Vietnam Independence Day (National Day)

On September 2, Vietnam celebrates Independence Day This is the country's most important national holiday It is celebrated both in large cities and in remote villages Independence Day was proclaimed in 1945 At that time, the Vietnamese did not yet know what terrible war awaited them in the future, but they were glad that they were able to free themselves from the oppression of the Japanese and French In the second half of the 19th century, the Vietnamese were captured by the French To make it easier to manage the new territories, the colonialists decide to divide the country into three large parts The protectorate of Tonkin is formed in the north of Vietnam, and Annam is in the center The southern lands of the captured country become a separate colony called Cochinchina Vietnam was not the only French trophy in this region The colonialists also successfully conquered Cambodia and Laos These two states, together with the dismantled Vietnam, became part of a new entity, which was called French Indochina The Vietnamese tolerated the rule of the colonialists for quite a long time, but gradually communist ideas gained popularity in society Already by the 1930s, discontent was growing in this country and the Communist Party led by Ho Chi Minh was growing stronger Although the long-awaited freedom was practically in the hands of the Vietnamese, the Second World War soon began, which also affected these territories The Japanese invaded Vietnam Residents of the Land of the Rising Sun disarmed the former colonialists and liquidated the French garrisons No one knows what the fate of Vietnam might have been if the Japanese had not had to hastily abandon their recently conquered lands The defense of Manchuria and Japan itself could not withstand it, so they were urgently forced to transfer troops to other regions For the first time in a long time, the Vietnamese were left to their own devices Towards the end of World War II, the communists created a military-political association called the Viet Minh This coalition included the bulk of the country's liberation movements When both the French and Japanese left Vietnam, local leaders decided to take power into their own hands They destroyed the last institutions of colonial power, and on September 2, 1945, during his speech in Badinh Square, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independence of Vietnam The new government did not stop there South Vietnam, which became a colony of Cochin China under the French, was not included in the new country It was still held by the invaders, who proclaimed the creation of a new autonomous republic The communists managed to liberate these lands and annex them to Vietnam only in 1975 President Ho Chi Minh died in 1969, but he still remains the national hero of Vietnam, who led the country to long-awaited freedom On September 2, 1945, the nearly century-long heroic struggle of the Vietnamese people against the colonialists finally ended The development of this country was slowed down by the war, which soon came to these lands Vietnam has become a pawn in a larger game of more powerful states The war claimed thousands of lives, but as a result, Saigon still fell, the Americans were forced to withdraw their troops from the country, and Vietnam, once again, won freedom thanks to a powerful guerrilla movement The democratic values ​​of the Declaration of Independence of September 2, 1945 continue to be a source of powerful inspiration for the Vietnamese people to develop their country