Refine your search

The results of your search are listed below alongside the search terms you entered on the previous page. You can refine your search by amending any of the parameters in the form and resubmitting it.

Select all Deselect all Add selection to lightbox
Large Small
Thumbnails per page
Hồ Chí Minh, born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc (19 May 1890 – 3 September 1969) was a Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader who was prime minister (1946–1955) and president (1945–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). He formed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and led the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War until his death. Hồ led the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. He lost political power inside North Vietnam in the late 1950s, but remained as the highly visible figurehead president until his death.
British troops arrived in Saigon on 9 September 1945 ostensibly to disarm the Japanese troops and arrange their repatriation. In fact the Japanese were not disarmed but were used by the British to fight the Vietnamese Liberation Forces, and this under the Labour Government of Clement Atlee, in order to hand Vietnam back to the French.<br/><br/> Thus the official history of the Indian armed forces noted that, 'all the dirty work, to fight and disarm the Annamites, (Vietnamese) was assigned to the Japanese troops.'<br/><br/> General MacArthur, Supreme Commander Allied Powers in South East Asia, said in Tokyo, 'If there is anything that makes my blood boil it is to see our allies in Indo-China…deploying Japanese troops to conquer the little people we promised to liberate. It is the most ignoble kind of betrayal'.