Ho Chi Minh

, ; , .}} (born ;, }} , dated 7 August 1908.}} 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969),}} colloquially known as Uncle Ho ().}} among other aliases, , and over 50–200 aliases.}} and sobriquets, ('President Hồ'), ('Father of the people'), or 'Founding father of modern Vietnam'}} was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman who founded the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 (known as North Vietnam after 1954). He served as its first president from 1946 until his death in 1969 and as its first prime minister from 1945 to 1955. A committed Marxist–Leninist, Hồ played a central role in establishing the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930 and later led its successor, the Workers' Party of Vietnam (later the Communist Party of Vietnam), as chairman until his death.

was born in Nghệ An province, Annam in French Indochina, and received a French education. Starting in 1911, he worked in various countries overseas, including France where he was a founding member of the French Communist Party in 1920. After studying in the Soviet Union, Hồ moved to China where he founded the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League in 1925, which became the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930. On his return to Vietnam in 1941, he founded and led the independence movement against the Japanese occupation of Vietnam, and in 1945 led the August Revolution against the Vietnamese monarchy and proclaimed the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. After the French returned to power, Hồ's government retreated to the countryside and initiated guerrilla warfare from 1946, leading to the First Indochina War.

Between 1953 and 1956, Hồ's government implemented a land reform campaign aimed at redistributing land and consolidating power, which included the execution of landowners. In 1954, the Việt Minh defeated the French at the Battle of , ending the war. Following the 1954 Geneva Conference, Vietnam was divided into two ''de facto'' separate states: North Vietnam under the Việt Minh, backed by the Soviet Union, and South Vietnam under anticommunist nationalists, backed by the United States. Hồ remained president and party leader during the Vietnam War, which began in 1955. He supported the Viet Cong insurgency in the south, overseeing the transport of troops and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh trail until his death in 1969. North Vietnam won the war in 1975, and the country was re-unified in 1976 as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Saigon–Gia Định, South Vietnam's former capital, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor.

The details of 's life before he came to power in Vietnam are uncertain. He is known to have used between 50 and 200 pseudonyms. Information on his birth and early life is ambiguous and subject to academic debate. At least four existing official biographies vary on names, dates, places, and other hard facts while unofficial biographies vary even more widely. Aside from being a politician, was a writer, poet, and journalist. He wrote several books, articles, and poems in Chinese, Vietnamese, and French. Provided by Wikipedia