Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh tied the nuptial knot with a Chinese woman, Tang Tuyet Minh, on October 18, 1926. Though the unison was objected by most of his comrades, Minh nevertheless went forward with it. The couple stayed together until April 1927, after which Minh moved from China. Though both of them attempted to renew contact, they were never reunited.

Minh suffered from multiple health problems including diabetes, which prevented him from taking active part in politics.

He breathed his last on September 2, 1969 due to heart failure at his home in Hanoi. Though he wished to be cremated after his death, his body has been preserved and is on display in a mausoleum in Ba Dinh Square, Hanoi

Ho Chi Minh was born as Nguyen Sinh Cung to Nguyen Sinh Sac. His father, Sinh Sac was a Confucian scholar and teacher who went on to become an imperial magistrate of a small district, Binh Khe but was dismissed from the same. Young Nyugen had three siblings - a sister and two brothers out of which one died in infancy.

Initially taught by his father, Nguyen’s first formal teacher was Vuong Thuc Do. Soon, Nyugen mastered the art of Chinese writing along with Vietnamese writing.

According to the Confucian tradition, his father gave him a new name, Nguyen Tat Thanh (accomplished), when he was ten years old.

During his early years, Nyugen enrolled himself at the lycee in Hue to attain French education. While in Hue, Nguyen supported anti-tax demonstration of poor peasants which threatened his studies.

Leaving school, Nyugen hoped to move abroad. His first stop was at the Duc Thanh School in Phan Thiet for about six months, after which he travelled to Sai Gon.

Nyugen took up the job of a kitchen helper on the French steamer, Amirale de Latouche-Tr�ville. Upon reaching France in December 1911, he tried his luck to get admission at the French Colonial Administrative School but in vain. Disheartened, he decided to continue his travel and sustained his work in ships until 1917, visiting many countries during the period.

From 1912 to 1913, Nyugen put up in New York and Boston. Taking up odd jobs for a living, it was in the US that Nyugen first met with Korean nationalists who shaped much of his political outlook.

In between 1913 and 1919, Nyugen stayed in various cities across the United Kingdom, taking up menial jobs as a waiter, baker, pastry chef and so on.

It was during his stay in France from 1919 until 1923 that Nyugen took to politics seriously. His friend Marcel Cachin, comrade of the Socialist Party helped him in the process.

Joining the Vietnamese nationalist group Nguyen Ai Quoc, Nyugen fought for the civil rights of the Vietnamese people. They even took the matter to the Versailles Peace Talks, but without much success. The failure ignited in Nyugen the spirit to fight and in no time, he became one of the leading lights of the anti-colonial movement in Vietnam.

Minh started a Viet Minh independence movement in 1941. With more than 10000 members, he achieved many successful military actions against the Vichy French and Japanese occupation of Vietnam during World War II.

In 1945, Minh made a deal with Archimedes Patti, an OSS agent. According to it, he agreed to provide intelligence to the allies in return for having a line of communication. As a result of this deal, members of the independence movement were trained by military officials of OSS.

In 1945, Minh was elected as the Chairman of the Provisional Government after the August Revolution. Utilizing the new powerful position, he issued a Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

In 1946, when Ho Chi Minh was travelling outside Vietnam, his partymen imprisoned about 2500 non-communist nationalists, while several thousands were forced to flee. Thereafter, numerous leaders and people from rival political parties were put in jail or exiled, after a failed coup against the Vietminh government.

With Vietminh taking the centre stage, the existence of rival political parties was banned and so was the local government. This led to the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.