1179: Ho Chi Minh Declares Independence for Vietnam

History Daily

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4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 September 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

September 2, 1945. Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnamese independence, setting the country on a collision course with America, the very country that inspired his speech.

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0:20.4	Music It's the morning of April 30, 1975, in Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam.
0:32.3	Lieutenant Gui Kwong-Tan's hand shakes as he grips the controls of his T-54 tank and maneuvers through the city streets.
0:39.3	Through his tank's periscope, he can see the presidential palace ahead of him.
0:43.3	Its once pristine white façade now bears the scars of a city under siege.
0:48.3	Tan and his comrades have been fighting for this moment for years.
0:51.3	They've marched hundreds of miles through the jungles
0:54.1	under near constant bombardment, and somehow they've made it here to the heart of enemy territory.
0:59.9	Ton sweeps his periscope left and right, catching glimpses of a city in chaos.
1:05.1	Helicopters buzz across the skies. Gunfire rattles through the streets.
1:10.3	Tom's radio crackles with updates from other units.
1:13.5	The final assault on Saigon is nearly complete. But the work is not done yet. There is one last
1:20.2	symbolic victory to be had. Tom pushes his tank forward toward the presidential palace.
1:26.0	Metal gates buckle and crash as the tank burst through into the courtyard beyond.
1:30.8	Dust and debris scatter as Tan brings his tank to a halt.
1:34.6	He climbs out, a Viet Cong flag clutched in his hands and begins running up the front steps.
1:40.2	Inside the palace, the South Vietnamese president waits to surrender.
1:47.6	When Luzani's Inside the palace, the South Vietnamese president waits to surrender. When Lieutenant Bui Quang Tan raises the Viacong flag above Saigon's presidential palace,
1:53.5	he marks the end of a long and bloody civil war.
	...

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