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| Declaration of independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam | |
|---|---|
 A copy of the original declaration of independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam | |
| Ratified | September 2, 1945; 80 years ago (1945-09-02) |
| Author | Ho Chi Minh |
| Purpose | To announce and explain establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam |
Thedeclaration of independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Vietnamese:Tuyên ngôn độc lập Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa) was written byHồ Chí Minh, and announced in public at the Ba Đình square inHanoi on 2 September 1945. It led to the foundation of theDemocratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), replacing theEmpire of Vietnam under theNguyễn dynasty and EmperorBảo Đại, whoabdicated on August 25.
This declaration was a declaration of independence fromFrance, but France had initially never recognized the DRV. France formed the independent and unifiedState of Vietnam within theFrench Union when theÉlysée Accords took effect on 14 June 1949, as an alternative method to solve the Vietnam question. Thisassociated state would become theRepublic of Vietnam. The declaration is also considered the foundation of theSocialist Republic of Vietnam although this state was actually formed on 2 July 1976.
Vietnam, under theNguyễn dynasty, became two protectorates ofFrance in 1883, but duringWorld War II,Japan occupied the country from 1940. During this period, Ho Chi Minh created theViet Minh in 1941 to coordinate resistance against both French colonial authorities andImperial Japanese occupying forces.[1] This group fought aguerrilla war against the Japanese and were to a degree supported by the Americans in 1945 via theOffice of Strategic Services.[2] In March 1945, Japan overthrew French rule in Indochina.
On August 22, 1945, the OSS agentArchimedes Patti, who had metHo Chi Minh in southern China, arrived in Hanoi on a mercy mission to liberate allied POWs and was accompanied byJean Sainteny a French government official.[3] The Japanese forces informallysurrendered (the official surrender took place on September 2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay) but the only force capable of maintaining law and order was theImperial Japanese Army, and so remained in power and kept French colonial troops detained.[4]
Japanese armed forces allowed the Việt Minh and other nationalist groups to take over public buildings and weapons without resistance, which began theAugust Revolution against theNguyễn dynasty and itsEmpire of Vietnam, a Japanesepuppet state established right after Japan overthrew the French. On the morning of August 26, 1945, at No. 48 Hàng Ngang,Hà Nội, Chairman Hồ Chí Minh presided over a meeting of theCommunist Party of Vietnam, which he had called. The meeting unanimously decided to prepare to proclaim independence and to organize a large meeting in Hà Nội for theProvisional Revolutionary Government to present itself to the people. That was also the day that Vietnam officially promulgated the right of freedom and established a democratic republic system.
On August 30, 1945, Hồ Chí Minh invited several people to contribute their ideas toward his Declaration of Independence, including a number of American OSS officers. OSS officers met repeatedly with him and other Viet Minh officers during late August, and Patti claimed to have listened to Ho read to him a draft of the Declaration, which he believed sounded very similar to theUnited States Declaration of Independence.[5]
On 2 September 1945, communist Hồ Chí Minh read the Declaration during a public meeting in front of thousands of people at what is nowBa Đình Square, he announced the birth of theDemocratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) as an independent republic. The signatories of the declaration were Hồ Chí Minh (president),Trần Huy Liệu,Võ Nguyên Giáp,Chu Văn Tấn,Dương Đức Hiền,Nguyễn Văn Tố,Nguyễn Mạnh Hà,Cù Huy Cận,Phạm Ngọc Thạch,Nguyễn Văn Xuân,Vũ Trọng Khánh,Phạm Văn Đồng,Đào Trọng Kim,Vũ Đình Hòe, andLê Văn Hiến.[6] Under the 1946Ho–Sainteny Agreement, France recognized the DRV as a free state within theFrench Union, but not as a fully independent or unified nation. TheFirst Indochina War broke out in December 1946 between France and the DRV, leading to the establishment of the anti-communist associatedState of Vietnam on July 2, 1949.
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