Ho Chi Minh was born Nguyen Sinh Cung in 1890, to a poor family in what is now central Vietnam. In his early years, Ho moved abroad, traveled extensively and eventually landed in Paris where he joined the French Communist Party. In 1920, Ho went to Moscow where he became an active member of the Comintern—the organization that trained members of communist parties worldwide—and learned more about communism from Lenin and other Russian leaders. After returning to Vietnam in 1941, Ho helped found a communist party that later became known as the Viet Minh Front.
The Vietminh Front was originally formed by Ho Chi Minh and other nationalists who wanted independence from France but did not want to align themselves with Japanese interests during World War II. When Japan invaded Vietnam during World War II, he helped organize guerrilla warfare against Japanese troops until they surrendered at the end of World War II.
After World War II ended and after France began re-establishing control over its former colonies in Southeast Asia (including Vietnam), France tried to remove Ho Chi Minh from politics and refused him entry into Hanoi because they did not want him stirring up trouble among local Vietnamese people with his communist ideas. However, they were quickly defeated by nationalist forces led by Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap. His military brilliance earned him international acclaim as one of history’s greatest generals.
The Vietnam War was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam (which was supported by the US military) for influence over their country. From 1955-1975, they fought each other while also facing off against other countries like China and Russia that had interests in Southeast Asia too. The US got involved because they wanted to prevent communism from spreading through Asia. The US government saw no viable way out of the war and decided to negotiate a peace agreement with the Northern Viet Cong. This leads to the US pulling out and the South collapsing to the North. The capital is then renamed Ho Chi Minh city in honor of the North’s leader and triumph.
Today he is remembered very dearly across the country and you can find his portrait on all of the Vietnamese Dong banknotes since the North’s victory. An early banknote depicting Ho Chi Minh is the Vietnam 10 Dong, 1952. It features an image of him while younger in addition to farmers to signify the working class. The rest of the banknote only features text. This would be an ongoing theme on Vietnamese banknote even to this day. For example the brown and green post war Dong from 1985 features a portrait of Ho Chi Minh as well as the communist coat of arms and agricultural laborers on the reverse. In modern times the Vietnamese Dong has gone through inflation and denominations are larger. However, the consistent theme persists. On the green and blue, polymer 500,000 Dong you now see a modern and digitized portrait of him with the coat of arms. While on the reverse is the birth place of Ho Chi Minh.
