(VOVworld) – 69 years ago the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh launched a national uprising to wipe out feudalism, overthrow the French colonialists and establish the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the first worker-peasant state in Indochina. The victory was a resplendent milestone in Vietnam’s history which opened a new era of national independence and socialism. The August Revolution triumph provided many valuable lessons for Vietnam’s construction and defense over the past 70 years.

Soldiers and people in Hanoi surged to recapture the administration in August 1945

On August 13, 1945 the Uprising Committee issued military order No.1, which said “It’s high time for a national uprising. This is a unique opportunity for Vietnamese soldiers and people to rise up to recapture national independence.” Vietnamese people nationwide from Hanoi to all rural areas mobilized forces to take control of their local administration. The uprising took just a few days to attain a great success with few casualties. On September 2, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh declared to the world the founding of an independent and free Vietnamese state and asserted that the Vietnamese people were determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength and sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.

Profound historical values

The August Revolution was one of the most inspirational examples in history of a small nation liberating itself from colonialism and feudalism. Vietnam became an independent state and Vietnamese people broke from their slave status to become masters of their own nation. General Nguyen Quyet, Secretary of Hanoi’s Party Committee at that time, said:“The world saw the August Revolution as an important event which changed the fate of Vietnam. It was a landmark for Vietnam and the world in fighting colonialism and the exploiters.”

The August Revolution victory was the inspiration for Vietnamese people to fight and win in the following years including the Dien Bien Phu victory which captured a 9-year resistance war against French colonialism, triumphs during the 21-year war against American imperialism, and 30 years of renewal whose achievements raised Vietnam’s status internationally.

Valuable lessons

The August Revolution succeeded thanks to the Party’s revolutionary leadership, which borrowed and creatively applied Marxism-Leninism under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. The lessons learned from the August Revolution included analyzing each situation to work out appropriate revolutionary guidelines, grasping opportunities to properly mobilize forces, combining national strength and the era’s opportunities, and leading the people to retake and safeguard the administration.
The August Revolution’s liberation of the nation was a result of national unity, patriotism, self-reliance, and internal strength. Professor Ngo Dang Tri said: "The victory in Hanoi created a domino effect for other localities nationwide. Tran Van Giau, Secretary of the Nam Ky (Southern) Party Committee and leader of the uprising in Sai Gon and Gia Dinh, said that although they had not received any order, they were informed that Hanoi had successfully taken control of the administration, so the Southern Party Committee immediately called for an uprising."

National reform has achieved many results and created new opportunities. The 11^th Party Congress called for continued mobilization of national strength in the renewal process to lay a firm foundation for Vietnam to become an industrial nation by 2020.