The Selected Works Of Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969), real name Nguyen Tat Thanh, was a Vietnamese Communist leader and the principal force behind the Vietnamese struggle against French colonial rule and American imperialism. Contained in this volume is a selection of his most important works. These works span a lifetime of struggle.

Reprint. Originally published: Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1973.

This collection comprises the most important speeches and writings of President Ho chi Minh for the period extending from 1920 to 1969.

To grasp the complicated causes and consequences of the Vietnam War, one must understand the extraordinary life of Ho Chi Minh, the man generally recognized as the father of modern Vietnam. Duiker provides startling insights into Ho's true motivation, as well as into the Soviet and Chinese roles in the Vietnam War.

When Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces on April 30, 1975, the communist victory sent shockwaves around the world. Using ingenious strategy and tactics, Hồ Chi Minh had shown it was possible for a tiny nation to defeat a mighty Western power. The same tactics have been studied and replicated by revolutionary forces and terrorist organizations across the globe. Drawing on recently declassified documents and rare interviews with Hồ Chi Minh's strategists and operatives, this book offers fresh perspective on his blueprint and the reasons behind both the French (1945-1954) and the American (1959-1975) failures in Vietnam, concluding with an analysis of the threat this model poses today.

Ho Chi Minh explores the life of this globally important twentieth-century figure and offers new insights into his lengthy career, including his often-forgotten involvement with British intermediaries in 1945–46 and with the United States in 1944–45. Ho was the father of his nation, a major protagonist in the Cold War and anti-colonial struggle, and the promoter of a distinctive Vietnamese form of communism. This biography charts his life from his early years and education in Europe to his establishment of the revolutionary pro-communist movement, the Viet Minh, and his subsequent rise to power. Placing important emphasis on his role as a military organizer while stressing his preference for diplomatic solutions, this book contains detailed analysis of the complex talks with France and failure to prevent the Franco-Viet Minh war in 1946. It also follows Ho’s complex relationships with America, China, France, and Russia, and explores the Vietnam War and his legacy. In addition to providing extensive coverage of the 1954 Geneva Conference, the rivalry between Ho and First Secretary Le Duan, and the 1968 Tet Offensive, Ho Chi Minh is also the first English-language biography of Ho to pay close attention to his attitude to women and their role within the communist party. It is the perfect introduction for students of Vietnamese history and twentieth-century history more broadly.