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{{Infobox officeholder
| name         = Ho Chi Minh
| office       = Chairman of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam|Central Committee]] of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Workers' Party of Vietnam]]
| native_name  = {{nobold|Hồ Chí Minh}}
| image        = Ho Chi Minh 1946.jpg
| predecessor  = ''Position created''
| successor    = ''Position abolished''
| office2      = [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam|First Secretary]] of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam|Central Committee]] of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Workers' Party of Vietnam]]
| predecessor2 = [[Trường Chinh]]
| party        = [[French Section of the Workers' International]]<br><small>(1919–1921)</small><br>[[French Communist Party]]<br><small>(1921–1925)</small><br>[[File:Flag of the Communist Party of Vietnam.svg|25px]] [[Communist Party of Vietnam]]<br><small>(1925–1969)</small>
| successor2   = [[Lê Duẩn]]
| birth_name   = Nguyễn Sinh Cung
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|df=yes|1890|5|19}}
| birth_place  = [[Kim Liên]], [[Nghệ An Province]], [[French Indochina]]
| death_date   = {{death date and age|1969|09|02|1890|05|19|df=yes}}
| death_place  = [[Hanoi]], [[North Vietnam]]
| nationality  = {{hlist|Vietnamese|French}}
| spouse = [[Ho Chi Minh#Legacy and personality cult|none (disputed)]]
| relations        = [[Bạch Liên]] (or Nguyễn Thị Thanh) (Sister)<br>[[Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm]] (or Nguyễn Tất Đạt) (brother)<br> (Nguyễn Sinh Nhuận) (brother)
|parents = Nguyễn Sinh Sắc (father)<br>Hoàng Thị Loan (mother)
|alma_mater = [[Communist University of the Toilers of the East]]
|profession = Politician
| term_start   = 19 February 1951
| term_end     = 2 September 1969
| term_start2  = 1 November 1956
| term_end2    = 10 September 1960
| office3      = [[List of Presidents of Vietnam|1st]] [[President of Vietnam|President]] of the [[North Vietnam|Democratic Republic of Vietnam]]
| term_start3  = 2 September 1945
| term_end3    = 2 September 1969
| predecessor3 = Position established<br>[[Bảo Đại]] <small>(as Emperor)</small>
| successor3   = [[Tôn Đức Thắng]]
| office4      = [[List of Prime Ministers of Vietnam|1st]] [[Prime Minister of Vietnam|Prime Minister]] of the [[North Vietnam|Democratic Republic of Vietnam]]
| term_start4  = 2 September 1945 
| term_end4    = 20 September 1955
| predecessor4 = Position established<br>[[Trần Trọng Kim]] <small>(as Prime Minister of the [[Empire of Vietnam]])</small> 
| successor4   = [[Phạm Văn Đồng]]
|module = 
}}

'''Hồ Chí Minh''', born '''Nguyễn''' '''Sinh Cung''', (19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969) was the [[leader]] of the [[Democratic Republic of Vietnam]] and the [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam]].

==Early life==
'Hồ Chí Minh', meaning 'Hồ with the will of light', was not his real name. He took that name around the time of the [[August Revolution]] in [[1945]]. His real name was '''Nguyễn Sinh Cung''' when he was born. At age ten, he changed his name to '''Nguyễn Tất Thành''', according to [[Confucian]] tradition.  He would later use many [[pseudonym]]s (false names). Other than 'Hồ Chí Minh', his most famous name was probably '''Nguyễn Ái Quốc''' meaning "Nguyễn (by far the most common Vietnamese last name) who loves his country." The Vietnamese people commonly refer to him as '''Bác Hồ''' (Uncle Hồ).

Nguyễn studied in [[Paris]] from 1919 to 23. In those years, he started following [[communism]] and began to believe that [[Vietnam]]- then a French [[colony]]-should be [[Independence|independent]]. During this time he wrote a letter, which was ignored, to [[United States President]] [[Woodrow Wilson]], asking for U.S. military aid to help overthrow the French [[Colonialism|colonial]] rulers. He joined the [[French Communist Party]], and started visiting [[Moscow]] regularly, as a member of the [[Asia]]n branch of the [[Comintern]].

==First Indochina War==
Hồ led a [[First Indochina War|revolution]] against the French rulers of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954. After overthrowing the [[French Indochina|French]], a communist [[regime]] supported by the [[Soviet Union]] and [[People's Republic of China|China]] was set up in the northern half of the [[country]], with himself leading the country as both president and prime minister. But, an anticommunist [[government]] supported by the [[United States]], was set up in the [[South Vietnam|southern half of the country]] because the United States did not want all of Vietnam to be communist during the [[Cold War]].
[[File:HoChiMinhTelegramToTruman1946.png|thumb|left|300x300px|1946 appeal from Hồ Chi Minh to U.S. President [[Harry Truman]], asking Truman for aid in fighting French.]]
{{infobox Vietnamese
|title=Vietnamese name
|vie=Hồ Chí Minh
|hn={{linktext|胡|志|明}}}}
{{infobox Vietnamese
|title=Vietnamese birth name
|vie=Nguyễn Sinh Cung
|hn={{linktext|阮|生|恭}}
}}

==Second Indochina War (Vietnam War)==
South Vietnam and America refused to hold an [[election]] and unite the two halves into one country because they feared a communist victory. Hồ then led Vietnam into a military and political struggle to bring the rice fields of South Vietnam under his communist rule. Two decades of [[Vietnam War|war]] followed that killed millions of Vietnamese. The United States supported South Vietnam with military aid, and the Soviet Union 
and the People's Republic of China continued to support North Vietnam's war effort.

In the end, North Vietnam won the war several years after Hồ Chí Minh had died.

==Death and legacy==
Suffering from [[diabetes]] and heart problems, Hồ Chí Minh died on the morning of September 2, 1969, of a [[heart attack]].

In his [[Will (law)|will]], he said he wished to be cremated and have his ashes be buried in hills in the north, center, and south of Vietnam. However, his followers embalmed his body and put it in a tomb, the [[Hồ Chí Minh Mausoleum|mausoleum]], where he is still worshipped today.

In [[1976]], in the style of the Soviet Union, the victorious communists in North Vietnam renamed the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, to [[Ho Chi Minh City]] in honour of their leader.
{{Commonscat|Ho Chi Minh}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho Chi Minh}}
[[Category:1890 births]]
[[Category:1969 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from heart failure]]
[[Category:Presidents of Vietnam]]
[[Category:Former dictators]]
[[Category:History of Vietnam]]
[[Category:General Secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam]]