1. Significance and Evaluation- Ho’s Role as Revolutionary and War Leader
• Drew on the traditions of Confucian philosophy- “righteous uprising’ against a
corrupt or illegitimate authority.
• After the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, despite calls within his
party to overthrow Diem, Ho opposed the trend and arguing for a cautious and
maybe peaceful approach for reunification of Vietnam.
• Early 1959- Ho warned the Central Committee not to rely on armed violence
because that would provide an excuse for the US intervention.
• October 1962- warned the North Vietnamese Politburo that the US military was
far stronger than the NVA and that armed conventional warfare would not
succeed.
• Ho promoted the use of guerrilla warfare, mobilising support in South Vietnam
and creating larger popular opinion in the world arena
• Ho was a pragmatist- preferred to compromise as shown in 1946 with France to
remove Chinese nationalist from the North, and also in the Geneva Accords
• Ho believed political action was more important than military action- motivation
of the masses would bring about both political and military success
• Ho was always cautious about his actions and had absolute determination to unify
Vietnam no matter how long it would take.
Significance and Evaluation- Evaluation of Ho (nationalist or Communist?)
Ho was a nationalist
- He had ambitions to overthrow French imperialism in Indochina
- He was determine to fight for Vietnam’s independence
- He always believed in peaceful negotiations first rather the use of military
power
- Ho acknowledged and understood the needs of the Vietnamese people for
nationalism
- He believed that the people should be a part of the government (he
established a United Front in August 1945)
- He was never a brutal dictator like Mao Zedong or Stalin
- He did not believed he was above the peasants
- He worked with communist and nationalists in WW11and First Indochina
War. The Vietminh were a coalition of communists and nationalists

2. Ho was a communist:
- He saw that socialism was the correct system of government for Indochina
- Ho established a totalitarian state in the DRV with himself as leader
- Ho established various communist parties –Revolutionary Youth League;
Vietminh; Lao Dong Party
- He studied the ideas of Karl Marx and Lenin and used their ideas in his
propaganda for the people in Vietnam
- His only foreign links after 1946 were with China and Russia who
provided him with aid in both wars -First and Second Indochina Wars
- He believed in class struggle and abolished all classes in North Vietnam
- Ho’s expansion of the NLF sparked insurgency and conflict within the
South
Some Criticisms of Ho’s leadership:
- Ho allowed no opposition to his role as president
- Ho’s DRV allowed limited freedom and civil rights- article 7 of the
constitution
- Ho used strict censorship and intense propaganda in the DRV from 1954
on
- He admitted responsibility for the execution of thousands during the
Denunciation Campaigns. He apologised for excesses
- Western historians criticise him for being a communist dictator/ tyrant
- Also for being controlled by China and Russia- not true-Ho did not always
take their advice
- Both criticisms are can be debated