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Tôn Đức Thắng
Tôn Đức Thắng
Tôn Đức Thắng
In this Vietnamese name, the family name is Tn. of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
According to Vietnamese custom, this person should
properly be referred to by the given name Thng.
1.1 Alternative version of events
Tn c Thng (August 20, 1888 March 30, 1980) Christoph Giebel, Associate Professor of International
was the second and nal president of North Vietnam and Studies and History at the University of Washington and
the rst president of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam author of the book, Imagined Ancestries of Vietnamese
under the rule of L Dun. The position of president is Communism: Ton Duc Thang and the Politics of His-
ceremonial and Thng was never a major policymaker or tory and Memory, relates the basic outline of the mutiny
even a member of the Politburo, Vietnams ruling council. and determines from his examination of historical evi-
He served as president, initially of North Vietnam from dence, such as ship logs, that Thng did not participate in
September 2, 1969, and later of a united Vietnam, until a mutiny on a French ship sent to the Black Sea in 1919 to
his death in 1980. He was a key Vietnamese nationalist help defeat Bolsheviks, those fabricated story that linked
and Communist political gure, was chairman of the Na- Vietnamese communism with the October Revolution in
tional Assemblys Standing Committee 19551960 and Russia and recounted across the Communist world in the
served as the vice president to H Ch Minh from 1960 1950s. Giebel highlights disagreements over Thngs in-
to 1969. At the time of death at age 91, he was the old- volvement with a Saigon labour union in the 1920s and
est head of a state with the title president (subsequently the naval-yard strike there in 1925.[3][4]
surpassed by Hastings Banda).
1
2 5 NOTES
South Vietnam as one entity collectively known as the So- nam, thus ending the crucial and signicant Sino-Soviet
cialist Republic of Vietnam which was formalized on July Treaty of Friendship, which had been signed just on the
2, 1976. Presently, April 30 is recognized as a public previous day in 1950. The PRC claimed that the invasion
holiday in Vietnam known as Reunication Day, even was as a result of mistreatment of ethnic Chinese and the
though it was not until July 2 that the two countries be- Vietnamese presence on the PRCs Spratly Islands.
came ocially united as one nation. On February 17, a PRC force of about 200,000 troops
had crossed into Thngs country, and they immedi-
ately started to invade Vietnamese cities and towns along
3 Thng as president of Vietnam Vietnams northern border. Thng had left an army of
100,000 men to ght o the PRC, and heavy casualties
With the end of the Vietnam War and with the South were reported from both sides. With the Chinese not
Vietnamese government ousted, Thng was easily able wanting to linger in Vietnam any longer, they started to
to keep his control over the unstable new nation during move out of the country less than a month later, on March
the middle and late 1970s. The unied Vietnam un- 16. Chinas early exit from the country drew up much
der Thng experienced early troubles, as political and confusion to who was the victor of the Sino-Vietnamese
economic conditions were deteriorating and millions of War. Thng proclaimed that Vietnam had won the war,
South Vietnamese were eeing the country as boat peo- while his counterpart in China, Ye Jianying, proclaimed
ple. As the leader of the united Socialist Republic of a Chinese victory. However, one thing is sure about the
Vietnam, Thng worked hard for several years on a mas- Sino-Vietnamese Wars outcome: Thngs Vietnam was
sive reconstruction eort to rebuild both former North able to successfully depose the Khmer Rouge from power
and South Vietnams which were left devastated by years in Cambodia.
of war which included special projects such as rebuilding
the industry, infrastructure, and economy.
4 Death and legacy
3.1 Deposing of the Khmer Rouge
Thng died on March 30, 1980, in Hanoi, a little more
Main articles: Khmer Rouge and Sino-Vietnamese War than a year after the conclusion of the Sino-Vietnamese
War, at the age of 91 from a heart seizure and respiratory
failure. He was the oldest ever president of a country in
Troubles with the newly formed Vietnamese government the world. He was succeeded by one of his vice presi-
further progressed in early 1978 when Thng approached dents, Nguyn Hu Th. He is buried in Mai Dch Ceme-
the Soviet Union for help in deposing the Khmer Rouge tery in the section reserved for the graves of government
in Cambodia, which was aligned with Peoples Republic leaders and famous revolutionaries.[5] Even though Thng
of China (PRC). The situation seemed like a golden op- had been the rst president of the reunited Socialist Re-
portunity for the Soviet Union because they knew that the public of Vietnam, he has not attained the same reverence
Vietnamese army could easily defeat Cambodian forces. as his predecessor, H Ch Minh, had received from the
A Vietnamese victory would weaken the only aligned na- Vietnamese people. Thng served as the nations leader
tion with the Peoples Republic of China in Southeast during the pivotal time when North Vietnam and South
Asia and demonstrate the superiority of being aligned Vietnam were reunied as one. However, it was also a
with the Soviet Union. The growing tensions between the time when the country showed signs of exhaustion from
PRC and the Soviet Union had drastically escalated the 30 years of wars, with the Vietnam Peoples Army en-
situation in the area. The Soviet Union was anxious about gaged in a long, costly war in Cambodia and Northern
the future outcome of a war by proxy between Vietnam border. The economy collapsed in the wake of a failed
and Cambodia. attempt to collectivize the southern economy, some key
On December 25, 1978, after months of growing bor- party members such as Bi Tn and Hong Vn Hoan de-
der conicts and an inux of Cambodians seeking refuge fected. It was under his rule that Vietnam survived the
in Vietnam, the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia. subsidy period. Later in 1986, the Sixth Partys Congress
By January 7, 1979, the Vietnamese had easily cap- passed the Renovation policy which recognized the fail-
tured the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, and deposed ure of collectivization and liberalized the economy, open-
the Khmer Rouge rgime. However, the Soviet Unions ing a new chapter in Vietnams history.[6]
diplomatic victory was short-lived. The PRC was now
being backed by the United States, and they increasingly
showed signs of being close to war with Vietnam. The 5 Notes
Soviets knew that they could not go help the Vietnamese
if the PRC decided to invade Vietnam.
[1] Giebel, Christoph (2004). Imagined Ancestries of Viet-
Not surprisingly, on February 15, 1979, the Peoples Re- namese Communism: Ton Duc Thang and the Politics of
public of China ocially announced plans to invade Viet- History and Memory. Seattle: University of Washington
3
[6] http://phapluattp.vn/2010063011282794p0c1013/
nguyen-van-linh-nguoi-cua-thoi-doi-moi.htm
6 See also
Sino-Soviet border conict
History of Vietnam
Vietnam War
7 References
Ton Duc Thang Infoplease
Ton Duc Thang Encyclopdia Britannica
8 External links
i hc Tn c Thng (Tn c Thng Univer-
sity)
9.2 Images
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nal artist: ?
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main Contributors: http://vbqppl.moj.gov.vn/law/vi/1951_to_1960/1955/195511/195511300001 http://vbqppl.moj.gov.vn/vbpq/Lists/
Vn%20bn%20php%20lut/View_Detail.aspx?ItemID=820 Original artist: Lu Ly v li theo ngun trn
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License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: dokientrung