Vo Nguyen Giap
Vo Nguyen Giap (1912-) was the principal military commander for the Communist forces in Vietnam, both against the French as leader of the Viet Minh troops, and the first Senior General of the People's Army of Viet Nam, and Minister of Defense until 1980.
He wrote extensively, perhaps best known for People's war, People's Army[1]. Giap could be frank within government circles,[2] write in dense Communist revolutionary jargon,[2] or speak eloquently, as in discussions with some of his former opponents. [3]
His approach draws from Marxist-Leninist and Maoist principles of inherently grand strategic political warfare; "Not only did we fight in the military field but in the political, economic and cultural fields." [1] Its execution ties strongly to Mao's doctrine of protracted war, which includes high attrition as a basic premise.[4]
Every minute, hundreds of thousands of people die all over the world. The life or death of a hundred, a thousand, or of tens of thousands of human beings, even if they are his compatriots, represents very little. [5]
Early life
Born to a peasant family that was educated and nationalist, he entered at the Quoc Hoc French school in Hue in 1922. At the age of 14, he joined the Tan Viet (Revolutionary Party for a great Viet Nam), was expelled for political activism in 1927, and participated in the unsuccessful Yen Bai revolt by the VNQDD in 1930. [6] Returning to school, he eventually received a law degree in 1937 and a doctorate in political economics in 1938; he had taught history while his study and his early career has often been described as "teacher".
He joined the Indochinese Communist Party, founded in 1930 by Ho Chi Minh, possibly somewhat after its creation, but was active in it by 1936.
Second World War
Revolutionary warfare against France
After a year of training the Viet Minh, he launched the first major offensive on October 1, 1950.[7] Combat continued until the decisive defeat of French forces, in 1954, at Dien Bien Phu.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Vo Nguyen Giap (1962), People's war, People's Army, Praeger Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "PWPA" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 2.0 2.1 , Strengthening National Defense and Building Up the People's Armed Forces, "World Situation and Our Party's International Mission" as seen from Hanoi, 1960-1964., Saigon: U.S. Mission in Vietnam, September 1960, Vietnam Documents and Research Notes No. 98 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Giap-Sept1960" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Moore, Harold G. (Hal) & Joseph L. Galloway (2008), We are soldiers still: a journey back to the battlefields of Vietnam, Harper Collins
- ↑ Mao Tse-tung (1967), On Protracted War, Foreign Languages Press
- ↑ Mallin, Jay (1973), General Vo Nguyen Giap, North Vietnamese Military Leader, SamHar Press, p. 9
- ↑ Patti, Archimedes L. A (1980). Why Viet Nam? Prelude to America's Albatross. University of California Press. , pp. 483-484
- ↑ Fall, Bernard B. (1967), Street without Joy (Fourth, Shocken paperback 1972 ed.), Schocken, pp. 29ff