In August 1945, under the wise and talented leadership of the Indochinese Communist Party, the Vietnamese people rose up in a general uprising, smashing the yoke of oppression and exploitation by Japanese fascists and French colonialists, overthrowing the backward feudal monarchy, and establishing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam - the first workers' and peasants' state in Southeast Asia.

In early August 1945, favorable objective conditions for a general uprising to seize power across the country were ripe when the Japanese fascists were defeated by the Soviet Red Army in Manchuria and accepted unconditional surrender. In Indochina, Japanese soldiers were extremely confused, divided and paralyzed, more than 70,000 Japanese troops were waiting for the Allies to come and disarm them.

Carrying out the General Uprising order during the August Revolution of 1945 in Hanoi . Photo archive

The puppet government of Tran Trong Kim was faced with a desperate situation. On August 12, 1945, upon receiving news that Japan had sent a diplomatic note to the Allies proposing to open ceasefire negotiations, seizing the opportunity, on August 13, 1945, our Party convened a Central Conference to issue a resolution to "launch a general uprising to seize power nationwide."

Following the Party's direction, from August 14 to 28, 1945, the army and people in all localities across the country rose up in a general uprising to successfully seize power. On September 2, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh read the "Declaration of Independence" giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam - the first worker-peasant state in Southeast Asia.

The success of the August Revolution's General Armed Uprising has drawn many conclusions about military art: The art of building revolutionary bases; the art of seizing opportunities and taking advantage of opportunities to launch an uprising; the art of organizing partial uprisings; the art of launching a general uprising to seize power nationwide... Typically, the art of preparing, building and using forces to carry out an uprising.

To carry out the general uprising and win victory, from December 1, 1941, the Party Central Committee issued a directive: To step up the building of widespread political forces, on that basis, to build the people's armed forces and paramilitary forces, creating a large force with high combined strength, far superior to the enemy.

Implementing the directive of the Party Central Committee, we stepped up propaganda, mobilized a large number of people to participate in the uprising, creating a foundation for the armed forces to gradually develop widely in localities across the country (rural, plains, midlands, forests and cities), and increasingly grow in scale. When the opportunity came, we secretly mobilized a large number of people from national salvation organizations in the inner city, suburbs, and self-defense forces to fight, propagate surprise attacks, simultaneously raise many red flags with yellow stars, combine to seize power, give speeches, propagate about the surrender of the Japanese Allies and call on the people to support the Viet Minh.

In Hanoi, that event had a strong impact on the masses, and was a ripe opportunity for streams of people (led by self-defense fighters) to flow from the Opera House through the central streets, shouting slogans: "Support Viet Minh", "Down with the puppets", "Vietnam independence"... Hundreds of thousands of people in the inner city and suburbs took to the streets to demonstrate their strength, with the support of self-defense fighters, one after another, attacking the enemy's headquarters, such as: the Northern Governor's Office, the secret police department, the central police department, the post office, the security camp...

Reality has proven that on August 18, 1945, the rally organized by the General Association of Civil Servants at the Hanoi Opera House in support of the puppet government of Tran Trong Kim was turned by the City Uprising Committee into a rally of the masses supporting the revolution. Faced with the rising revolutionary spirit of the masses, the puppet government did not dare to resist, the Japanese army did not dare to intervene, on the evening of August 19, 1945, the uprising to seize power in Hanoi was completely victorious.

Identifying the very important role of the revolutionary armed forces in protecting and supporting the political forces and the masses to rise up and seize power, acting as the core in fighting to destroy the enemy and protect the revolutionary government, the 8th Central Conference (May 1941) decided: Building revolutionary armed forces, organizing self-defense teams, and guerrilla squads to save the country at revolutionary bases.

As a result, many guerrilla teams were established together with the broad armed forces of the masses in the national salvation organizations: Bac Son Guerrilla Team (Lang Son), Nam Ky Guerrilla Team, Ba To Guerrilla Team (Central Vietnam), Pac Bo Guerrilla Team (Cao Bang), National Salvation Army Team, Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army Team... Implementing the direction of the Viet Minh General Headquarters and the Uprising Committee, the liberation army units from the Viet Bac base to the war zones organized attacks on the enemy, supporting the masses to rise up and overthrow the old government, establishing revolutionary governments of the people in districts, prefectures, and provincial capitals.

In Viet Bac, a main armed unit advanced to Thai Nguyen, coordinated with the people to establish a revolutionary government and marched straight to Hanoi. Liberation army units from Cao Bang and Ha Giang attacked the towns of Cao Bang and Ha Giang. Liberation army units from Bac Kan attacked the town of Bac Kan... In the Central region, from Vinh Son War Zone (Quang Ngai), Phan Dinh Phung Guerrilla Company divided into wings to attack the forts and liberate the districts of Di Lang, Son Ha, Binh Son, and Son Tinh.

From the Nui Lon War Zone, the Hoang Hoa Tham Guerrilla Company attacked Ba To and Minh Long forts, liberating the districts of Nghia Hanh, Mo Duc, Duc Pho... In the South, local armed units developed rapidly in Saigon, My Tho, Ben Tre, Sa Dec... with the spirit of "Southern Uprising" actively supporting the mass political forces to carry out a general uprising, seize power in Saigon and provinces and districts throughout the South.

In Hanoi, on August 19, 1945, with the support of self-defense fighting teams, the people took turns occupying the enemy's headquarters, such as: the Royal Envoy's Palace of Tonkin, the security camp, the Governor's Palace... The victory of the August Revolution in 1945 marked the success of the art of simultaneously using both military attacks and uprisings of the masses, under the command of the National and local Uprising Committees.

In this, the uprising of political forces plays a decisive role, conducting rallies, demonstrations, besieging offices, exerting pressure, calling on the enemy to surrender, propagating the prestige of the revolution, and demonstrating power. Military forces support the uprising of the masses and are used when necessary to destroy evil and punish the stubborn.

The art of building, developing and using armed uprising forces in the August Revolution of 1945 still retains its current value and is an invaluable asset in the treasure trove of Vietnamese military art. Thoroughly implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, we continue to study, supplement and develop the art of building, developing and using revolutionary forces to a new level; thoroughly take advantage of the favorable opportunities created by the Party, State and people, build and promote the strength of the national solidarity force; build a revolutionary, disciplined, elite and modern People's Army and People's Police, contributing to defeating armed invasion, foiling the plots and tricks in the strategy of "peaceful evolution" and violent overthrow of hostile forces, firmly protecting the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.

Colonel DAO VAN DE, Political Academy Region 1 - Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics

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