppressed; those publicly opposing the government were imprisoned in hard labor camps. Prisoners were abused and beaten atop of labor-intensive work forced upon them. Many died of exhaustion, starvation, illness (who often died without any medical attention), or assault by prison guards. Up to an estimated 172,000 North Vietnamese died under the mass slaughter of "landlords" during land reform. Torture was used on a wide scale, so much so that by 1954 Ho Chi Minh became concerned, and had it banned.^[44] Dr. Steven Rosefielde, professor of economics at the University of North Carolina, places an estimated death toll at between 200,000 to 900,000. ^[45]

At the end of 1959, Lê Duẩn was appointed acting party leader, after knowing the election would never happened and Diệm's intention to purge out all opposing forces (mostly ex-Việt Minh), began request the Politburo to sending aid to the Vietcong newly uprising in South Vietnam. This was considered by Western's analyzers as a loss of power by Hồ, who is said to have preferred the more moderate Giáp for the position.^[46] The Hồ Chí Minh Trail was established in late 1959 to allow aid to be sent to the Vietcong through Laos and Cambodia, thus escalating the war and tipping the balance, turning it to their favor.^[47] Duẩn was officially named party leader in 1960, leaving Hồ a public figure for Vietnamese rather than actually governing the country. Hồ maintained much influence in the government, Tố Hữu, Lê Duẩn, Trường Chinh, and Phạm Văn Đồng would often share dinner with him, and later all of them remained key figures of Vietnam throughout and after the war. In 1963, Hồ purportedly corresponded with South Vietnamese President Diệm in the hopes of achieving a negotiated peace.^[48] This correspondence was a factor in the U.S. decision to tacitly support a coup against Diệm later that year.^[48]

In late 1964, PAVN combat troops were sent southwest into neutral Laos and Cambodia.^[49] According to Chen Jian, during the mid-to-late 1960s, Lê Duẩn permitted 320,000 Chinese volunteers into North Vietnam to help build infrastructure for the country, thereby freeing a similar number of PAVN personnel to go south.^[50] However, there is no sources from Vietnam, US or Soviet confirmed about the number of Chinese troops stationed in Northern Vietnam. By early 1965, U.S. combat troops began arriving in South Vietnam, first to protect the airbases around Chu Lai and Danang, later to take on most of the fight, as "More and more American troops were put in to replace Saigon troops who could not, or would not, get involved in the fighting".^[51]

As the "quick victory" promises failed and fighting escalated, widespread bombing all over Vietnam by the U.S. Air Force and Navy escalated Operation Rolling Thunder. Hồ remained in Hanoi during his final years, demanding the unconditional withdrawal of all foreign troops in Southern Vietnam. By July 1967, Hồ and most of the Politburo of Workers Party of Vietnam concluded the war had fallen into a stalemate, since the United States Army presence forced the People's Army of Vietnam to expend the majority of their resources maintaining the Hochiminh Trail instead of reinforcing their comrade's ranks in the South. With Hồ's permission, the Vietcong planned to execute the Tet Offensive, gambling on taking the South by force and defeating the U.S. military. The offensive came at great cost and with heavy casualties on NLF's political branches and armed forces but achieving a fundamental change in the attitudes of people in the South. Up until Tet, many civilians generally favored the Vietcong; in the wake of mass executions and looting at Hue, popular support evaporated away from the Vietcong.^[52] It appeared to Hồ and to the rest of his government that the scope of the action had shocked the public on a global scale, that up until then had been assured just before Tet that the Communists were "on the ropes". The overly positive spin that the U.S. military had been attempting to achieve for years came crashing down. The bombing of Northern Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh trail was halted, and U.S and Vietnamese negotiators began to discuss how to end the war.

From then on, Hồ and his government realized that instead of trying to face the might of the U.S. Army, which would ultimately wear them down, merely prolonging the conflict would lead to eventual acceptance of Hanoi's terms. By 1969, with negotiations still dragging on, Hồ's health began to deteriorate from multiple health problems, including diabetes which prevented him from participating in further active politics. However, he insisted that his forces in the south continue fighting until all of Vietnam was reunited under his government regardless of the length of time that it might take, believing that time and politics were on his side.^{[citation needed]}

Death[link]

Hồ Chí Minh mausoleum, Hanoi

Hồ Chí Minh statue outside Hồ Chí Minh City Hall, Hồ Chí Minh City

With the outcome of the Vietnam War still in question, Hồ Chí Minh died at 9:47 a.m. on the morning of 2 September 1969 from heart failure at his home in Hanoi, aged 79. His embalmed body is currently on display in a mausoleum in Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi despite his will requesting that he be cremated.^[53] News of his death was withheld from the North Vietnamese public for nearly 48 hours due to it being the anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He was not initially replaced as president, but a "collective leadership" composed of several ministers and military leaders took over, known as the Politburo. Six years after his death, after the Fall of Saigon, several PAVN tanks in Saigon displayed a poster with the quote: "You are always marching with us, Uncle Hồ". In the campaign, there was a famous song written by Huy Thuc, often sung by People's Army of Vietnam soldiers along the trail of the offensive, "Bác vẫn cùng chúng cháu hành quân" ("You are always marching with us, Uncle Ho").^[54]

Legacy[link]

Ho Chi Minh, Elizabeth Aubrac, and Lucie Aubrac in 1946

The former capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, was officially renamed Hồ Chí Minh City on 1 May 1975 shortly after its capture which officially ended the war.

Hồ's embalmed body is on display in Hanoi in a granite mausoleum modeled after Lenin's Tomb in Moscow. Streams of people queue each day, sometimes for hours, to pass his body in silence. This is similar to other Communist leaders like Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong.

The Hồ Chí Minh Museum in Hanoi is dedicated to his life and work.

Chilean musician Victor Jara references Hồ Chí Minh in his song "El Derecho de Vivir en Paz" ("The Right to Live in Peace").

In Vietnam today, Hồ's image appears on the front of Vietnamese currency notes. His portrait and bust are featured prominently in many of Vietnam's public buildings, classrooms (both public and private schools) and in many families' altars. There's at least one temple dedicated to him, built in Vinh Long in 1970, shortly after his death right in the heart of Republic of Vietnam control areas.^[55]

In 1987, UNESCO officially recommended to member states that they "join in the commemoration of the centenary of the birth of President Hồ Chí Minh by organizing various events as a tribute to his memory", considering "the important and many-sided contribution of President Ho Chi Minh in the fields of culture, education and the arts" who "devoted his whole life to the national liberation of the Vietnamese people, contributing to the common struggle of peoples for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress."^[56]

Publications about Hồ's non-celibacy are banned in Vietnam. A newspaper editor in Vietnam was dismissed from her post in 1991 for publishing a story about Tăng Tuyết Minh.^[57][58] William Duiker's Ho Chi Minh: A Life (2000) presents much information on Hồ's relationships.^[59] The government requested substantial cuts in the official Vietnamese translation of Duiker's book, which was refused.^[60] In 2002, the Vietnamese government suppressed a review of Duiker's book in the Far Eastern Economic Review.^[60]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Essays[link]

• Bernard B. Fall, ed., 1967. Ho Chi Minh on Revolution and War, Selected Writings 1920-1966. New American Library.

Biography[link]

• William J. Duiker. 2000. Ho Chi Minh: A Life. Theia.
• Jean Lacouture. 1968. Ho Chi Minh: A Political Biography. Random House.
• Khắc Huyên. 1971. Vision Accomplished? The Enigma of Ho Chi Minh. The Macmillan Company.
• David Halberstam. 1971. Ho. Rowman & Littlefield.
• Hồ chí Minh toàn tập. NXB chính trị quốc gia
• Sophie Quinn-Judge. 2003. Ho Chi Minh: The missing years. C. Hurst & Co. ISBN 1-85065-658-4
• Ton That Thien, Was Ho Chi Minh a Nationalist? Ho Chi Minh and the Comintern Information and Resource Centre, Singapore, 1990

The Việt Minh, NLF and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam[link]

• William J. Duiker. 1981. The Communist Road to Power in Vietnam. Westview Press.
• Hoang Van Chi. 1964. From colonialism to communism. Praeger.
• Truong Nhu Tang. 1986. A Viet Cong Memoir. Vintage.

The War in Vietnam[link]

• Frances FitzGerald. 1972. Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam. Little, Brown and Company.

American foreign policy[link]

• Christopher Hitchens. 2001. The Trial of Henry Kissinger. Verso.
• Henry A. Kissinger. 1979. White House Years. Little, Brown.
• Richard Nixon. 1987. No More Vietnams. Arbor House Pub Co.

External links[link]

	Vietnam portal
	Biography portal

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Ho Chi Minh

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ho Chi Minh

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ho Chi Minh

• The Drayton Court Hotel
• Hồ Chí Minh obituary, The New York Times, 4 September 1969
• TIME 100: Hồ Chí Minh
• Hồ Chí Minh's biography
• Satellite photo of the mausoleum on Google Maps
• [8]
• Final Tribute to Hồ from the Central Committee of the Vietnam Workers' Party
• Bibliography: Writings by and about Hồ Chí Minh
• Booknotes interview with William Duiker on Hồ Chí Minh: A Life, November 12, 2000

v t e Vietnamese independence movement Events Bombardment of Tourane Capture of Saigon Capture of the Citadel of Saigon Conquest of Cochinchina Ba Dinh uprising Pacification of Tonkin Hanoi Poison Plot World War I 1916 Cochinchina uprising Thai Nguyen uprising Bazin assassination Yen Bai mutiny World War II Second French Indochina Campaign August Revolution Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam First Indochina War Battle of Dien Bien Phu Geneva Conference Organisations Can Vuong Dong Du Duy Tan Hoi Empire of Vietnam Nguyen dynasty Tonkin Free School Viet Nam Quang Phuc Hoi Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang Viet Minh Vietnam Communist Party Vietnamese revolutionaries Cuong De Dinh Cong Trang Ho Chi Minh Huynh Thuc Khang Luong Van Can Ngo Dinh Diem Ngo Duc Ke Nguyen An Ninh Nguyen Dinh Chieu Nguyen Quang Bich Nguyen Quyen Nguyen Thai Hoc Nguyen Than Hien Nguyen Thanh Nguyen Thien Thuat Nguyen Thuong Hien Nguyen Trung Truc Nguyen Xuan On Pham Banh Phan Boi Chau Phan Chu Trinh Phan Dinh Phung Phan Thanh Gian Phan Xich Long Ta Thu Thau Ton That Thuyet Tran Cao Van Tran Trong Kim Truong Dinh Emperors Tu Duc Ham Nghi Thanh Thai Duy Tan Bao Dai French rulers Albert Sarraut Jean Decoux French Indochina Governor-General Collaborators Hoang Cao Khai Tran Ba Loc Nguyen Than

v t e Post-World War II Heads of state of Vietnam North Vietnam (1945 – 1976) Ho Chi Minh Ton Duc Thang South Vietnam (1946 – 1976) Republic of Cochinchina (1946 – 48) Nguyen Van Thinh Nguyen Van Xuan Le Van Hoach Nguyen Van Xuan Central Government (1948 – 49) Nguyen Van Xuan State of Vietnam (1949–55) Bao Dai Ngo Dinh Diem1 Republic of Vietnam (1955 – 75) Presidents Ngo Dinh Diem Duong Van Minh2 Nguyen Khanh2 Duong Van Minh2 Nguyen Khanh2 Duong Van Minh2 Phan Khac Suu2 Nguyen Van Thieu2 Tran Van Huong1, 2 Duong Van Minh1, 2 PRG (1975 – 76) Huynh Tan Phat Vietnam (1976 – ) Ton Duc Thang Nguyen Huu Tho1 Truong Chinh Vo Chi Cong Le Duc Anh Tran Duc Luong Nguyen Minh Triet Truong Tan Sang 1acting 2military

v t e Prime Ministers of Vietnam Empire of Vietnam (1945 – 1945) Empire of Vietnam Tran Trong Kim Republic of Cochinchina (1946 – 1948) Nguyen Van Thinh Le Van Hoach Nguyen Van Xuan State of Vietnam (1949 – 1955) Bao Dai Nguyen Phan Long Tran Van Huu Nguyen Van Tam Nguyen Phuc Buu Loc Phan Huy Quat Ngo Dinh Diem Republic of Vietnam (1955 – 1975) Nguyen Ngoc Tho2 Nguyen Khanh2 Nguyen Xuan Oanh1, 2 Nguyen Khanh2 Tran Van Huong2 Nguyen Xuan Oanh1, 2 Phan Huy Quat2 Nguyen Cao Ky2 Nguyen Van Loc Tran Van Huong Tran Thien Khiem Nguyen Ba Can Vu Van Mau Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945 – 1976) Ho Chi Minh Pham Van Dong Republic of South Vietnam (1960 – 1976) Huynh Tan Phat Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1976 – ) Pham Van Dong Pham Hung Vo Van Kiet1 Do Muoi Vo Van Kiet Phan Van Khai Nguyen Tan Dung 1acting 2head of a military government