Ho Chi Minh - The Leader of North Vietnam 

Most Vietnamese fighters during the Vietnam War didn't believe or didn't fight for communism... They were fighting for Independence, freedom, and one Vietnam.

His early life and beliefs demonstrate the old truth: "Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent revolutions inevitable."

“Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom”

The French and Americans failed to see that the NVA and VCs main driving goal wasn't communism. Instead it was independence.

0:05 “I’m not Vietnamese, I do not speak Vietnamese, but the trees do”

His country defeated 4 of the most powerful nations back then USA, Japan, China and France respectively

French: We have the most heavily armed fortress in Indochina Vietnamese: We have the high ground

Best wishes for an outstanding leader and revolutionary - Ho Chi Minh! Regards from Poland!🇵🇱 Long-life friendship with Vietnam!🇻🇳

That ship leaving in 1931 and arriving in 1911 must have been pretty amazing!

Ho President lives with Vietnamese people forever. He led all the patriotic hearts of Vietnamese people to defeat the two mightiest nations in the 20th century. His life and his devotion to Vietnam could not be verbalized in words. Not only Vietnam but also other oppressive countries in the world had recognized him as an immortal symbol to fight against imperialism, to fight for national independence. The greatest man ever. Must say that he lives permanently in my heart as well as all Vietnamese patriots.

The fact that both North and South Vietnamese governments called him "uncle" and "father of the Nation" told it all.

One of the things I love about this channel is you get to see and learn about other country’s perspectives and history. As an American I only knew of the US involvement in Vietnam. This really helped paint a broader picture of Vietnam’s history. Thank you for putting out so many awesome videos!

Simon you should oil up your beautiful bald head so it shines like a star

We, the young generation of Vietnam never forget the sacrifice of our father's generations leading by President Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap and many other leaders. In the day when our beloved General died, I went directly to his house to pay tribute to him. Our nation cried in the day that Uncle Ho died and that day. I will never forget that day.

"US sent advisors", yeah "advisors", few of those 20000 or so were anything else but a military force.

Ho Chi Minh is a living image of revolutionary morality. A special feature in him is modesty, sincere simplicity. The late Chilean President Salvador Allende said about Uncle Ho: "Behind his soft appearance is a strong, brave, indomitable spirit ... At first, the people from the West laughed at his clothes, then after a while, many of them realized that his special clothes proved that wherever he was, among the elites or among the masses, he never forgot that he was one of the Vietnamese people that he loved so much ... If anyone wants to find a word that can sum up all of President Ho Chi Minh's life, that word is “simplicity and utter modesty”. In an article entitled "Ho Chi Minh - Winning a Vision" published in German magazine In Asien, author Dierk Szekielda once wrote that his admiration for President Ho Chi Minh and for the vitality of Vietnamese poeople had inspired him to write the article. Dierk Szekielda praised President Ho Chi Minh as a patriot and a man who enlightened the revolutionary struggle of the Vietnamese people, a man of extraordinary quality. The Manila Times (Phillippines) once called President Ho Chi Minh a symbol of Asia for succeeding in his leadership role with a exemplary, wholeheartedly, whole-heartedly serving the interests of the people, making a modern history, and so, he is one of the "most noble and most respected figures of the time"

I have huge respect for the Vietnamese people the determination and resilience it took to keep fighting and defeat the worlds most powerful nations is the highest example of the fight for freedom.

Wow I'm from Indonesia and seeing that the struggle for Vietnamese independence is very similar to ours astonished me. Nice video as always.

The date of Ho Chi Minh's death is Sep. 2, which is also the day he declared independence for Vietnam on Sep. 2, 1945.

I was a Special Forces officer and the speaker at my graduation, was the god father of Special Forces, Col. Aaron Bank. After an illustrius career in the OSS in Europe, he was sent to Vietnam and met and traveled with Ho Chi Minh. As he looked out on the CIBs in the classroom, he said, "Guys, I hate to have to tell you this, but the Vietnam War wasn't necessary. Ho Chi Minh was more nationalist than Communist and we could have worked with him. I wrote a report and sent a copy to Truman. He ignored it." Who knows what would have happened if Vietnamese Independence had been recognized in 1954. Lé Duán -- much more of an ideologue than Ho -- wouldn't have assumed so much power during the 1960s as Ho's health failed and the aftermath of US defeat might very well have been more democratic.

Interesting fact: Ho Chi Minh's death was the same day as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam's declaration of independence day, thus news of his death were delayed from the North Vietnamese people to about more than a day after the people celebrated (also his passing date was changed for a while until after the end of the war) as to not affect national morale.

Wow, from a pastry chef, to a revolutionary, to leader of his country. Really interesting guy.

Remember,Uncle Ho is a nationalist,not communjst.He always fights for our freedom,our independence,and his national interest.He sent a letter to Roosevelt to call a help,but he refused,so our Uncle chose the communist...

When the Japanese declared Vietnam an independent nation, Ho Chi Minh wrote Vietnam's Declaration of Independence, copying the famous quote from the American Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

As a Brit, I went to Ho Chi Minh City last year and was amazed by the people and food of Vietnam. Yes they have plenty of work to do in building up their country and getting the country cleaner too. I recommend any westerner and especially American to visit the War Museum and see the evils that was done to the Vietenamese people by the United States, it would shock many Westerners to the core that we in the West are just as capable of doing Evil than just good!!

One of the greatest leaders of our nation. The man traveled the world, combined different things into his own ideology. People call us communist cause they don't know us. The beginning of our Constitution of Independence written by Uncle Ho is inspired by that of America:"Independence, Freedom and Happiness". The man didn't follow Capitalism, Communism or Maozism whatever you call it, he created Ho Chi Minh ideology which we still study to this day.

Coming from the perspective of a draft eligible American man born in the 1950's, this is the best Biographics video ever presented. If you were born anywhere else in the world in any other decade I can understand how you might feel differently, but this video spoke to me to my bones. Many many thanks for putting this together.

Could you please do a bio on Ip Man? Thank you :)

One of the things that only Vietnamese knows is when we was in a great famine, Uncle Ho almost die of starvation because he refused to eat food, insisting in sharing his portion with the people.

1954: *exists* Vietnam: It is over France bois, we have the high ground.

I was born in the same village as HCM. My home is about 2 km from Hoang Tru. My great grandfather is some of the very first Vietcong soldiers in the period of Indochina war, later being killed by a Vietnamese traitor because he didn't betray his comrades, it is a little funny that now I mostly work with Japanese and Western people, who once invaded our country last century. Currently, HCM's house is preserved for tourists to visit and listen to his whole lifetime storyline, it is almost the same condition as when HCM left for seeking freedom, very recommend to visit if you have time in Vietnam ( but I not sure whether there is an English speaking local guide or not).

As a Muslim, I respect Ho Chi Minh and his Bravery in the face of American Invasion. He was a Hero who humilated the Tyrannical American empire.

Ho Chi Minh -The Leader of Vietnam. No North or South, only one Vietnam.

Who will win? The World's Only Ultrapower? OR One Pastry Boi?

Another interesting fact for those who like culinary history, Ho Chi Minh was a pastry chef for Auguste Escoffier at the Ritz-Carlton in England. A key figure in french cooking who developed the recipes and the kitchen brigade system.

dude, I'm really getting into these bios you do!!! really well done, informative AND entertaining!!

how about Vo Nguyen Giap for another video?

As a Vietnamese, I saw that there are some biases when we talked about communists in VietNam, this video taught me about Ho Chi Minh far more than I could ever learn in my own school from an unbias standpoint, thank you a lot !. Much love from VietNam

Interesting factoid I learned on "Jeopardy" recently - Ho Chi Minh worked at the Omni Parker Hotel in Boston from 1912-1913. Malcom X also worked there in the 1940s.

I have learnt more from Simon than I did in my entire years studying history in school.

I am a vietnamese people and I'm so proud of that . The young generations are so grateful with everything 'Bác' has done for my country , for our generations. 'Bác' is a vocative way which We often call him. VietNam underwent a lot of wars with the mighty empires but with patriotism and courage of Vietnamese people, We passed everything .

Oh man, I was waiting for this! Thank you! Very well presented!

Taught me more than my history teacher ever would. 🙏🙏

Way to go Ho! The thriving, safe, uncorrupt, and wealthy country of modern day Vietnam is a glowing testament to your legacy.

Do a bio on Jose Rizal! He's a very similar figure to Ho Chi Minh - a national hero who helped inspire a successful anti-colonial revolution that, in turn, resulted in a subsequent US invasion. Neither lived long enough to see their countries truly independent. He also happens to be one of the most dapper revolutionaries in history. He's woefully underrepresented in Western media and his story deserves to be heard.

Great video! Thank you Simon, Steve, Jennifer and Shell.

Uno de los más grandes héroes de el siglo XX, gloria eterna al tío Ho!

I love this bald boy.Cant sleep without this. Love your chanell, keep up the good work!

I was just earlier wondering if you had done one of these on Ho Chi Minh, Awesome timing!

You knocked this one out of the ballcourt Simon, Bravo! I actually knew exactly zilch about Ho Chi Minh, other than he was a communisr, then I learn on american patriot radio, he adapted an american style constitution, and now the US back down because of french and british colonial interests... I literally had to pick my jaw off the floor several times at the ineptitude to the highest degree,.. Thanks,

Back in the days, young boys, especially at their 20s, volunteered to the battlefield. So many of them, just want to see the day that their country sees its independence

Yknow the early biographics videos were horribly inaccurate as well as most of the toptenz videos, but over time they've become brilliant. I used to hate them, now I love them. Talk about progress

Thank you for this wonderful video. I’m Vietnamese and though we did learn a lot about him in history class, but it seem that I could never actually remember any thing about Ho Chi Minh. He was such a great leader in my country, and you help me remember more about him than any of my history teachers ever did.

Thanks for this one in particular. Been waiting for one on this guy.

Why Ho Chi Minh disappeared in the 1930's ?? He was called back to Soviet Unions and locked there. In 1930, he was ordered by the USSR to form the Indochina Communist Party. But he disobeyed them to form only Vietnam Communist Party. To this point, USSR realized that Ho Chi Minh is not an extreme-communist but a nationalist, so they called him back and told him to “study more” while giving another total-communist to run the VCP so Moscow can control it. But HCM was right, VCP could not function properly as they followed the USSR’s policies - which are unrealistic in Việt Nam. So USSR “released” him to see what he can do with a cautiuos eye. That was why when Việt Nam claimed independence in 1945, USSR did not support - they knew HCM is not really a communist, if not at all and they could not control him like the ones in Eastern Europe.

Great job on this. I learned more here than in any classroom. Thanks for doing this one :-)

Wow...his parents named him after the city....that was a really cruel thing to do

Thank you for delivering another inspiring video.

I always look forward to new videos!

Believe it or not, my grandfather knew Ho personally. My grandfather parted ways with Ho when the US got involved in Vietnam. My grandfather only wanted to fight the French and had no wish to fight the Americans.

why am I watching this, I’m vietnamese and I already know this. Yet I can’t stop.

Thank you so much for the great history lesson. :)

Thanks for sharing this information

Good history! I like the last sentence especially.

He's not the leader of North Vietnam, he's the leader of all Vietnamese and a huge number of Cambodians too.

Interesting for some students like me! Very useful. Thank you very much

Yay another new video thank you very much!

How can you talk about Dien Bien Phu without mention the man who made it possible Vo Nguyen Giap, he gets so little credit for the role he played in the Viet Minh. He was the made that made most of Ho Chi Minh's military victories possible.

As a companion to this, do a bio on Lt. Colonel A. Peter Dewey. When assigned to Indochina with the O.S.S, he sent his superiors a warning that the U.S should get out of Indochina years before the full US phase of the Vietnam Conflict.

Thank you so much for making this vid. Thank you for spending time for ours country history

Best and shortest doc You guys are awesome Keep it up 👍

"You mention that atrocities were committed on Ho Chi Minh's part but treat it as something only committed by him or by communism. If deaths are an atrocity then the capitalist landowners and colonialists re far far more guilty. When one is considering the scale if social, political and economic change taking place, there will be capitalist forces trying to stop it, so there must be a degree if control to protect the revolution. In white Europe, the revolutions that introduced the free market and democracy wee similarly violent during and after, but they get a free pass. This million people who moved south to "escape communism", why did they need to leave, you give no reason. These were wealthy capitalists who saw that they would lose their stolen and corrupt wealth under Ho Chi Minh and saw a way of keeping it under the corrupt, exploitative system if south Vietnam." - Ed Skeateds, the guy below - The Vietnamese people will judge their leader whether his regime commit actrocities or not , no need a guys reading imperialist propaganda judge their leader. We Vietnamese( the majority 95 milions) respect and always remember him as the great leader of our country.

Dammit Simon, I just finished a project about him yesterday.

Nice one! Thanks.

Wow this one was great Simon! Keep it up!

Right on time! My class just started studying the 🇻🇳 war

2:01 "he rapidly came" Oh that's ok Ho

Another great presentation, Prof. Whistler!

One of the best channels on RU-vid. I love it.

Love your work! I was wondering if you'd ever do an alan watts biographic?

Great video! Better than any other video on RU-vid covering the man himself. A few small critiques however - Do not mistake this as disappointment, merely observations from a man who is a Historian of the mans life. 1. You didn’t mention Phan Boi Chau at all. The previous successful Confucian Vietnamese Nationalist who Ho had previously looked up to and then betrayed to secure his own freedom. Those in Phans faction would later face the choice of execution or assimilation into Ho’s faction. 2. There was no mention of the Indochinese Workers Party. That was a major stepping stone in his political career and to this day Viet Nam has de facto control over Laos and Cambodia despite the party being dismantled officially. 3. There were about 10,000 Japanese who stayed behind as advisors to the Viet Minh and greatly drilled and modernized Vietnamese guerilla tactics. 4. He was certainly married to a woman in Shanghai, and most likely had a romance with a French woman during his time in Paris. The Communist government has however strongly denied these claims despite the former having certificates on record and numerous anecdotes on the latter that even predate his acceptance of Communism. 5. His body is on display to this day for all to see like those of Lenin, Mao, and Kim Il-Sung despite his wishes being for cremation. 6. You absolutely butchered some of the Vietnamese names (Bao Dai and Ngo Dinh Diem in particular). I understand though, I’m a white American who used to not pronounce the proper tones myself when I first began studying Vietnamese. They are hard to do and even consonants have their own tones. Some however you got almost completely correct. To this day I have trouble pronouncing some words that begin with ‘Ng’ and my exes parents would always tease me for it. All very minor issues though and as I’ve said, I would nitpick just because I’m a historian of his life. All in all I give it as just an overview and summary a 9/10 with the only major offenders being that you didn’t mention Phan’s betrayal and Ho’s ultimate embalming. As always though great work.

These bios are great good work

Wow great video 👍👍💖💖👏👏

Recently on Jeopardy they showed a photo of a young Ho Chi Minh working in a Boston hotel.

Vilifying Ho Chi Minh was probably the toughest job American propaganda ever faced. He had every admirable quality in a leader.

Whistler my man! dropping some knowledge, that was very informative!

I do believe I’ll go all the way to the beginning of your videos

Hero. ♥️ 🇻🇳

he was actually pretty cool. i read the excerpts of his writings and besides the political stuff... i think he was a good man for his people

i really enjoy your videos ,cheers

Learned a few things, thanks.

Bac Ho said: "Freedom for my people! Independence for my country! That's all I want and everything I understand!"

Do a bio on Jim Morrison..

am i the only one that likes to put on Biographics videos just for Simon's relaxing voice????? Like- Agree | Comment- Disagree

Wow thanks. I've requested Uncle Ho!!!!

One of the greatest channels. Keep at it

I needed this last week for my quiz. Where were you?

Comunist or not he is a vietnamese, he had fought against foreign invaders and led us to victory

Again your videos have thought me so much in 30 minutes then 14 years of education please keep up the good work.

Its amazing how you achieve to publish these videos on a daily scale.