The Architect of Vietnam’s Military Victories Dies at 102

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Editor (Asia: Far East)

 

HANOI – Thousands of Vietnamese people gathered to mourn and pay respects to General Vo Nguyen Giap who passed away last Friday. The architect of Vietnam’s military victories in First Indochina War (1946-1954) and Vietnam War (1955-1975) passed away in Hanoi at the age of 102. The family opened their doors to the public on Sunday where everyone had a chance to pay a visit of condolence.

Vo Nguyen Giap, known as a Red Napoleon, was a self-thought soldier who became a military commander that led Vietnamese communist forces to victory over France, Japan and the US. He is probably most known for his charisma and tactical skills, which allowed him to alter a small number of Vietnamese guerrillas into the Vietnamese People’s Army. General Giap was one of the most influential figures in Vietnamese history and one of the foremost military commanders of the 20th century.

While thousands in Vietnam mourn the loss of a commander who brought the country its independence, a lot of people in the Western part of the world argue whether the victories of Vietnamese People’s Army was a result of Gen Giap’s ruthlessness. He is also known for regularly accepting combat losses in order to achieve his goals.

However, it is impossible to argue that the legendary Vietnamese commander was a war strategy genius. Gen Giap has published numerous of works on military strategy and his victories that hastened the collapse of colonialism all across Indochina and beyond, are still studied at military schools.

Later in life Vo Nguyen Giap served as deputy premier and minister of defence. In one of his last interviews in 2005 during the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon (the former Vietnamese capital), he told the Associated Press that:

“No other wars for national liberation were as fierce or caused as many losses as this war. But we still fought for Vietnam, nothing is more important than independence and freedom.”

Image Courtesy: Ross Huggett(Wiki Commons) Released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic