Following is a brief biography of General Vo Nguyen Giap, a former Politburo member, Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Defence Minister and Commander in Chief of the Vietnam People’s Army.
General Vo Nguyen Giap (birth name: Vo Giap, alias: Van) was born on August 25, 1911, in Loc Thuy commune, Le Thuy district, the central province of Quang Binh.
Between 1925 and 1926, he joined a students’ movement in Hue. In 1927, he participated in the Tan Viet (New Vietnam) Revolutionary Party (a predecessor of the Dong Duong Communist Party and now the Communist Party of Vietnam).
In 1930, he was arrested and imprisoned for two years by the enemy. After being released, he continued his involvement in revolutionary activities and developing revolutionary bases among the youth.
In 1936, he worked as an editor for various Party’s newspapers, including Lao Dong (Labour), Tieng noi chung ta (Our Voice), Tien len (Advance), and Thoi bao Co Giai phong (Liberation Flag Times) and was appointed as the chairman of the Bac Ky (North) Press Committee.
In June, 1940, he was admitted to the Dong Duong Communist Party and sent abroad to meet Nguyen Ai Quoc (Ho Chi Minh).
In 1941, he returned to Vietnam, and took part in activities to prepare for an armed uprising in the Cao-Bac-Lang revolutionary base.
In December, 1944, Nguyen Ai Quoc assigned him the task of setting up the Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army (now the Vietnam People’s Army).
In April 1945, he was appointed to the Bac Ky (North) Military Committee.
From May 1945, he was commander of the new armed revolutionary forces (then they were merged to be the Vietnam liberation army).
In June 1945, he was assigned by Nguyen Ai Quoc to set up the provisional Commanding Committee of the liberated area.
In August 1945, he was appointed to the Party Central Committee and the National Uprising Committee. At the Tan Trao National People’s Congress, he was elected to the Vietnam National Liberation Committee and Minister of Interior Affairs of the provisional government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and elected to the Standing Committee of the Party Central Committee.
In March 1946, he was a military chairman and member of the coalition government, before becoming the Secretary of the Central Military Commission when the commission was initially formed.
In October 1946 he was elected as Minister of Defence and President Ho Chi Minh appointed him Commander in Chief of the Vietnam People’s Army and Militia.
In January, 1948, he was conferred the highest military rank of General, Commander in Chief of the Vietnam People’s Army.
In Feburary, 1951, he was elected to the Party Central Committee at the second National Party Congress and then the Party Central Committee elected him to the Political Bureau.
From September 1955 to December 1979, he was Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister.
At the third National Party Congress in September 1960 and the fourth National Party Congress in December 1976, he was re-elected to the Party Central Committee and the Political Bureau.
At the fifth and sixth National Party Congresses, he was re-elected to the Party Central Committee.
From January 1980, he served as Standing Deputy Prime Minister. From April 1981 to December 1986, he served as Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (now Deputy Prime Minister).
He was elected as a deputy of the National Assembly from the first to seventh tenures.
In recognition of his great contributions to the Party and country’s revolutionary cause, he was awarded with the Gold Star Order, the Ho Chi Minh Order, the 70-year Party membership insignia and other noble orders and medals of Vietnam and foreign countries and organisations.
