Quick questions on Ho Chi Minh and the DRV: HSC Modern History Indochina

Ho Chi Minh (1890 to 1969, born Nguyen Sinh Cung, also Nguyen Ai Quoc) was the founding figure of Vietnamese communism. He was a founding member of the French Communist Party in 1920, a Comintern agent through the 1920s and 1930s, founder of the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930 and of the Viet Minh in 1941, and proclaimer of the DRV on 2 September 1945. By the late 1950s he was an elder statesman; Le Duan became the operational leader.

At the Fifteenth Plenum (January 1959), the Politburo formally endorsed the renewal of armed struggle in the south. Group 559 was established in May 1959 to build the southern infiltration route through Laos. Group 759 (October 1959) ran the maritime version.

The Truong Son Strategic Supply Route, known in the west as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, ran through eastern Laos and Cambodia. From a string of jungle paths it grew into a network of around 20,000 kilometres of roads, pipelines, and base camps by 1973. Group 559 employed around 100,000 troops and porters at peak.

After the Sino-Soviet split of 1960 to 1963, the DRV navigated between Moscow and Beijing. Chinese aid (1965 to 1973): around 320,000 engineering and anti-aircraft troops, 14,000 artillery pieces, around 90,000 tonnes of munitions a year at peak. Soviet aid (1965 to 1973): MiG-17, MiG-19 and MiG-21 fighters, SAM-2 missiles, T-54 tanks for the 1972 Easter Offensive and the 1975 final offensive, and the higher-technology equipment.

The north absorbed the heaviest aerial bombardment in history. Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965 to October 1968) dropped around 864,000 tonnes; Linebacker I (May to October 1972) and Linebacker II (18 to 29 December 1972) added more. Around two million tonnes of bombs fell on the north and the Trail through the war. The regime mobilised its population, dispersed industry, and dug a tunnel network.

Source A is the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (2 September 1945). Using Source A and your own knowledge, explain the significance of Ho Chi Minh's leadership in 1945. [5 marks]

Evaluate the extent to which Ho Chi Minh dominated DRV strategy between 1954 and 1969. [25 marks]

Compare the views of William Duiker and Lien-Hang Nguyen on the leadership of the DRV in the 1960s. [10 marks]