HSC MODERN HISTORY - Kiko & Miles



HSC MODERN HISTORY

Part III: Personalities in the Twentieth Century

HO CHI MINH

BOARD OF STUDIES SYLLABUS

Option 6: Ho Chi Minh 1890–1969

Principal focus: Through the study of Ho Chi Minh, students gain an understanding of the role of this personality in a period of national or international history.

Students learn about:

1 Historical context

– decolonisation in Indochina

– Japanese conquest during World War II

– rise of Asian nationalism and communism

– the Cold War and the policy of containment

2 Background

– family and education in Vietnam

– Western influences and travels: France and USSR

3 Rise to prominence

– formation of the Indochina Communist Party

– experiences in China

– development of Viet Minh and propaganda units

– resistance to Japanese occupation

4 Significance and evaluation

– Declaration of Independence

– the French War (First Indochina War)

– Geneva Conference

– the Second Indochina War

– role and impact as a revolutionary and war leader

– evaluation: for example nationalist, communist?

HO CHI MINH: PAST EXAM QUESTIONS

Section III. Personalities in the Twentieth Century 25 marks

Attempt BOTH parts of Question 13

Allow about 45 minutes for this section

Answer the question in a SEPARATE writing booklet. Extra writing booklets are available.

In this section you will be assessed on how well you:

■ present a sustained, logical, well-structured answer to the question

■ support your argument with relevant, accurate, historical information

■ use historical terms and concepts appropriately

Marks

Part A 10 marks

Part B 15 marks

Answer BOTH parts of this question in relation to ONE of the twentieth-century personalities listed below.

Write the name of the personality you have studied on the front of your writing booklet(s) under your student number.

[pic]

2013

(a) Describe  the  rise  to  prominence  of  the  personality  you  have  studied. 10

(b) Evaluate  the  significance  of  the  personality  you  have  studied  to  his/her  period  of national  and/or  international  history

2012

(a) Describe THREE significant factors which resulted in the prominence of the

personality you have studied.

(b) To what extent did the personality you have studied have a positive impact on his or her times?

2011

(a) Provide a detailed description of THREE significant events in the life of the personality you have studied

.

(b) Assess the contribution of the personality you have studied to national and international history.

2010

(a) Describe the life of the personality you have studied.

(b) ‘People are swept along by events. Some individuals use events to advantage.’

How accurate is this statement in relation to the personality you have studied?

2009

(a) Outline the life of the personality you have studied

(b) “individuals are products of their times’. How accurate is this statement in relation to the personality you have studied

2008

(a) Describe the personal background and the historical context of the personality you have studied.

(b) ‘History is about winners.’ How accurate is this statement in relation to the personality you have studied?

2007

(a) Describe the role played by the personality you have studied in national AND/OR international history.

(b) ‘Events shape people more than people shape events.’ How accurate is this statement in relation to the personality you have studied?

2006

(a) Outline the main features in the background and rise to prominence of the twentieth-century personality you have studied.

(b) To what extent does history present us with a balanced interpretation of this personality?

NOTE THAT THIS QUESTION IS IN 2 SECTIONS. YOU MUST ANSWER BOTH SECTIONS IN SEPARATE BOOKLETS

THERE IS 45 MINUTES, 800 TO 1000 WORDS AND 25 MARKS IN TOTAL FOR THIS SECTION SO ALLOW:

• PART A: 10 MARKS 15 MINUTES AND 300 to 400 WORDS

• PART B 15 MARKS 30 MINUTES AND 500 to 600 WORDS

• The first part will require a description, outline or narrative and the second part will require analysis, assessment or evaluation of the personality.

• The second part will require analysis, assessment or evaluation. To do that knowing different interpretations of the personality is essential e.g. Ho - was he a hardline Communist who caused the deaths of millions of Vietnamese or was he a freedom fighter, fighting to free Vietnam from imperialism and poverty.

• YOU NEED evidence from his life and from other people to support either interpretation.

• Finally you MUST MAKE A JUDGEMENT. You can't sit on the fence

• Evaluation of the evidence is what gets the marks along with a clear judgment regardless of what that judgment might be. It is possible for two students to assess and evaluate the same evidence and reach totally different conclusions

NOTE, NOTE, NOTE, NOTE,

Much of the available information and sources about Ho Chi Minh are in your Year 11 Decolonisation in Indochina booklet. You need to revise it thoroughly as it will not be repeated here. If you no longer have your copy ASK for a new one.

TIMELINE OF HOS CHI MINH’S LIFE

|1890 |Born Nguyen Sinh Cung in French Annam. Son of a minor mandarin who was anti French and eventually dismissed from his position |

|1909 |Ho was expelled from school for assisting peasants in an anti French protest. He went south as a travelling teacher |

|1911 |Obtained a job as a cook and galley boy on a French freighter. After being rejected from the French Colonial Administrative School |

| |Ho travelled the world working as a pastry chef, gardener, and itinerant laborer. He learned English, Mandarin, Chinese, two |

| |Chinese dialects and some German. He already knew French and Vietnamese |

|1917 |Worked as Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the Patriot) among Vietnamese nationals in France. Studied radical political ideas and worked to |

| |establish a Vietnamese independence movement in France |

|1919 |Drew up a program for the emancipation of Vietnam but was ignored when he attempted to present it at the Versaille Peace Conference|

| |at the end of World War 1. Worked as a journalist. |

|1920 |Attended 18th Conference of the French Socialist Party and became a founding member of the French Communist Party. |

| | |

|1923 |Sent to Moscow as a delegate for the French Communist Party. Stayed in Moscow to study and attend the Fifth Congress of the |

| |Comintern. |

| | |

|1924 |Sent as an agent with Borodin, the Comintern agent, to Canton China, to work with the United Front of the Chinese Communist Party. |

|1926 |Formed the League of Oppressed Peoples of Asia and then founded a Revolutionary Youth League among Indochinese people living in |

| |Canton. Ho translated Marxist and Leninist ideas into Vietnamese. |

|1930 |Chinese Nationalist’s actions against Communists forced Ho to flee to British Hong Kong. Here he changed the Revolutionary Youth |

| |league into the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) activating peasants and students to form soviets(councils) in French Indochina. |

| |Ho learned the importance of guerilla warfare, conspiracy and education of peasants to promote consciousness of the revolution. |

|1931-32 |Ho was jailed by the British as a Communist in Hong Kong. Here he contracted tuberculosis (TB). |

|1933 |Assisted by Chinese communists to escape to Moscow |

|1938 |Sent by the Comintern to Yunnan in China to join Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist troops where he studied and trained troops in|

| |guerilla warfare. He also wandered South East Asia disguised in the saffron robes of a Buddhist monk. |

| | |

| |French Government granted political amnesty to Communists in Indochina. Ho returned to Vietnam for the first time in 30 years. To |

|1941 |gain wider respect and, he hoped, American support, Ho merged the the Indochinese Communist Party into the Viet Minh. |

| | |

| |Began using the name to Ho Chi Minh (he who enlightens) |

| | |

| |On a trip to China he was captured and imprisoned by the Chinese Nationalist forces but negotiated his relaease to gain |

| |intelligence on the Japanese. |

|1944 |American OSS forces (Office of Secret Service, precursor to the CIA) supplied the Viet Minh with training and weapons under the |

| |Deer Team mission. Ho was employed as secret agent Lucius to gain intelligence on the Japanese and rescue downed allied pilots in |

| |the mountains of North Vietnam. |

| | |

| |President Truman replaced Roosevelt. Truman was strongly pro French and anti Communist |

|August 1945 |Famine in Vietnam. Japanese and French commandeering rice stocks for their troops. Ho organized the Viet Minh to seize quantities |

| |of rice for the starving peasants winning their loyalty and admiration. |

|2nd Sept. 1945 |As the French and Japanese surrendered a power vacuum allowed Ho Chi Minh to seize control of Vietnam (the August Revolution) and |

| |declare the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi on Sept 2nd. His speech began with the words of the American Declaration of |

| |Independence. |

|May 1946 |Ho traveled to Paris to negotiate with the French Government for the continuation of his republic. |

|Sept. 1946 |French Government was in disarray and after months of waiting Ho returned to Vietnam to negotiate with the French administrators |

| |there and ensure the expulsion of Chinese nationalist troops sent into Vietnam to take the surrender of the Japanese. |

| | |

| |France violated their agreement with Ho by declaring Cochinchina separate. |

|Nov. 1946 |French bomb the port city of Haiphong killing 6000 Vietnamese civilians. |

| |The first Indochinese war begins. Ho and the Viet Minh retreat to jungle guerilla bases. |

|1949 |Communist victory in China. Mao’s people’s Republic of China and the USSR recognize the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. |

| | |

| |Ho’s concentration on political and diplomatic policy gains the Viet Minh military aid from Communist Russia and China against the |

| |French. |

|1954 |French are defeated at Dien Bien Phu. The Geneva Accords divide Vietnam into North and South with general elections scheduled in 2 |

| |years time. |

| | |

| |Ho reenters Hanoi as the leader of North Vietnam and forms a Government consisting of representatives of all Vietnamese nationalist|

| |groups. |

|1956 |Ho asks for the general elections to be held as agreed upon at the Geneva Conference. South Vietnam, backed by the USA, refuses. |

|1955-58 |Ho travels to New Delhi, Jakarta, Poland and Moscow cultivating Communist and non Communist allies. In the Democratic Republic of |

| |Vietnam land reform, education and industry progress. |

|1959 |Ho responds to requests for aid from Communists in South Vietnam by sending cadres (communist soldiers) |

|1962 |Ho worked hard to influence world opinion against US intervention in Vietnam. Many were impressed by his skills as a professional |

| |revolutionary, philosopher and painter and by his Gandhi like simple village elder image. However, Ho believed that if he had used |

| |Satyagraha in Vietnam the French would have guillotined him. |

|1965 |America begins Operation Rolling Thunder.. 643,000 tons of bomb were dropped on Ho’s homeland between 1965 and 1968, inflicting |

| |1,000 casualties per week on the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. 72,000 were civilians |

| | |

| |Ho, now in poor health, was reduced to a largely ceremonial role, while policy was shaped by others |

|1969 |Ho died, aged 79, after a sudden heart attack. His body was laid at the spot where he gave his Independence speech in 1946. 10,000 |

| |people came to see him one last time, all wearing black bands to remember his death. A ceasefire was held for seventy-two hours in |

| |his honour. His ashes were not distributed over his beloved country as he had requested. His body was preserved in a concrete |

| |mausoleum in Hanoi |

| |.. |

| |

|The Legacy of Ho Chi Minh |

| |

|There is perhaps no greater hero to Vietnam than Ho Chi Minh. He is remembered primarily for his lifelong battle against great odds to build an |

|independent and unified Vietnam. Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his memory after its capture by North |

|Vietnamese forces in 1975. Ho Chi Minh was not only the founder of Vietnamese communism, he was the very soul of Vietnam's struggle for independence.|

|His personal qualities of simplicity, integrity, and determination were widely admired, not only within Vietnam but elsewhere as well. |

HO CHI MINH

Nguyễn Sinh Cung was born in 1890 in the village of Hoàng Trù his mother’s village. He had three siblings: his sister Bạch Liên his brother Nguyễn Sinh Khiêm ; and another brother who died in his infancy. As a young child, Nguyễn studied with his father before more formal classes. Nguyễn quickly mastered Chinese writing In addition to his studious endeavors, he was fond of adventure, and loved to fly kites and go fishing. Following Confucian tradition, at the age of 10, his father gave him a new name: Nguyễn Tất Thành (“Nguyễn the Accomplished”).

Cung’s father, Nguyễn Sinh Sắc was a Confucian scholar and teacher, and later an imperial magistrate in the small remote district of Binh Khe (Qui Nhơn). In deference to his father, Nguyễn received a French education, He attended the French college in Huế along with, Pham Van Dong and Vo Nguyen Giap. In Hue in 1907 Nguyễn was involved in an anti-tax demonstration by poor peasants He was expelled from college. Because his father had been dismissed, he had no chance of a government scholarship and went southward, taking a position as a teacher

He got work as a kitchen helper on a French steamer ship. The steamer departed Saigon on 5 June 1911 and arrived in  France in December. There he applied for the French Colonial Administrative School but his application was rejected. Instead, he decided to begin a world voyage by working on ships. Between 1911 and 1917 he visited a range of countries.

In 1911 Nguyễn traveled to the United States From 1912–13, he lived in New York (Harlem and Boston). Among a series of menial jobs, he claimed to have worked for a wealthy family in Brooklyn between 1917–18, and for General Motors as a line manager. It is believed that, while in the United States, he made contact with Korean nationalists, an experience that developed his political outlook. At various points between 1913 and 1919, Nguyễn lived in the United Kingdom . He reportedly trained as a pastry chef under Auguste Escoffier 

From 1919–23, while living in France, Nguyễn began to develop his political ideas. He claimed to have arrived in Paris from London in 1917, but the French police only had documents of his arrival in June 1919. He joined a group of Vietnamese nationalist in Paris, bearing a new name Nguyễn Ái Quốc (“Nguyễn the Patriot”). Following World War I he petitioned world leaders to recognise the civil rights of the Vietnamese people in French Indochina  at the Versailles Peace Conference, but was ignored. Citing the spirit of the U.S. Declaration of Independence he asked U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to help remove French colonial rule from Vietnam and to ensure the formation of a new, nationalist government. The failure of this appeal further radicalized Nguyễn and made him a hero of the anti-colonial movement at home in Vietnam.

In 1920, as a representative of the Socialist Party of France, he became a founding member of the French Communist Party. In this period he learned to write journal articles and short stories as well as organising a Vietnamese nationalist group. While living in Paris, he reportedly had a relationship with a dressmaker named Marie Brière.

In 1923, Nguyễn left Paris for Moscow. In Moscow he was employed by the Comintern, studied at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East and participated in the Fifth Comintern Congress in June 1924, before arriving in Canton (present day Guangzhou), China, in November 1924. In 1925–26 he organized "Youth Education Classes" and occasionally gave socialist lectures to Vietnamese revolutionary young people living in Canton at the Whampoa Military Academy. These young people became the seeds of a new revolutionary, pro-communist movement in Vietnam several years later.

Chiang Kai-shek’s 1927 nationalist coup in China triggered a new era of exile for Nguyễn as communists were outlawed and persecuted. He left Canton again in April 1927 and returned to Moscow, spending some of the summer of 1927 recuperating from tuberculosis before returning to Paris once more in November. He then returned to Asia by way of Brussels Berlin, Switzerland, and Italy, where he sailed to Bangkok, Thailand arriving in July 1928.

He remained in Thailand, until late 1929 when he moved on to India, then Shanghai. In early 1930, in Hong Kong, Nguyễn Ái Quốc chaired a meeting with representatives from two Vietnamese communist parties in order to form the, Communist Party of Indochina. In June 1931, he was arrested by the British in Hong Kong. To reduce French pressure for extradition (the French would have executed him), it was (falsely) announced in 1932 that Nguyễn Ái Quốc had died. The British quietly released him in January 1933. He made his way back to Milan, Italy, where he worked in a restaurant. He then moved to the Soviet Union, where he spent several years recovering from tuberculosis.

In 1938, he was able to return to China and served as an advisor with Mao’s Chinese Communist armed forces. , Around 1940, Quốc began regularly using the name "Hồ Chí Minh", a Vietnamese name combining a common Vietnamese surname (Hồ, 胡) with a given name meaning "He Who enlightens"

In 1941, Ho returned to Vietnam to form the Viet Minh independence movement. The "men in black" were a 10,000 member guerrilla force. He oversaw many successful military actions against the French and Japanese occupation of Vietnam during World War II, supported closely but clandestinely by the United States Office of Strategic Services, and later against the French bid to reoccupy the country (1946–54). In one of his many journeys (most by foot) between northern Vietnam and southern China, he was jailed in China by Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces before being rescued.  Following his release in 1943, he returned to Vietnam.

In April 1945 Ho met with the OSS agent Archimedes Patti and offered to provide intelligence to the allies provided that he could have "a line of communication with the allies.” The OSS agreed to this and later sent a military team of OSS members (the Deer Mission) to train Ho's men. Ho himself was treated for malaria and dysentery by an OSS doctor.

Following the end of WW2 the Vietminh seized power in Vietnam after the surrender of Japan.  During this proclaimed August Revolution (1945) Ho became Chairman of the Provisional Government (Premier of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and issued a Proclamation of Independence.  Although he convinced Emperor Bao Dai to abdicate, his government was not recognized by any country. He repeatedly petitioned American President Harry S. Truman for support for Vietnamese independence, citing the Atlantic Charter, but Truman never responded.

In 1946, when Ho traveled outside of the country, his subordinates imprisoned 2,500 non-communist nationalists and forced 6,000 others to flee. However, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s first Congress’ members consisted of over two-thirds non-Viet Minh political factions. In other words Ho was politically smart enough to try to maintain political unity and peace in his new Republic.

In September 1945, a force of 200,000 Republic of China Army troops arrived in Hanoi to take the Japanese surrender. Ho Chi Minh had no choice but to sign an agreement with France on 6 March 1946, in which Vietnam would be recognized as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union. The agreement soon broke down.

The bombardment of Haiphong by French forces at Hanoi only strengthened the belief that France had no intention of allowing an autonomous, independent state in Vietnam. On 19 December 1946, Ho, representing his government, declared war against the French Union, marking the beginning of the Indochina War.

In February 1950 Ho met with Stalin and Mao Zedong in Moscow after the Soviet Union recognized his government. They all agreed that China would be responsible for backing the Viet Minh. In 1954, after the crushing defeat of French Union forces at Battle of Dien Bien Phu, France was forced to give up its fight against the Viet Minh.

The 1954 Geneva Accords, agreed that Vietminh forces would regroup in the North and the anti-communist and allied forces regroup in the South. Ho's Democratic Republic of Vietnam was relocated to Hanoi and became the government of North Vietnam.

At the end of 1959, Le Duan was appointed by Ho to be the acting party leader, after becoming aware that the nationwide election would never happen and that southern leader Diem intended to purge out all opposing forces (mostly ex-Viet Minh). Ho began requesting the Politburo to send aid to the Vietcong’s uprising in South Vietnam. In 1960 Le Duan was officially named party leader, leaving Ho a public figure rather than actually governing the country. However, Ho maintained great influence in the government, To Huu, Le Duan, Truong Chinh, and Pham Van Dong would often share dinner with him. They all remained key figures of Vietnam throughout and after the war. In 1963, Ho purportedly corresponded with South Vietnamese President Diem in the hopes of achieving a negotiated peace.

As fighting escalated, widespread aerial and artillery bombardment began all over North Vietnam. Ho and most of the North Vietnamese leaders concluded the war had fallen into a stalemate With Ho's permission, they  planned to execute the Tet Offensive on 31 January 1968, gambling on taking the South by force and defeating the U.S. military. The offensive came at great cost and with heavy casualties. It appeared to Ho and to the rest of his government that the scope of the action had shocked a world, that up until then had been assured that the Communists were losing.. The bombing was halted, and U.S and Vietnamese negotiators began to discuss how to end the war.

Ho remained in Hanoi during his final years, demanding the unconditional withdrawal of all non-Vietnamese troops in South Vietnam. By 1969, with negotiations still dragging on, Ho's health began to deteriorate from multiple health problems, including diabetes which prevented him from participating in further active politics. However, he insisted that his forces in the south continue fighting until all of Vietnam was reunited.

With the outcome of the Vietnam War still in question, Ho Chi Minh died at 9:47 a.m. on the morning of 2 September 1969 from heart failure at his home in Hanoi, aged 79. His embalmed body is currently on display in a mausoleum in Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi despite his will requesting that he be cremated.  He was not initially replaced as president, but a "collective leadership" composed of several ministers and military leaders took over, known as the Politburo

The former capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City on 1 May 1975 shortly after its capture which officially ended the war. However, Vietnamese people habitually continue to refer to the city as Sài Gòn. Ho's embalmed body is on display in Hanoi in a granite mausoleum modeled after Lenin's Tomb in Moscow. Streams of people queue each day, sometimes for hours, to pass his body in silence. The Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi is dedicated to his life and work.

|SOURCE ANALYSIS |

|Letter to Lyndon Johnson: From Ho Chi Minh |

|By 1967, U.S. forces had been in Vietnam for three years, and there was little hope for a military victory. The following letter is North Vietnamese |

|leader Ho Chi Minh's response to a message from Johnson seeking to begin negotiations. In this letter, Ho Chi Minh speaks harshly about U.S. actions |

|in the conflict and states that he will not consider negotiations until the United States ceases its bombing of Vietnam. Although Johnson did order |

|several halts, negotiations failed when bombing resumed. |

| |

|Your Excellency: |

|On February 10, 1967, I received your message. This is my reply. Vietnam is thousands of miles away from the United States. The Vietnamese people |

|have never done any harm to the United States. But contrary to the pledges made by its representative at the 1954 Geneva conference, the U.S. has |

|ceaselessly intervened in Vietnam, it has unleashed and intensified the war of aggression in North Vietnam with a view to prolonging the partition of|

|Vietnam and turning South Vietnam into a neocolony and a military base of the United States. For over two years now, the U.S. government has, with |

|its air and naval forces, carried the war to the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam, an independent and sovereign country. |

|The U.S. government has committed war crimes, crimes against peace and against mankind. In South Vietnam, half a million U.S. and satellite troops |

|have resorted to the most inhuman weapons and most barbarous methods of warfare, such as napalm, toxic chemicals and gases, to massacre our |

|compatriots, destroy crops, and raze villages to the ground. In North Vietnam, thousands of U.S. aircraft have dropped hundreds of thousands of tons |

|of bombs, destroying towns, villages, factories, schools. In your message, you apparently deplore the sufferings and destruction in Vietnam. May I |

|ask you: Who has perpetrated these monstrous crimes? It is the United States and satellite troops. The U.S. government is entirely responsible for |

|the extremely serious situation in Vietnam. |

|The U.S. war of aggression against the Vietnamese people constitutes a challenge to the countries of the socialist camp, a threat to the national |

|independence movement, and a serious danger to peace in Asia and the world. |

|The Vietnamese people deeply love independence, freedom and peace. But in the face of U.S. aggression, they have risen up, united as one man, |

|fearless of sacrifices and hardships. They are determined to carry on their resistance until they have won genuine independence and freedom and true |

|peace. Our just cause enjoys strong sympathy and support from the peoples of the whole world, including broad sections of the American people. |

|The U.S. government has unleashed the war of aggression in Vietnam. It must cease this aggression. This is the only way to restoration of peace. The |

|U.S. government must stop definitely and unconditionally its bombing raids and all other acts of war against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, |

|withdraw from South Vietnam all U.S. and satellite troops, recognize the South Vietnam National Front for Liberation, and let the Vietnamese people |

|settle themselves their own affairs. Such is the basis of the five-point stand of the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which |

|embodies the essential principles and provision of the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Vietnam; it is the basis of a correct political solution to the |

|Vietnam problem. |

|In your message you suggested direct talks between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the United States. If the U.S. government really wants |

|these talks, it must first of all stop unconditionally its bombing raids and all other acts of war against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. It is |

|only after the unconditional cessation of U.S. bombing raids and all other acts of war against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam that the Democratic|

|Republic of Vietnam and the U.S. could enter into talks and discuss questions concerning the two sides. |

|The Vietnamese people will never submit to force, they will never accept talks under threat of bombs. Our cause is absolutely just. It is to be hoped|

|that the U.S. government will act in accordance with reason. |

|Sincerely, Ho Chi Minh (February 15, 1967) |

SOURCE ANALYSIS

DESCRIBE THE SOURCE’S CONTENT, AUTHOR, DATE AND AUDIENCE ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WHAT IS THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE SOURCE? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WHAT LIMITATIONS ARE THERE TO THE SOURCES RELIABILITY?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WHY WOULD THIS SOURCE BE USEFUL TO A HISTORIAN STUDYING THE LIFE OF HO CHI MINH?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WHAT OTHER SOURCES WOULD A HISTORIAN NEED TO STUDY TO FULLY RESEARCH HO CHI MINH’S LIFE?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

QUOTES FROM HO CHI MINH

• “We have a secret weapon...it is called Nationalism”

• “It was patriotism, not communism that inspired me.”

• “The poet should also know how to lead an attack.”

• “It is better to sacrifice everything than to live in slavery”

• “If the Tiger does not stop fighting the Elephant, the Elephant will die of exhaustion.”

• “You fools! Don't you realize what it means if the Chinese remain? Don't you remember your history? The last time the Chinese came, they stayed a thousand years. The French are foreigners. They are weak. Colonialism is dying. The white man is finished in Asia. But if the Chinese stay now, they will never go. As for me, I prefer to sniff French shit for five years than to eat Chinese shit for the rest of my life.” 1945

• Remember, the storm is a good opportunity for the pine and the cypress to show their strength and their stability.

• You can kill ten of our men for every one we kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and we will win. 1946

• Nothing is more precious than independence and liberty.

• I only follow one party: the Vietnamese party.

• “To reap a return in ten years, plant trees. To reap a return in 100, cultivate the people.”

• “We are convinced that the Allied nations which ... have acknowledged the principles of self-determination and equality of nations, will not refuse to acknowledge the independence of Vietnam.”

• “It may take three years, it may take five, it may take ten, but that will be the war of Indo-china.”

• Colonialism is a leech with two suckers, one of which sucks the metropolitan proletariat and the other [sucks the proletariat] of the colonies. If we want to kill this monster we must cut off both suckers at the same time 1924

• Calamity has tempered and hardened me and turned my mind to steel 1941

• Independence must be grasped at all costs, even if you must set the mountains afire 1944

• I was never married, I never had time. But I have seventeen million children 1954

• I think the Americans greatly underestimate the determination of the Vietnamese people 1962

• The Vietnamese people will never submit to force. They will never accept talks under the threat of bombs 1967

Ho Chi Minh. Sample Essay Part A. 620 words

NOTE: This is useful for Part A questions such as those in 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2006. However it would need to be manipulated to fit the question for Part A questions such as those in 2012, 2011 and 2007

[pic]Ho Chi Minh was born Nguyen Sinh Cung in French Annam.. In 1909 he was expelled from school for assisting an anti French protest and in 1911 travelled to France as a galley boy aboard a French steamer. Ho travelled the world extensively learning many languages and working in a variety of jobs. In 1917 he worked as Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the Patriot) among Vietnamese nationals in France. He also studied radical political ideas and worked to establish a Vietnamese independence movement. In 1919 Ho drew up a program for the emancipation of Vietnam but was ignored when he attempted to present it at the Versailles Peace Conference. He became a founding member of the French Communist Party in 1920.

In 1924 Ho was in China, working with Chinese Communist Party. He founded a Revolutionary Youth League among Indochinese people living in Canton and translated Communist writings into Vietnamese. However, in 1930, Chinese Nationalist’s actions against Communists forced Ho to flee to British Hong Kong. Here he founded the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP). In the same year Ho was jailed by the British. While in prison he contracted tuberculosis (TB).

Ho was assisted by Chinese communists to escape to Moscow. After a period in the USSR he travelled back to China to join Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist troops where he studied and trained troops in guerilla warfare. He also wandered South East Asia disguised as a Buddhist monk.

In 1941 Ho, vowing to fight both the Japanese and the French to gain the independence of his country, returned to Vietnam for the first time in 30 years. He merged the Indochinese Communist Party into the Viet Minh. and began using the name Ho Chi Minh (he who enlightens). During World War II Ho was employed by the OSS to gain intelligence on the Japanese and rescue downed allied pilots in the mountains of North Vietnam.

The surrender of Japan in 1945 allowed Ho Chi Minh to seize control and declare the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi on Sept 2nd. However Ho knew this independence was short lived and traveled to Paris to negotiate with the French Government. After months of waiting he returned to Vietnam to negotiate with the French administrators there and ensure the expulsion of Chinese nationalist troops. The French violated their agreement with Ho in 1946.This was the beginning of the first Indochinese war. Ho and the Viet Minh retreated to jungle guerilla bases and continued to fight the French in a war of attrition for the next decade.

The 1949 Communist victory in China meant North Vietnam received aid and arms for the first time. In 1954 Ho’s Viet Minh under General Giap defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu. Despite this victory, the final decision of the Geneva Conference was to divide Vietnam into North and South and schedule general elections in 2 years time. This was not the decision Ho had wanted. He decided to wait as his government was in no position to defeat the vote of its allies China and the USSR. .

Ho reentered Hanoi as the leader of North Vietnam and formed a Government consisting of representatives of all Vietnamese nationalist groups. In 1956 he asked for the general elections to be held as agreed upon at the Geneva Conference. South Vietnam, backed by the USA, refused. The war with America escalated.

By 1960, Ho, now in chronic poor health, was reduced to a largely ceremonial role, while policy was shaped by others. He died, aged 79, after a sudden heart attack. His ashes were not distributed over his beloved country as he had requested, instead his body remains preserved in a concrete mausoleum in Hanoi.

PERSPECTIVES ON HO CHI MINH

Vietnam's independence leader was a hero to his countrymen, a wise uncle to friends but a monster to his enemies

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]

OTHER PEOPLE’S OPINIONS

He was a "master motivator and strategist and one of the most influential political figures of the twentieth century." 

~ William J. Duiker, "Ho Chi Minh: A Life," Hyperion: U.S.A. (2002) 

"The issue is not whether he was a nationalist or a Communist. In his own way he was both." 

~ William J. Duiker, "Ho Chi Minh: A Life," Hyperion: U.S.A. (2002) 

"In the haze of general amnesia about the war's actual events, many Americans forget that there was a single man [Ho Chi Minh] largely responsible for the incredibly defiant Vietnamese resistance to American forces."

~ James Norton, "Review of Ho Chi Minh: A Life," Flak Magazine. November 20, 2000.

"Among 20th-century statesmen, Ho Chi Minh was remarkable both for the tenacity and patience with which he pursued his goal of Vietnamese independence and for his success in blending Communism with nationalism."

~ Alden Whitman, "The New York Times. September 4, 1969.

"Nobody could have imagined on September 2, 1945, that that slight-built man with the graying beard, known by various names, among them Ho Chi Minh – that man who remains inseparably linked with the history of the world – would become one of the most exceptional figures of Asia in the 20th century." 

~ Marta Rojas, "Ho Chi Minh and the proclamation of the Republic of Vietnam." September 4, 2005.

"Ho believed wholeheartedly in his cause. He was full of passion and dedication and skill as a writer, organizer, teacher, and leader. He became a great man in world history. There’s only one blight on his record. Ho Chi Minh was dead wrong. Despite his passion and fervor, the cause he served, Communism, turned out to be completely false. The false cause, Communism, made a mockery of Ho’s dedication and effort, indeed made a mockery of his entire life."

~ Jeffrey Dutton Smith, "How The Life of Ho Chi Minh Can Teach Us a Lesson." February 18, 2009.

An emaciated, goateed figure in a threadbare bush jacket and frayed rubber sandals, Ho Chi Minh cultivated the image of a humble, benign "Uncle Ho." But he was a seasoned revolutionary and passionate nationalist obsessed by a single goal: independence for his country.

Stanley Karnow Time Magazine

OPPOSING PERSPECTIVES

One View: Adored by his people

In Vietnam today, Ho's image appears on the front of all Vietnamese currency notes. His portrait and bust are featured prominently in most of Vietnam's public buildings, in classrooms (both public and private schools) and in some families' altars. Ho Chi Minh is frequently glorified in schools to schoolchildren. Opinions, publications and broadcasts that are critical of Ho Chi Minh or that identify his flaws are banned in Vietnam, with the commentators arrested or fined for "opposing the people's revolution".

Publications about Ho's non-celibacy are also banned in Vietnam, because, in order to portray a puritanical image of Ho, the Party maintains that Ho had no romantic relationship with anyone.

Communist propaganda in Vietnam elevates Ho to the status of sage, national hero, saint. He has become the Strategist, the Theoretician, the Thinker, the Statesman, the Man of Culture, the Diplomat, the Poet, and the Philosopher. All these names are accompanied with adjectives like "legendary" and "unparalleled." He has become Ho the Luminary, Ho the Visionary. Peasants in the south build shrines to him. In the north old women bow before his altar, asking miracles for their suffering children.

Ho Chi Minh is considered by his supporters to be a patriot who fought selflessly to free his people.

The Truth, as usual, lies somewhere in between

What is the truth? It is difficult to know because Ho's life is shrouded in shadows and ambiguities. However Ho was a central figure in the movement to free Asia from the shackles of colonialism and his importance to modern Vietnam can hardly be exaggerated. He was not only the founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party but also its recognized leader during most of its first half-century of existence. Ho provided Vietnam with ideological guidance, international prestige, a tradition of internal unity, and a sense of realism that on many occasions enabled it to triumph over adversity.

Ho Chi Minh: A Life William J. Duiker New York 2000 pp. 2-3

The Communist triumph in Saigon was a tribute to the determination and genius of VWP leader Le Duan and his veteran colleagues in Hanoi. Equally crucial to success were the North Vietnamese troops and Viet Cong guerillas – the simple bo doi (the Vietnamese equivalent of the GI) who for a generation and fought and died for the revolutionary cause in the jungles and swamps of Vietnam. But above all it was a legacy of the vision , the will, and the leadership of one man; Ho Chi Minh, founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party, leader of the revolutionary movement and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) until his death in 1969, six years before the end of the war. In tribute to his contribution, after the fall of Saigon, his colleagues would rename it Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh, or the city of Ho Chi Minh.

Agent of the Comintern in Moscow, member of the international Communist movement, architect of victory in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh is unquestionably one of the most influential political figures of the Twentieth Century. Yet at the same time he remains one of the most mysterious of men, a shadowy figure, whose motives and record have long aroused controversy. For three decades debate has raged over the deceptively simple question of his underlying motives for a lifetime of revolutionary activity. Was he primarily a nationalist or a Communist? Was his public image of simplicity and selflessness genuine, or a mere artifice? To his supporters Ho was a symbol of revolutionary humanitarianism, an avuncular figure devoted to the welfare of his compatriots and to the liberation of all oppressed peoples of the world. To many who met him, Vietnamese and foreigners alike, he was a ‘sweet guy’ who, despite his prominence as a major world leader, was actually a selfless patriot with a common touch and a lifelong commitment to the cause of bettering the lives of his fellow Vietnamese. Critics, however, pointed to the revolutionary excesses committed in his name and accused him of being a chameleon personality, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The question of Ho Chi Minh’s character and inner motivation lies at the heart of the debate in the United States over the morality of the conflict in Vietnam. To many critics of US policies there, he was a simple patriot leading the struggle for Vietnamese independence and a vigorous opponent of global imperialism throughout the third world. Supporters of the US war effort raised doubts about his patriotic motives by alluding to his long record as an agent of Joseph Stalin and five decades of service to the world revolution. The nationalist image that he so assiduously cultivated, they allege, was simply a ruse to win support at home and abroad for the revolutionary cause.

For Americans the debate over Ho Chi Minh arouses passions over a war that is now past. For Vietnamese it conjures up questions of more fundamental importance, since it defines one of the central issues in the Vietnamese revolution - the relationship between human freedom and economic equality in the emerging postwar Vietnam. Since the end of the Vietnam war, Ho Chi Minh’s colleagues, some of whom are still in power in Hanoi today, have tirelessly drawn on his memory to sanctify the Communist model of national development. Ho’s goal throughout his long career, they allege, was to bring an end to the global system of capitalist exploitation and create a new revolutionary world characterized by the utopian vision of Karl Marx. A few dissenting voices however, have argued that the central message of his career was the determination to soften the iron law of Marxist class struggle by melding it with Confucian ethics and the French revolutionary trinity of liberty, equality and fraternity. In justification they point to one of Ho’s slogans, which is seen everywhere on billboards in Vietnam today: “Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom”.

The debate over Ho Chi Minh, then, is at the heart of some of the central issues that have marked the Twentieth century, an era of nationalism, revolution, egalitarianism and the pursuit of human freedom. The complexities of his character mirror the complexity of the age. He remains a powerful force in postwar Vietnam, revered by millions and undoubtedly detested by countless others. For good or ill, Ho Chi Minh managed to reflect in his person two of the central forces in modern society – the desire for national independence and the quest for social and economic justice.

[pic]

In this essay, you must:-

• present a sustained, logical, well-structured answer to the questions

• support your answer with relevant, accurate, historical information

• use historical terms and concepts appropriately.

Essay question:

HSC 2006 part B. (aim for 600 to 700 words MINIMUM)

To what extent does history present us with a balanced interpretation of this personality?

NOTE: There is NO right or wrong answer here - your assessment, evaluation of the evidence is what gets the marks along with a clear judgment regardless of what that judgment might be. It is possible for two students to assess and evaluate the same evidence and reach totally different conclusions 

NOTES FROM THE 2006 HSC EXAMINERS

(a) Better responses detailed Ho Chi Minh’s life beginning with influences from his nationalistic father and early political work. Ho’s time in Europe was linked to his political work rather than his occupations and his campaigns against the Japanese/western powers were described using accurate historical information. Weaker responses gave too much detail on Ho’s childhood and only provided limited information on his political career.

(b) Better responses provided a judgment as to whether Ho was a committed nationalist or a communist. This judgment was supported by evidence in a sustained and well structured

argument. The nationality of the historians who wrote about Ho was raised as an issue, as well as the time frame of their writings. Weaker responses wrote a limited description of Ho’s life and mentioned Ho’s brand of nationalism or communism without any evidence or supporting arguments.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SOME MORE PRACTICE ESSAYS FOR PART B

'Important historical people are judged by their contribution to their nation'

To what extent does the study of your personality support this view?

"The impressive figure in history is not the one who reflects the character of their society, but rather the one who attempts to change it" 

To what extent does the study of your personality support this view?

"The most remarkable figures in history are those who have more than one talent to offer their society" 

To what extent does the study of your personality support this view?

"The career aspirations of talented individuals do not necessarily serve the needs of the society in which they may hold high positions" 

To what extent does the study of your personality support this view?

"The most successful individuals in any society are those who can adapt to the demands of changing times" 

To what extent does the study of your personality support this view?

"Those who are inspired by an ideal rather than self-interest make the biggest impact on history". 

To what extent does the study of your personality support this view? 

"This history of a nation is shaped by its leaders". 

Discuss, making specific reference to the personality you have studied.

'Those who have the greatest impact on history are remembered as much for their faults as their virtues.'

To what extent does your study of your chosen personality support this view?

“People who are remembered by history are those who have pursued their goals with a single-minded purpose”. 

To what extent does the study of your personality support this view?

-----------------------

TO BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH:

• YR 11 DECOLONISATION IN INDOCHINA BOOKLET

• TEXTBOOK KEY FEATURES IN MODERN HISTORY PAGES 534 TO 543

[pic]

Time Magazine November 22nd 1954

Time Magazine July 16th 1965

Time Magazine May 12th 1975.

6 years after Ho’s death he is still credited with being the ‘victor’.

Another view: The ruthless, cunning communist agent

Others, like boat people who fled South Vietnam after the communist victory, anti-communist fanatics, many Americans, and those who suffered in the re-education camps, see him in a very negative light. They label him the enemy of the nation, the traitor who sold out Vietnam, the source of all misery.

Detractors see him as an insincere schemer, set on introducing a totalitarian regime. Many in the USA will never forgive Ho and the Vietnamese for their victory. Even now, 40 years on, much US reportage and political rhetoric concerning Vietnam and the war is begrudging with praise for Vietnam's achievements and too ready to point out faults.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download