Thayer Vo Nguyen Giap Remembered

Thayer Consultancy Background Brief
ABN # 65 648 097 123

[email protected] Vo Nguyen Giap Remembered
October 3, 2024
On the occasion of the eleventh anniversary of the death of General Vo Nguyen Giap
(October 4, 2013), we request your insights into the following:
Q1. What are your impressions of General Vo Nguyen Giap?
ANSWER: Who could imagine that when Vo Nguyen Giap organized a 34-man platoon
in 1944 that a decade later he would defeat the French, one of the most modern
military forces in the world.
General Giap was a self-taught military strategist who combined elements of
Vietnamese military tradition, Mao’s theory of people’s war with the writings of
Napoleon and Clausewitz. General Giap learned through battlefield experience how
to conduct people’s war by mobilizing the people to assist in logistics to support the
regular Vietnam People’s Army.
In late 1953, Giap wrong-footed the French by conducting a feint into Laos. He then
suddenly turned back to encircle and besiege the French garrison at Dien Bien Phu.
General Giap’s troops seized the high ground and accomplished a logistics miracle by
bringing in artillery and ammunition piece by piece. The French were out gunned and
later forced to surrender.
General Giap’s victory at Dien Bien Phu ended the Anti-French Resistance War and the
establishment of the independent state, the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam.
Q2. How is General Vo Nguyen Giap viewed in the eyes of international friends and
leaders?
ANSWER: Historically, General Vo Nguyen Giap’s victory at Dien Bien Phu not only
sounded the death knell of French rule in Indochina but the beginning of the end of
colonialism in Asia and Africa. Because of these accomplishments, General Giap is
widely respected by international leaders and friends as the military strategist who
mastered the art of people’s war by combining political with military struggle in a
protracted war that defeated both France and the United States in the cause of
Vietnamese independence against foreign aggression.
In sum, General Vo Nguyen Giap is widely viewed a symbol of the Vietnamese nation.
2
Q3. What do you think about the role and influence of General Vo Nguyen Giap in
Vietnam and the world, both in war and peace times?
ANSWER: General Vo Nguyen Giap’s career spanned sixty-four years of active service
to the Vietnam Communist Party, the Vietnam People’s Army and the Vietnamese
nation. His career may be divided into five phases.
In the first phase, from 1927-1954, he was a student activist, progressive journalist,
political activist, prisoner, student, and teacher.
The second phase of Giap’s career, from 1954-73, was his most important. General
Giap was a master strategist who defeated the French. After the partition of Vietnam
in 1954 General Giap modernized the Vietnam People’s Army and oversaw the
creation of an embryonic navy and air defence-air force. General Giap took main
responsibility for guiding Vietnam’s military strategy during the American War from
1963-73. At the end of phase two, aged 79, General Giap relinquished operational
control of the Vietnam People’s Army.
During phase three, from 1974-81, General Giap held the posts Minister of National
Defence and Deputy Prime Minister (1976). In 1981 he retired as Defence Minister.
During phase four, from 1982-1991, General Giap, as a member of the Politburo,
assumed ministerial-level responsibilities for science and technology, demography
and family planning and then education thus contributing to Vietnam’s peacetime
socio-economic development.
In 1991, at age 80, General Giap commenced his fifth and final career stage by stepping
down as Deputy Prime Minister and retiring full time from official work. During this
period, he occasionally made public comments on important anniversaries and
tendered his advice to the government and party on important issues. He passed away
on 4 October 2013.
Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “Vo Nguyen Giap Remembered,” Thayer

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Thayer Consultancy provides political analysis of current regional security issues and
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registered as a small business in Australia in 2002.

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Thayer Consultancy Background Brief

ABN # 65 648 097 123

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, “Vo Nguyen Giap Remembered,” Thayer

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