Wanting to protect him, Ho Chi Minh arranged for him to meet a graduate from a well-known family, Ba Hanh. The Viet Minh were now able to move in close to the French troops defending Dien Bien Phu. The first few years of the war involved mostly a low-level, semi-conventional resistance fight against the French occupying forces. Deep in the hills of northwest Vietnam, the position was surrounded by high ground. From. 299. [25], In September 1940, Vichy France agreed to the Japanese occupation of Vietnam, to 'protect' Indochina. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). He was expelled from the school after two years for taking part in protests, and went home to his village for a while. In the ensuing peace accords, the country was partitioned, and Ho Chi Minh became the leader of communist North Vietnam. "Vo Nguyen Giap – 'A master of revolutionary war'". In his own words, “we strictl… Seeing an opportunity at Dien Bien Phu, Giap moved approximately 50,000 men into the hills around the French position, as well as the bulk of his heavy artillery and anti-aircraft guns. General Vo Nguyen Giap and the sealed order on the Dien Bien Phu general offensive campaign. [71] He was given a state funeral on 12–13 October, and his body lay in state at the national morgue in Hanoi until his burial in his home province of Quảng Bình.[72][73]. Since 1887 Vietnam has been part of France’s Indochina empire (which includes … When Navarre realized that he was trapped, he appealed for help. Giáp's father was both a minor official and a committed Vietnamese nationalist, having played a part in the Cần Vương movement in the 1880s. He was said to have been in the same class as Phạm Văn Đồng, a future Prime Minister, who has also denied having studied at Albert Sarraut, and Bảo Đại, the last Emperor of Annam. [19][20] Giáp's busy political activities took a toll on his postgraduate studies, and he failed to pass the examinations for the Certificate of Administrative Law. But this time it will. Unable therefore to practice as a lawyer, he took a job as a history teacher at the Thăng Long School in Hanoi.[21]. Many thousands were executed. This and similar small groups in the mountains were the basis of the Viet Minh, the armed wing of the Vietnam Independence League. He told his fellow officers that he had been "completely dishonoured" and committed suicide with a hand grenade. Soon after the fall of Saigon, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was established. In an effort to put pressure on both North and South Vietnam during the negotiations, President Nixon ordered a series of air raids on Hanoi and Haiphong, codenamed Operation Linebacker II. Giáp indicated that a 1980s study led experts to advise against mining due to severe ecological damage and national security. [57], The departure of the French and the de facto partition of Vietnam meant that the Hanoi government only controlled the north part of the country. It was also agreed that the governments in North and South Vietnam would remain in power, and reunification would be "carried out step by step through peaceful means". Now such a disregard for human life may make a formidable adversary, but it does not make a military genius. "Absolutely nothing", Giáp replied. [43] After this time, detailed information on Giáp's personal life becomes much scarcer and in most sources the emphasis is on his military achievements and, later, on his political roles. With Ho Chi Minh, Giap marched his forces into Hanoi in August 1945, and in September Ho announced the independence of Vietnam, with Giap in command of all police and internal security forces and commander in chief of the armed forces. While a student, Giáp had taken lodgings with Professor Dang Thai Minh,[18] whose daughter, Nguyen Thi Minh Giang (also cited as Nguyễn Thị Quang Thái),[19] he had first met at school in Hue. The victory at Dien Bien Phu effectively ended the First Indochina War. Complete with detailed accounts, maps, and photos, Giap's memoirs depicts concretely how a small and weak nation can overcome a stronger force. In 1930, as a supporter of student strikes, he was arrested by the French Sûreté and sentenced to three years in prison, but he was paroled after serving only a few months. The standard view of this period is that after Ho Chi Minh's death in September 1969, Giáp lost a power struggle in 1972 shortly after the failed Easter Offensive where he was blamed by the Politburo for the offensive's failure. Le Général Vo Nguyen Giap est né en 1911 ou 1912 au Centre-Vietnam. Richard N. Armstrong. [26], In 1942, Giáp and about forty men moved back into Vietnam and established themselves in remote caves near the village of Vu Nhai. [29], In September 1944 the first Revolutionary Party Military Conference was held and it was agreed that the time was now right to take the military struggle forward into a new phase. Giáp had no direct military training and was a history teacher at a French-speaking academy, influenced by historical military leaders and personally citing T. E. Lawrence and Napoleon as his two greatest influences. General Giap, whose victory at Dien Bien Phu forced France from Vietnam, later waged a long battle with the United States military that eventually sapped America’s political will to fight. From 1976, when the two Vietnams were reunited, to 1980 Giap served as Vietnam’s minister of national defense; he also became a deputy prime minister in 1976. He was arrested for subversive activities by the French colonial authorities in 1919 and died in prison a few weeks later. Local fighting broke out repeatedly and on 27 November, Ho's government, concluding that it could not hold Hanoi against the French, retreated back up into the northern hills where it had been based two years previously. At age 14, Giáp became a messenger for the Haiphong Power Company. General Vo Nguyen Giap (2nd, R) and other commanding officers discuss Dien Bien Phu plans in 1954. Vo Nguyen Giap, (born 1912, An Xa, Vietnam—died October 4, 2013, Hanoi), Vietnamese military and political leader whose perfection of guerrilla as well as conventional strategy and tactics led to the Viet Minh victory over the French (and to the end of French colonialism in Southeast Asia) and later to the North Vietnamese victory over South Vietnam and the United States. In a rare interview with … Straight out of the gate the idea of Dien Bien Phu was flawed. In the new government, Giáp maintained his position as Minister of National Defense and he was made Deputy Prime Minister in July 1976. The operation ended on 27 January 1973, after 12 days with heavy casualties and destruction. He remained on the Central Committee and Deputy Prime Minister until he retired in 1991. He further stated that "by his own admission, by early 1969, I think, he had lost, what, a half million soldiers? In retaliation, Cambodia's ally China responded by invading the Cao Bang province of Vietnam in January 1979 and once again Giáp was in overall responsibility for the response, which drove the Chinese out after a few months. Colonel Piroth, the artillery commander, blamed himself for the destruction of French artillery superiority. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... With the defeat of the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, the United States became concerned about communist gains in Vietnam. Giap: The victory at Diên Bin Phû was a victory for the people. Defying standard military practice, he had his twenty-four 105mm howitzers placed on the forward slopes of the hills around Dien Bien Phu, in deep, mostly hand-dug emplacements protecting them from French aircraft and counter-battery fire. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, however, refused to intervene unless the British and other Western allies agreed. Parts of the French left supported the goals of the Việt Minh to form a socialist state. The preponderance of Viet Minh guns came as a surprise to the French who did not believe that Giap possessed a large artillery arm. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Võ Nguyên Giáp was born on 25 August 1911 (or 1912 according to some sources ) in Quảng Bình Province, French Indochina. He oversaw the expansion of the PAVN from a small self-defense force into a large conventional army, equipped by its communist allies with considerable amounts of relatively sophisticated weaponry, although this did not usually match the weaponry of the Americans. South Vietnam objected, but had little choice but to accept it. There were grave errors. A few weeks later, Giáp was wounded in the leg when his group attacked another outpost at Dong Mu.[31]. Dien Bien Phu. The war had lasted for seven years and there was still no sign of a clear French victory. Communist leaders met in Hanoi in March for a series of meetings to plan for a massive offensive against the South. We won a military victory over the French and we’ll win it over the Americans too. This conduct caused serious concern in the upper ranks of the Party as it was contrary to the very strict and abstemious moral code by which all members were expected to abide. Giáp wrote many articles for it, and was repeatedly criticised by Ho Chi Minh for the excessive verbosity of his writing style. Giáp's wife went to her family home in Vinh, where she was arrested, sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment, and incarcerated in the Hoa Lo Central Prison in Hanoi. [55] In terms of his personal life, he was also able to move back in with his wife, from whom he had been separated for eight years during the war. Giap then became a professor of history at the Lycée Thanh Long in Hanoi, where he converted many of his fellow teachers and students to his political views. recruits from France itself) was forbidden by French governments to prevent the war from becoming even more unpopular at home. Militarily there was no point in France fi… [52][53] The victory at Dien Bien Phu marked the beginning of a new era in the military struggles against colonialism for national liberation and independence movements in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and other colonised countries. Although the North's Nguyễn Huệ Offensive during the spring of 1972 was beaten back with high casualties, the proposal did not require them to leave the South. General Giap. Growing stronger, Giáp's forces took more territory and captured more towns up until the announcement on 15 August by the Japanese Emperor of his country's unconditional surrender to the allies. [35], On 9 September, the Nationalist Chinese forces crossed the border and quickly took control of the north, while on 12 September, the British Indian Army arrived in Saigon. The use of metropolitan recruits (i.e. In 1941 Giap formed an alliance with Chu Van Tan, guerrilla leader of the Tho, a minority tribal group of northeastern Vietnam. [65], In 1995, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara met Giáp to ask what happened on 4 August 1964 in the second Gulf of Tonkin Incident. In December 1953, French military commander General Henri Navarre set up a defensive complex at Ðiện Biên Phủ in the Mường Thanh Valley, disrupting Việt Minh supply lines passing through Laos. Ho Chi Minh and Võ Nguyên Giáp pursued lengthy negotiations with the French, seeking to avoid an all-out war to cement their independence. So wie schon 1954 in der Schlacht von Dien Bien Phu sah General Vo Nguyen Giap wieder die Chance, einen symbolischen Erfolg mit besonders hoher politischer Strahlkraft zu erzielen. We indiscriminately attacked all families owning land. In contrast, the Viet Minh issued clear, short orders aimed at wiping out the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu. It was called the "dirty war" (la sale guerre) by supporters of the Left in France and intellectuals (including Jean-Paul Sartre) during the Henri Martin affair in 1950.[46][47]. Ho Chi Minh departed for France on 31 May, to negotiate with the French at Fontainebleau, and he remained in France until November.[38]. Vo Nguyen Giap is the Vietnamese general who planned the Ho Chi Minh trail and defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu. [33], On 28 August 1945, Giáp led his men into Hanoi, and on 2 September, Ho Chi Minh declared the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Although he has denied it, Giáp was said by the historian Cecil B. Currey[16] to have also spent some time in the prestigious Hanoi Lycée Albert Sarraut, where the local elite was educated to serve the colonial regime. [14] He returned to Hue and continued his political activities. He reported this. While diversionary attacks were launched in other areas,[49] Giáp ordered his men to covertly position their artillery by hand. Giáp's victory over the French was an important inspiration to anti-colonial campaigners around the world, particularly in French colonies, and most particularly in North Africa, not least because many of the troops fighting on the French side in Indochina were from North Africa. Giáp's role in the 1975 victory is largely ignored by official Vietnamese accounts.[62][63]. Giáp led the Vietnamese delegation at the Dalat conference in April 1946, which yielded nothing,[37] and, returning to Hanoi, he was made Minister of Defense. After French forces occupied the Dien Bien Phu valley in late 1953, Viet Minh commander Vo Nguyen Giap amassed troops and placed heavy artillery in caves of the mountains overlooking the … University of North Carolina Press 2012, This page was last edited on 5 December 2020, at 07:02. Yes, Madame, their Dien Bien Phu is still to come. In October 1972, the negotiators came close to agreeing to a formula to end the conflict. [45] However, after the Chinese communists reached the northern border of Vietnam in 1949 and the Vietnamese destruction of French posts there, the conflict turned into a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons supplied by the United States and the Soviet Union. Diem later went on to become President of South Vietnam (1955–63). Updates? The Party Plenum in 1957 ordered changes to the structure of these units and Giáp was put in charge of implementing these and building their strength to form a solid basis for an insurrection in the South. In some places, in our efforts to implement land reform, we failed to respect religious freedoms and the right to worship. [2] He would later earn the moniker "Red Napoleon" from some Western sources.[3]. General Navarre, the French commander in Vietnam, realised that time was running out and that he needed to obtain a quick victory over the Vietminh. This involved collectivisation of agriculture and central management of all economic production. Morris, Virginia and Hills, Clive (2006). Võ Nguyên Giáp has been called one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century. His precocious intelligence meant that he was soon transferred to the district school and in 1924, at the age of thirteen, he left home to attend the Quốc Học (also known in English as the "National Academy"), a French-run lycée in Huế. Giáp was also a journalist, an interior minister in President Hồ Chí Minh's Việt Minh government, the military commander of the Viet Minh, the commander of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), and a defense minister. On the division of the country in July, Giap became deputy prime minister, minister of defense, and commander in chief of the armed forces of North Vietnam. They married in August 1946, and went on to have four children. Photo courtesy of Hanoi's Museum of Dien Bien Phu Victory. By April the Vietminh had nearly five thousand members, and was able to attack Japanese posts with confidence. Giap at Dien Bien Phu, 1954: You Take Command. After studying at the Lycée Albert-Sarraut in Hanoi, he received a law degree from Hanoi University in the late 1930s. French public opinion continued to move against the war: While growing stronger in Vietnam, the Việt Minh also expanded the war and lured the French to spread their force to remote areas such as Laos. Giáp ordered his men to dig a trench system that encircled the French. [58] The 1959 Plenum decided that the time for escalating the armed struggle in the South was right and in July that year Giáp ordered the opening up of the Ho Chi Minh trail to improve supply lines to Viet Cong units.[59]. He also founded the French-language paper Le Travail (on which Phạm Văn Đồng also worked). [30], Ho Chi Minh decided that for propaganda purposes, the Armed Propaganda Unit had to win a military victory within a month of being established, so on 25 December 1944 Giáp led successful attacks against French outposts at Khai Phat and Na Ngan. In the final analysis, Giap won the war despite losing many battles, and as long as the army survived to fight another day, the idea of Vietnam lived in the hearts of the people who would support it, and that is the essence of 'revolutionary war'. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vo-Nguyen-Giap, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Vo Nguyen Giap. By the end of 1943 several hundred men and women had joined the Viet Minh. After the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the French authorities outlawed the Indochinese Communist Party. And it will come. The tense standoff between the Vietnamese government and the French occupiers escalated dramatically on 23 October when the French commander Argenlieu ordered the cruiser Suffren to bombard Haiphong in response to repeated skirmishes with Vietnamese forces as they tried to bring arms and contraband into the port. The Viet Minh attackers suffered no casualties. Giap hoped to build an army that would drive out the French and support the goals of the Viet Minh, Ho Chi Minh’s Vietnamese independence movement. The unpretentious communist general Vo Nguyen Giap masterminded the defeat of French and American forces and became known as one of the 20th century's military geniuses. “But without Gen. Giap’s decision, most of us wouldn’t have been able to fight in the resistance war against the US years later,” said General Le … Giáp took up the French challenge. They offered to help set up a national government and promised that they would eventually grant Vietnam its independence. Both the U.S. and North Vietnam then agreed to sign the Paris Peace Accords that had been proposed in October. The cost of the war had so far been twice what they had received from the United States under the. This battle, of which the Viet-minh was victorious, marked the end of the Indochina War (1946-1954), but also that of French hegemony in this region. The last U.S. combat troops left in March 1973. Over the next 56 days, Giap's troops captured one French position at a time until the defenders were compelled to surrender. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Vietnam farmers fall to bauxite bulldozers. He was convinced that if he could manoeuvre General Vo Nguyen Giap into engaging in a large scale battle, France was bound to win. [23] During the Popular Front years in France, he founded Hồn Trẻ tập mới (Soul of Youth),[19] an underground socialist newspaper. In 1938 he married Minh Thai, and together they worked for the Indochinese Communist Party. While there, he joined the Tân Việt Revolutionary Party, an underground group founded in 1924, which introduced him to communism. In December, 1953, General Navarre setup a defensive complex at Dien Bien Phu, which would block the … PAVN would thus be able to maintain a foothold in South Vietnam from which to launch future offensives. Her sister was guillotined and Giáp's daughter died in prison of unknown causes. Giap … [11] This school had been founded by a Catholic official named Ngo Dinh Kha, and his son, Ngô Đình Diệm also attended it. As well as teaching in school, Giáp was busy producing and writing articles for Tiếng Dân (Voice of the People) founded by Huỳnh Thúc Kháng and many other revolutionary newspapers, while actively participating in various revolutionary movements. The Chinese provided 70 advisors, the “South China Sea Action Group.” They suggested using one massive “Human Wave” attack to take Dien Bien Phu quickly. He attended the same high school as Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader, and while still a student in 1926 he joined the Tan Viet Cach Menh Dang, the Revolutionary Party of Young Vietnam. From 1933 to 1938, Giáp studied at the Indochinese University in Hanoi[11][17] where he earned a bachelor's degree in law with a major in political economy. [41][42] Giáp, acting as de facto President in the absence of Ho Chi Minh, tried to maintain some kind of peace but by the time Ho returned in November, both sides were on a war footing. They based this on their successes in Korea. [51] General De Castries, French Commander in Dien Bien Phu, was captured alive in his bunker. [27], For the next few years he and his comrades worked steadily to build up a small military force and to win local people over to the communist cause. [56] This process did not go smoothly and it led to food shortages and revolts. [39] Bùi Diễm, a former student of Giap and the former South Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States, states during this period Giap and the Viet Minh had purged thousands of anti-colonial nationalists.[40]. He was a full member of the Politburo of the Vietnamese Communist Party until 1982. In June 1938 (or, according to some sources[specify], April 1939) they were married and in May 1939 they had a daughter, Hong Anh (Red Queen of Flowers). He expanded and modernised the army, re-equipping it with Russian and Chinese weapons systems. Indiana University Press, 2001, The final evidence that there had not been any Vietnamese attack against U.S. ships on the night of 4 August 1964 was provided by the release of, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Death and state funeral of Võ Nguyên Giáp, "General Vo Nguyen Giap: Soldier who led Vietnamese forces against France and the US", "Vietnam's 'Red Napoleon' Vo Nguyen Giap dies aged 102", "The Return to War: North Vietnamese Decision-Making, 1973–1975", "Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, Who Ousted U.S. From Vietnam, Is Dead", "Vietnam war leader General dies, aged 102", "WGBH Open Vault – Interview with Archimedes L. A. Patti, 1981", "Washington Talk: Bui Diem; A voice from Vietnam hoping to be heard", "Those named Martin, Their history is ours – The Great History, (1946–1954) The Indochina War", "Guerre d'Indochine: Libérez Henri Martin", "Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnamese commander whose army defeated French, U.S. forces, dies", "WorldCat Identities Võ, Nguyên Giáp 1911-2013". "Legendary Vietnam Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap Dies", "Nơi an nghỉ của Đại tướng đẹp huyền ảo như trong cổ tích", "Vũng Chùa – Yến Island, nơi yên nghỉ của tướng Giáp", Bibliography: Writings of Vo Nguyen Giáp, and Books about Him, 1st Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam, 2nd Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam, 3rd Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam, 4th Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Võ_Nguyên_Giáp&oldid=992434113, North Vietnamese military personnel of the Vietnam War, Members of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Articles with German-language sources (de), Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Vietnamese-language text, Articles needing more detailed references, Articles needing additional references from December 2018, All articles needing additional references, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
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