Background

Vo Nguyen Giap was born on August 25, 1911, in An Xa, Quang Binh, French Indochina (present-day An Xa, Quang Binh, Vietnam). He was one of five children in the family of Vo Quang Nghiem and Nguyen Thi Kien, who were poor farmers.

At the time of Giap's birth, Vietnam was a colony of France. His father strongly opposed French colonial rule and often took part in demonstrations, demanding Vietnamese independence. He was arrested for subversive activities by the French colonial authorities in 1919 and died in prison a few weeks later.

Education

In his early years, Vo was taught at home by his father before going to the village school. Soon, his precocious intelligence provided him with the opportunity to be transferred to the district school and in 1924, at the age of thirteen, he left home to attend the Quoc Hoc (also known in English as the "National Academy"), a French-run lycée in Hue. After two years, he was expelled from the educational establishment for taking part in protests and went home to his village for a while.

It was also during his student years, that Vo joined the Tân Việt Revolutionary Party, an underground group, founded in 1924, which introduced him to Communism. Later, he returned to Hue and continued his political activities. In 1930, Vo was arrested for taking part in student protests and served 13 months of a two-year sentence at Lao Bao Prison.

Throughout his youth, Giap also worked in his family's rice fields in order to earn enough money for education. When he turned eighteen, he was sent to prison for three years for his anti-French political activities. Upon his release, he attended the prestigious Lycée Albert Sarraut in Hanoi. From 1933 to 1938, Giáp studied at the Indochinese University in Hanoi (present-day Vietnam National University, Hanoi), where he earned a bachelor's degree in Law with a major in Political Economy.

Both during and after his education, Vo wrote books, articles and pamphlets, expressing his political ideas. In one of these works, a book, called "The Question of a National Liberation in Indochina", Giap argued, that Vietnam's only hope for defeating a major foreign power like France was through a long, drawn-out war.

Career

In his early years, Vo served as a History teacher at the Thang Long School in Hanoi. In addition, Giap was busy, producing and writing articles for Tieng Dan (Voice of the People), founded by Huynh Thuc Khang and many other revolutionary newspapers, while actively participating in various revolutionary movements. All the while, Giap was a dedicated reader of military history and philosophy, revering Sun Tzu. He also made a particular study of Napoleon's generalship and greatly admired T. E. Lawrence's "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", learning from it practical examples of how to apply minimum military force to maximum effect. During the Popular Front years in France, he founded Hon Tre tap moi (Soul of Youth), an underground socialist newspaper. He also founded the French-language paper Le Travail.

In the late 1930's, Giap fled to China in order to escape a French crackdown against its political enemies in Vietnam. Giap's young wife, Nguyen Thi Quang Thai, was arrested by the French colonial forces and died in prison. Feeling more bitter than ever toward the French, Giap joined a group of Vietnamese Communist revolutionaries in China, led by Ho Chi Minh. He soon became one of Ho's most trusted advisors. In 1941, Ho and his supporters returned to Vietnam and formed the Vietnam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoa (League for the Independence of Vietnam). This Communist-led nationalist group, usually known by the shortened name Viet Minh, was determined to fight for Vietnamese independence.

During World War II (1939-1945), France suffered a series of military defeats and surrendered to Germany. Unable to protect its colonies in Indochina, the French government allowed Japan to occupy Vietnam and set up military bases there in the 1940's. The Viet Minh viewed the Japanese occupation as an opportunity to gain control of the country. Giap took command of the Viet Minh guerrilla fighters and began helping the American forces, that were fighting against the Japanese. The Viet Minh leaders hoped, that the United States government would reward their efforts by supporting their bid for independence.

In 1945, the Allied forces, which mainly consisted of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union, defeated both Germany and Japan to win World War II. As soon as Japan was defeated, the Viet Minh launched a revolution to take control of Vietnam. This so-called August Revolution was successful, as the Viet Minh captured large areas of the country. In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh formally declared Vietnam's independence from both the French and the Japanese. Giap became a top official (Minister of the Interior) in the government of the new nation, known as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

But it soon became clear, that France, which had suffered a great deal of damage to its land, economy and reputation as a world leader during World War II, was not willing to give up its former colony. After a year of negotiations, war erupted between the French and the Viet Minh in the late 1946. As the war got under way, Giap organized a formal military force for his nation, which became known as the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). As Commander of the PAVN, Giap created a military system, that consisted of regular army troops, as well as regional and local forces. By 1952, he had recruited more than 250,000 PAVN troops and two million regional and local militia forces to fight for Vietnam's independence from France.

Giap recognized, that France had better military training and equipment, than the PAVN. To overcome his opponent's advantages, he relied on Communist principles, that divided a revolution into three stages: first, using tactics of guerrilla warfare, while building political support for the revolution among the people; second, gradually advancing from tactics of guerrilla warfare to those of conventional warfare; and third, launching a large-scale offensive attack, that leads to political revolution. Giap believed, that patience was key to the success of this plan. He told the Vietnamese people, that they must continue fighting for many years to achieve a total victory.

The Vietnamese Communists finally achieved a major victory against France after nine years of war. Under Giap's leadership, the PAVN defeated the French in the battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. First Giap convinced the French to position 14,000 men in a remote outpost near the border of Laos. Then, he surrounded the fort with 50,000 PAVN soldiers, pounded it with artillery fire and eventually forced the French to surrender. This battle marked the end of the Indochina War. In July 1954, the two sides signed a peace agreement, that provided for France to withdraw from Indochina.

However, the Geneva Accords of 1954 also divided Vietnam into two sections - Communist North Vietnam and the United States-supported South Vietnam. On the division of the country, Giap became Deputy Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of North Vietnam. Under the terms of the agreement, the two parts of Vietnam were supposed to hold nationwide free elections in 1956 in order to reunite the country under one government. But the United States government officials worried, that holding free elections in Vietnam would bring power to the Communists, who had led the nation's war for independence from France. They felt, that a Communist government in Vietnam would increase the power of China and the Soviet Union and threaten the security of the United States. As a result, the South Vietnamese government and its American advisors refused to hold the elections.

Giap and the other North Vietnamese leaders grew very angry, when the elections did not take place as scheduled. They remained determined to reunite the two parts of the country under a Communist government, by force if necessary. Despite his position as head of the military, Giap initially hoped to reunite Vietnam through peaceful negotiations. But more militant members of the Communist government convinced Ho Chi Minh to resume fighting. Within a short time, a new war began between the two sections of Vietnam.

During the early years of the Vietnam War, North Vietnam followed Giap's overall plan for the three stages of revolution. One of the North's main weapons was a group of South Vietnamese Communist rebels, called the Viet Cong. Using tactics of guerrilla warfare, the Viet Cong gradually gained control of large areas of the South Vietnamese countryside. In the late 1950's and early 1960's, the United States government sent money, weapons and military advisors to help South Vietnam defend itself against North Vietnam and the Viet Cong. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson authorized the United States bombing missions over North Vietnam and sent American combat troops to South Vietnam.

But deepening United States involvement failed to defeat the Communists. Instead, the Vietnam War turned into a bloody stalemate. The Viet Cong guerrillas frustrated the American forces and reduced the advantage of their superior firepower. In the meantime, Giap continued building up his military forces, which became known as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). In January 1968, North Vietnamese government leaders decided, that the time had come to put the final stage of the revolution into motion. Giap launched a coordinated series of attacks on major South Vietnamese cities, which was known as the Tet Offensive.

In designing the Tet Offensive, Giap assumed, that the large-scale attack would encourage South Vietnamese citizens and soldiers to join the Communist forces and overthrow the South Vietnamese government. But the offensive failed to spark a revolt among the people, and American forces rallied to turn back the attack. The Tet Offensive ended up being a serious military defeat for North Vietnam, but it also shocked the American people and helped turn public opinion against the war.

Between 1968 and 1972, Giap and the North Vietnamese military returned to the guerrilla warfare tactics, that had frustrated the United States and South Vietnamese armies. In the meantime, the United States government began withdrawing American troops from the conflict, while also strengthening the South Vietnamese Army to continue the fight. In March 1972, Giap tried to take advantage of this situation by launching another attack, known as the Easter Offensive. But the South Vietnamese military managed to fight off the attack with the help of the United States air power.

In 1973, Giap stepped down from his position as Commander of the North Vietnamese Army. According to some reports, his health had begun to fail. But other sources claimed, that he had disagreed with Communist Party leaders over military strategy. Two years later, North Vietnamese forces captured the South Vietnamese capital city of Saigon to win the Vietnam War. After decades of fighting, they finally achieved Giap's dream of an independent Vietnam under a Communist government.

After the war ended, Giap continued to fall from power within the government. He resigned as Minister of Defense in 1980, the post he was appointed to in 1948, and he lost his position within the Communist Party leadership two years later. Nevertheless, he remained very popular among the Vietnamese people. Many people viewed him as the man, who had won the war for independence.

It's worth mentioning, that, during the late 1950's, Giap began serving as Deputy Prime Minister, the post he held till 1991. Besides, he was a full member of the Politburo of the Vietnamese Communist Party until 1982.

Besides, Giap wrote extensively on military theory and strategy. His works include "Big Victory, Great Task", "People's War, People's Army: The Viet Công Insurection Manual for Underdeveloped Countries", among others.

Achievements

• General Vo Nguyen Giap was the Commander-in-Chief of the Communist Armed Forces during two of his country's most difficult conflicts - the first against Vietnam's colonial masters, the French, and the second against the most powerful nation on the Earth, the United States. After long and bloody conflicts, he defeated both Western powers and their Vietnamese allies, forever changing modern warfare. Giap is considered one of the greatest military strategists of all time.
  
  Vo first grew to prominence during World War II, where he served as the military leader of the Viet Minh resistance against the Japanese occupation of Vietnam. He participated in the following historically significant battles: Lang Son (1950), Hoa Binh (1951–52), Dien Bien Phu (1954), the Tet Offensive (1968), the Easter Offensive (1972) and the final Ho Chi Minh Campaign (1975).
  
  Vo attained numerous awards, including the Fatherland Defense Order, the Feat Order, the Order of Ho Chi Minh and many others. In 1992, Giap received the highest honor, given by the Vietnamese government, the Gold Star Order, "for his services to the revolutionary cause of party and nation". Besides, he was made the Hero of the People's Armed Forces.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Military Art of People's War

    (This collection includes the major writings of General Gi...)

    1970
  • How We Won the War

    (In this work, Vietnam's top military strategist tells the...)

    1976
  • People's War, People's Army: The Viet Công Insurection Manual for Underdeveloped Countries 1974
  • Once Again We Will Win 1966
  • Big Victory, Great Task 1968
  • Mémoires 1946-1950 2003

Politics

Vo joined the anti-French movement as a student. He was a founding member of the Indochinese Communist Party, organized by Ho Chi Minh in Hong Kong in 1930. Vo also served as a member of the Politburo of the Vietnam Workers' Party, which later became the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Views

Giap always characterized the Vietnamese struggle for independence as a "people's war". He claimed, that the Vietnamese people wanted freedom from foreign control and were willing to make whatever sacrifices were necessary to achieve that goal. Within the Communist government, Giap argued, that it would take all of the resources of the nation to defeat the French, including the full emotional commitment of the people.

Giap cited T. E. Lawrence and Napoleon as his two greatest influences.

Quotations: "To educate, mobilize, organize and arm the whole people in order that they might take part in the resistance was a crucial question. Every minute, hundreds of thousands of people die on this earth. The life or death of a hundred, a thousand, tens of thousands of human beings, even our compatriots, means little."

Personality

Vo said in interviews, that, in the little spare time he had, he enjoyed occasionally playing the piano, as well as reading Goethe, Shakespeare and Tolstoy.

Interests

• playing the piano

• Writers

  Goethe, Shakespeare and Tolstoy

Connections

In June 1938, Giap married Nguyen Thi Quang Thai. In May 1939, she gave birth to a daughter - Hong Anh. Some time later, Vo's wife was arrested, sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment and incarcerated in the Hoa Lo Central Prison in Hanoi. It was in the summer of 1943, that Giap was told, that his wife had been beaten to death by guards in the prison.

In August 1946, Vo married Dang Thi Bich Ha. They had two boys and two girls.

Father:

Vo Quang Nghiem

Mother:

Nguyen Thi Kien

child:

Hong Anh

late wife:

Nguyen Thi Quang Thai

Wife:

Dang Thi Bich Ha

References

• Giap: The Victor in Vietnam A look at the career of Vo Nguyen Giap, based on interviews with the Vietnamese general, reveals how an army so poor in material resources accomplished so much militarily, discussing Giap's early days as a resistance fighter and more.
  1993
• General Vo Nguyen Giap: North Vietnamese Military Leader
  1973
• General Vo Nguyen Giap's Hardest Decision: Dien Bien Phu, January 1954
  1954
• The Generalship of Vo Nguyen Giap, Myths and Realities Vo Nguyen Giap served for over thirty years as commander of North Vietnam's Armed Forces, and has become something of a legend for his stunning defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and for the TET Offensive of 1968, which shocked the world. This work attempts to sweep away some of the myths, which surround the man, exposing his errors and defeats, as well as listing his victories by tracing events from his flight to China in 1940; through the founding of the Viet Minh; his struggle and victory over the French; his role as overlord of the Viet Cong in South Vietnam; and finally his war against American forces.
  1973
• Giap: The General Who Defeated America in Vietnam In this book, military historian James A. Warren dives deep into the conflict to bring to life a revolutionary general and reveal the groundbreaking strategies, that defeated world powers against incredible odds.
  2013
• General Vo Nguyen Giap: The Vietnamese Napoleon General Giap is undoubtedly one of the foremost practitioners of insurgency and revolutionary war. He has been called by some the Vietnamese Napoleon. The issue is: What are the factors which have gained him such a reputation? What experiences have influenced his life and caused him to develop the strategy and tactics used the past 25 years in Vietnam? An extensive literature search was made to trace his life's history and to determine what factors have caused him to be as he is. The study examined his early life, civilian education and use within the Vietnamese Communist Party, military training and experience.
  2015
• Victory at Any Cost: The Genius of Viet Nam's Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap "Victory at Any Cost" tells the full story of the man, who fought three of the world's great powers -and beat them all.
  1997