Ho Chi Minh?

Question

I want to know information about Ho chi minh and how he affected the world. I don't really understand what he did. Did he create a communist country that changed the world or did he just fight for independence for Vietnam so they don't have to be french? Or is it both things he did? I only know that he is a communist leader but i don't know what he is trying to do?

Answer 1

He just fought for the independence of Vietnam. He fought the Japanese during WWII and was America's friend and ally at that time. We (the U.S.) betrayed him at the end of WWII by giving Indo-China back to the French as a colony to be further exploited. Ho had lived in the U.S. and admired our Declaration of Independence. He had thought that America would be a natural ally against French colonialism, but American leaders had other agendas (Harry Truman).
One has to have some admiration for a person who speaks English, French, German, Russian, Chinese, and of course Vietnamese.
The Wiki site below should give you more details. It is fairly good for this topic.
Added Note. Yes, Ho had been a communist since his days in Paris around 1920. But not all communists went to bed with Soviet Russia - for instance, Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia.
Ho would have led a socialist Vietnam if he had lived to see the end of the war. But the Vietnamese had never gotten along with the Chinese. A united communist threat in Southeast Asia was not the danger we thought it was in the 1950s and 60s. History has proven that.

Answer 2

Ho Chi Minh was a nationalist before he was a Communist. It is documented that, after WW 2 he approached the USA 3 times for help in liberating Vietnam from the French. Unfortunately the USA had committed to restoring former colonial possessions to the imperialist powers and therefore could not assist Uncle Ho. It was only then that Ho turned to communist China and the USSR for help. Help which they were delighted to give as one of the many proxy wars of the Cold War. I wonder how different the world might have been if the USA had pressured France to give independence to Vietnam?

Ho and General Giap then ran a long guerrilla campaign for the liberation of Vietnam, first against the French and then against South Vietnam supported by the USA and its allies.

I don't think Ho changed the world except as an example to other anti-colonial national liberation movements.

Answer 3

Ho Chi MInh was communist before he even led Vietnamese forces against the Japanese. The United States supported the French in order to prevent communism from gaining a foothold in southeast Asia. It would have been better to have Vietnam under the influence of the French than under communism. It had nothing to do with colonialism.

Answer 4

You are confusing me.