General Vo Nguyen Giap (1911-2013) was a steadfast revolutionary soldier, an outstanding and close student of President Ho Chi Minh, a highly respected leader of our Party, State, and people, and the first general of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA).

General Vo Nguyen Giap (1911-2013) was a steadfast revolutionary soldier, an outstanding and close student of President Ho Chi Minh, a highly respected leader of our Party, State, and people, and the first general of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA). Throughout a lifetime encompassing more than 80 years of revolutionary activity, he rendered great service and made exceptionally outstanding contributions to the revolutionary cause of our Party and nation. His name is inseparable from the founding, combat history, and growth of the heroic VPA; the great victories in the two protracted resistance wars against French colonialism and U.S. imperialism; and the cause of building and defending the Fatherland.

In his letter to main-force troops, local troops, and militia and guerrilla forces on the fifth anniversary of the founding of the VPA (December 22, 1949), President Ho Chi Minh stated: “Our army commonly calls General and Commander-in-Chief Vo Nguyen Giap its Eldest Brother. This affectionate name is entirely consistent with the spirit and history of our army: since the formation of the Southward March Unit, the Party and Government have entrusted Comrade Giap and several other cadres with organizing, training, and leading our army”(1). The talent and virtue of the VPA’s “Eldest Brother” are reflected in the following notable achievements:

1. General Vo Nguyen Giap — Entrusted by the Party Central Committee and President Ho Chi Minh With Directly Organizing, Educating, Training, and Building an Ever-Stronger VPA

To build armed forces for the struggle to regain national independence and freedom, in December 1944, leader Ho Chi Minh, on behalf of the Party Central Committee, assigned Vo Nguyen Giap to promptly organize a concentrated armed force. Under his Directive, on December 22, 1944, the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army Team was established in Tran Hung Dao Forest, Hoang Hoa Tham Commune, Nguyen Binh District, Cao Bang Province, comprising 34 cadres and soldiers under Vo Nguyen Giap’s direct charge. This was a momentous event in the history of the Vietnamese revolution, marking the birth of its first main-force unit, the predecessor of the VPA. Immediately afterward, he commanded the unit to victory in its first two battles at Phai Khat and Na Ngan, inspiring revolutionary resolve and momentum among the armed forces and the entire population. As Commander of the revolutionary armed forces, he led and directed them in playing a core role alongside the entire Party and people in carrying out the victorious August General Uprising of 1945. To meet the demands of the protracted resistance war against French colonialism, he advised the Party Central Committee on developing a three-component armed force—militia and guerrilla forces, local troops, and main-force troops—with particular emphasis on the role of main-force troops. He also directly organized the expansion and development of the armed forces in numbers, quality, organizational scale, proficiency, and combat capability; directed the development of guerrilla warfare closely integrated with conventional warfare; and conducted numerous important battles at battalion and regimental levels. Under his leadership and direction, the main-force troops continued to grow in size and strength, forming divisions and coordinating with local troops and militia and guerrilla forces to generate combined strength for strategically decisive campaigns that inflicted heavy attrition on and destroyed large enemy forces. As Minister of National Defense and Secretary of the Central Military Commission, and as campaign Commander and Secretary of the Party Committee, he directly led and commanded numerous important campaigns to victory, including Viet Bac (1947), Border and Midlands (1950), Delta and Hoa Binh (1951), Northwest (1952), Upper Laos (1953), and, as the culminating achievement, the Dien Bien Phu Campaign (1954), forcing the French colonialists to sign the Geneva Accords, end the war, and restore peace in Indochina.

General Vo Nguyen Giap visits female signals and military medical units that participated in the military parade on May 1, 1973. Photo: Vietnam News Agency

During the resistance war against the United States for national salvation, as Minister of National Defense and Commander-in-Chief of the VPA, the General advised the Party Central Committee and directly built and developed the army to meet the requirements of the struggle to liberate the South and reunify the country. He organized the Southern Command, combining the establishment of the Liberation Army of South Vietnam (the South’s main-force troops) and local troops with the deployment of mobile main-force divisions from the North to reinforce and support the southern battlefield. At the same time, he personally submitted recommendations to the Party Central Committee and directed urgent efforts to build the VPA into a regular, modern army. He sent cadres to study in the Soviet Union, China, and fraternal socialist countries to reinforce personnel and improve command proficiency in joint-service and combined-arms operations, preparing a command cadre framework for large formations and army corps; and developed the Air Defense–Air Force, the Navy, the Commando Corps, and other forces. In particular, toward the end of the resistance war against the United States for national salvation, he proposed establishing main-force army corps (1, 2, 3, 4) to strengthen military capabilities to meet the requirements of large-scale joint-service and combined-arms operations and conduct important battles and strategically decisive campaigns. The victory of the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign demonstrated that his proposal was creative, sound, suited to battlefield requirements, and responsive to the objective demands of the army’s development at that time.

Practice demonstrated that the General was not only an accomplished battlefield commander but also a talented military organizer. From the first main-force unit of just 34 soldiers with a few dozen rudimentary rifles and matchlock guns, the army grew into battle-hardened regiments and divisions, large main-force formations and army corps, and military services and branches. From knowing only how to use spears, lances, and grenades, its soldiers learned to operate tanks, artillery, missiles, and aircraft; from the art of small-scale guerrilla fighting, they advanced to modern conventional warfare and joint-service and combined-arms operations, maneuvering with extraordinary speed, fighting swiftly, and winning swiftly to liberate the South and reunify the country. The selection of General Vo Nguyen Giap to directly organize, educate, train, and build the army reflected the absolute trust and strategic vision of the Party Central Committee and President Ho Chi Minh.

2. General Vo Nguyen Giap — An Exceptionally Talented Military Strategist, a Resourceful and Decisive General

Assessing General Vo Nguyen Giap’s strategic talents, French history professor Georges Boudarel wrote: “GIAP was an outstanding military strategist, a gifted general, a prominent figure in the modern history of Vietnam and the world in the 20th century… a foremost military genius of the 20th century and one of the greatest military geniuses of all time”⁽²⁾. At crucial turning points in the resistance war, the General consistently assessed the battlefield situation accurately and exercised sound judgment in making the right decisions. He proposed, directed, and implemented the formula of “independent companies, concentrated battalions” to defeat the large-scale French colonial offensive against Viet Bac (1947); wisely and decisively shifted the attack target from Cao Bang to Dong Khe during the Border Campaign (1950); and advocated dispersing French mobile forces in multiple directions across the Indochina theater to make it difficult for them to reinforce Dien Bien Phu during the Winter–Spring Campaign (1953-1954). In particular, during the Dien Bien Phu Campaign (1954), he carefully weighed the balance of forces on both sides, acting boldly but never arbitrarily and resolving to attack only when victory was assured. He therefore proposed and decided to change the operational approach from “attack swiftly, secure a swift resolution” to “attack with certainty, advance with certainty,” leading the campaign to complete victory.

Immediately after the victorious conclusion of the resistance war against French colonialism, the General was among the first Party leaders to affirm: “We must continue the national liberation revolution through the resistance war against the United States for national salvation to liberate the South and reunify the country”⁽³⁾. Recognizing early the importance of strategic support for the revolution in the South, the General proposed to the Central Committee and directly oversaw the construction and protection of the Truong Son strategic transport route and the opening of the Ho Chi Minh Trail at sea to deliver military supplies, weapons, and equipment promptly to the southern battlefield. Together with the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense, he advised the Party to launch the Route 9–Khe Sanh Campaign to pin down the enemy’s strategic mobile forces in the northern part of the southern theater (Tri Thien), creating favorable conditions for the armed forces and people of the South to launch the Tet General Offensive and Uprising (1968) and destroy enemy forces in the key theaters of Saigon–Gia Dinh, Hue, and Da Nang. He directed the Air Defense–Air Force Service to develop plans and defeat the United States’ strategic air offensive (1972), firmly defending the skies over Hanoi, Hai Phong… and safeguarding the strategic rear that supplied the major southern front. During the Central Highlands Campaign, the General directed the campaign command to move Division 968 from southern Laos to conduct diversionary operations in Pleiku (the northern Central Highlands); secretly maneuver Divisions 10 and 320A from the northern Central Highlands to the main operational direction (the southern Central Highlands), coordinating with Division 316, which moved at great speed from the North, to establish combat positions and launch a surprise breakthrough at Buon Ma Thuot to open the campaign; cut transport routes; and prepare to defeat enemy counterattacks to relieve Buon Ma Thuot, throwing the enemy into panic and forcing its withdrawal from the Central Highlands. In particular, the General seized the strategic opportunity and proposed liberating the South (1975) earlier than originally planned; directed the launch of the Hue–Da Nang Campaign and the liberation of the Truong Sa archipelago; established the eastern Saigon force to coordinate with four other advancing forces; and issued the order: “Greater speed, still greater speed, greater boldness, still greater boldness…” This enabled a timely advance to encircle, attack, and destroy the enemy’s last stronghold in Saigon, bringing the nation’s resistance war against the United States for national salvation to complete victory.

In directing combat operations, the General always deliberated carefully and made bold, decisive, incisive, and sound decisions. He consistently took the initiative to “control and maneuver the enemy,” forcing it to react by changing its dispositions and fighting on our terms, gradually reducing it to a reactive position, inflicting increasing attrition and losses, and ultimately defeating it completely. Remarkably, the General never attended any military school or training course. His military knowledge and talent came entirely from independent study and research into Vietnam’s history of resistance to foreign invasion and the finest military thinking worldwide; his assimilation and creative application of Marxist-Leninist military doctrine and Ho Chi Minh’s military thought; and lessons drawn from his practical experience directing combat. This gave the General his distinctive and unique qualities, earning worldwide admiration and recognition of Vo Nguyen Giap as a “renowned general” and one of the most outstanding commanders in human history. American General Westmoreland described Vo Nguyen Giap as “a military commander of great stature,” while the Western historian Bernard affirmed: “In the foreseeable future, the West will not be able to train a general who can match General Giap”⁽⁴⁾.

3. General Vo Nguyen Giap — An Important Contributor to the Development of Vietnam’s Military Theory of People’s War

Beyond directly commanding the forces that defeated the French colonialists and American imperialist invaders, the General made enormous contributions to the formation and development of Vietnamese military theory in the Ho Chi Minh era. This was the doctrine of people’s war: “pitting the few against the many” and “the weak against the strong,” with the entire population fighting the enemy and the armed forces serving as the core; fighting the enemy comprehensively on every front and in every field, with armed struggle as the primary means; and harnessing combined strength on the principle of using humanity and righteousness to overcome brutality… Vo Nguyen Giap’s military theory assimilated and creatively applied other countries’ experience in military struggle, inherited the nation’s military traditions and Ho Chi Minh’s military thought, and, above all, drew lessons from the practical experience of revolutionary struggle and armed struggle for national liberation. The General consistently emphasized reviewing practical experience and researching and developing Vietnamese military science theory. He focused on identifying the causes of success and failure and deriving lessons and underlying principles from each battle, campaign, theater, and the war as a whole. The General believed: “Reviewing experience is not about criticizing mistakes and those who made them, but primarily about identifying further laws of war in order to achieve even greater victories”⁽⁵⁾. He synthesized his insights in many valuable works of military theory, identifying fundamental principles concerning the building of the People’s Army, wars of national liberation, military art, wars to defend the Fatherland, and the development of all-people national defense… These constitute important theoretical and practical foundations that require further study and application to the current strengthening and consolidation of national defense and security.

In the early period of the resistance war against French colonialism, the General focused on studying and successfully applying guerrilla warfare and developing conventional warfare, progressing from small-scale to medium- and large-scale engagements, and from ambushes to mobile warfare, positional warfare, and pursuit of the enemy. He coordinated operations on the forward front with the establishment of footholds for attacks behind enemy lines and in the enemy’s rear, at various scales and in various forms, across different types of terrain (mountains, midlands, plains, and urban areas), using multiple military branches and combining them in joint-service and combined-arms operations. General Vo Nguyen Giap’s military thought and theory were also clearly expressed in a range of exceptionally distinctive, creative, and effective approaches to people’s war and all-people, comprehensive, protracted resistance… These included the military art of “pitting the weak against the strong,” “using small forces to fight large forces,” and “using superior quality to overcome greater numbers”; the relationship between concentration and dispersal; assessments of the balance of forces between the enemy and our side; strategic offensive thinking; mobilizing the strength of the entire population to fight the enemy; theories of guerrilla and local warfare; coordination among the three components of the armed forces and between local and mobile forces; fighting courageously and resourcefully, maintaining strict discipline, fighting only when victory was assured, and limiting casualties and bloodshed; advancing from partial victories to complete victory; combining armed struggle with political and diplomatic struggle and exploiting internal contradictions within the enemy; the role of political and morale factors; and building the rear and ensuring strategic logistical support… These views and ideas gave Vo Nguyen Giap’s military theory its distinctive, unique character. They not only contributed to defeating two powerful imperial powers—French colonialism and American imperialism—and firmly defending the Fatherland’s southwestern and northern borders, but also guided the research and development of Vietnamese military theory, the building of the army, the consolidation of national defense, and the defense of the Fatherland in the new stage of the revolution.

4. General Vo Nguyen Giap — A Talented Leader and Politician, an Exemplary Model of Revolutionary Ethics, and a Highly Respected Figure Within the Army, the Party, the State, Among the People, and Among International Friends

Throughout his work organizing, directing, and managing the army, General Vo Nguyen Giap not only fulfilled his responsibilities and duties with distinction as Commander-in-Chief and General Commander, but also excelled as Secretary of the Central Military Commission and Secretary of the Party Committee for numerous campaigns, truly demonstrating his abilities as a talented leader and politician of the Vietnam People’s Army. In leading and commanding the army, he consistently adhered closely to the Party’s political line and direction, upheld the principles of leadership and command, and proposed many sound, scientifically grounded policies and measures suited to the requirements of the struggle for national liberation, the capabilities of the armed forces, and the country’s circumstances. Throughout “the two resistance wars spanning more than 30 years, the Politburo never rejected any strategic proposal made by Vo Nguyen Giap as Secretary of the Central Military Commission and Commander-in-Chief, or by the collective leadership of the Central Military Commission and the General Command”⁽⁶⁾. In leading the army, the General always emphasized building clean and strong Party organizations and fostering revolutionary qualities, political resolve, combat resilience, military tactical skills, and operational capabilities among officers and soldiers. He closely and skillfully combined political struggle with armed, diplomatic, and ideological struggle and efforts to win over soldiers and enemy personnel; and national defense with economic development and security… to achieve comprehensive results in both resistance and nation-building.

Throughout his revolutionary career, General Vo Nguyen Giap always regarded the people as the foundation. Rather than adopting the view that “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” he believed in “people first, weapons second” and “politics before military affairs.” The entry on Vo Nguyen Giap by the editorial board of the French Encyclopedia stated: “In Vo Nguyen Giap, the politician comes before the military commander”⁽⁷⁾. The General deeply understood the relationships between politics and military affairs, between the people and the army, between people and weapons, and between military morale and technical equipment. He attached utmost importance to political and morale factors and to building resolve to fight; continually fostered a relationship in which “the army and the people are like fish and water”; and nurtured bonds between commanders and soldiers like those between elder and younger brothers. He respected the principle of “putting the common good above all else,” placing collective interests above personal interests, and never claimed victories as his own achievements. In particular, as Commander-in-Chief and supreme commander of the army, the General always upheld humanitarian values, valued the lives of his troops, felt the pain of every soldier’s wound, and mourned every drop of a combatant’s blood. His unwavering principle in directing warfare was: “The magnitude of each victory must be inversely proportional to the total number of wounded and fallen soldiers in that victory… we must secure the greatest possible victory while reducing casualties among officers and soldiers to the lowest possible level”⁽⁸⁾. The General exemplified “Wisdom, Courage, Humanity, Trustworthiness, Integrity, and Loyalty”—the six virtues of a general identified by Uncle Ho—as well as integrity, simplicity, tolerance, humility, solidarity, and wholehearted love for his comrades and compatriots. His love for humanity blended with his love for his homeland and country, leaving military officers and soldiers, the Vietnamese people, and international friends with the image of a virtuous and talented leader and politician, an outstanding practitioner, and a steadfast revolutionary who devoted his entire life to the army, the country, and the people.

Embodying all the qualities of an organizer and builder of the army, a skilled battlefield commander, an outstanding military theorist, and a talented and exemplary political leader… General Vo Nguyen Giap was deeply respected and honored by the people as the “People’s General.” Admired and honored by military officers and soldiers as the “Eldest Brother” of the Vietnam People’s Army, he was truly worthy of being called the “Commander of commanders, Political Commissar of political commissars, General of generals, and Teacher of military masters.”

The commemoration of the 110th anniversary of General Vo Nguyen Giap’s birth takes place as the entire Party, people, and army actively implement the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and have successfully organized the elections of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and People’s Councils at all levels for the 2021-2026 term. This is a political observance of profound political and social significance, honoring and expressing gratitude for General Vo Nguyen Giap’s immense contributions to the revolutionary cause of our Party, nation, and Army and to the world revolutionary movement. It also contributes to outreach and education on revolutionary historical traditions, patriotism, political thought, ethics, and ways of life among all sections of the population, especially Vietnam’s younger generation. Learning from and following General Vo Nguyen Giap’s example, officers and soldiers throughout the army and militia and self-defense forces nationwide continue to uphold the traditions of the heroic Army and strive to fulfill their assigned duties with distinction. In particular, they continue to uphold the noble qualities of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” and the nation’s traditions of solidarity, mutual support, and compassion, resolutely and effectively implementing measures to help successfully contain the COVID-19 pandemic and bring peaceful lives to the people.

General, Dr. Phan Van Giang

Member of the Politburo, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of National Defense

This is an automated translation. If you notice any errors, please contact the Department of Communications, National Economics University at phongtruyenthong@neu.edu.vn.