Vo Nguyen Giap

Born Jan. 3, 1911, in the province of Quang Binh, North Vietnam. Political and military figure in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Giap was trained as a history teacher. From his youth he participated in the national liberation movement. Beginning in 1930, he was a member of the Vietnamese Workers’ Party (until 1951, the Communist Party of Indochina). He was one of the creators of the People’s Army of Vietnam in 1944. He had an active part in the August Revolution of 1945 in Vietnam, was a member of the National Committee for the Liberation of Vietnam, and was minister of internal affairs in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In 1946 he became minister of national defense, and in 1947 he became commander in chief of the People’s Army of Vietnam. From 1955 on he has simultaneously served as deputy premier. He has been a member of the Central Committee (since 1945) and of the Politburo (since 1951) of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Workers’ Party.