Văn Tiến Dũng (; 2 May 1917 – 17 March 2002), born Co Nhue commune, Từ Liêm District,

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...

, was a Vietnamese general in the

People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed wi ...

(PAVN), PAVN chief of staff (1954–74); PAVN commander in chief (1974–80); member of the Central Military–Party Committee (CMPC) (1984–86) and

Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

defense minister (1980–87).

Military career

Văn Tiến Dũng joined the

Communist Party of Vietnam The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of No ...

in 1936, he escaped from a French prison in 1944, and fought against the Japanese occupation force during the Second World War. August 1945, he directed the armed forces to seize power in the province of Hòa Bình,

Ninh Bình Ninh Bình () is a small city in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. It is the capital of Ninh Bình Province. Geography Ninh Bình Province is located in northern Vietnam comprising 48 square kilometres; the 2007 city population was 130,5 ...

and Thanh Hóa. By October 1953 during the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

, Dũng rose to become Chief of Staff of the Vietnam People's Army under General

Võ Nguyên Giáp Võ Nguyên Giáp (; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general and communist politician who is regarded as having been one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century. He served as interior minister in President ...

prior to the siege of Điện Biên Phủ in 1954. For the next twenty years, his military reputation in North Vietnam was second only to Giáp's. He commanded the vital Tri-Thien-Hue Front during the 1972

Easter Offensive The Easter Offensive, also known as the 1972 spring–summer offensive ('' vi, Chiến dịch Xuân–Hè 1972'') by North Vietnam, or the red fiery summer (') as romanticized in South Vietnamese literature, was a military campaign conducted b ...

, replacing his mentor as PAVN commander in chief in 1974, when the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

against the Americans and South Vietnamese evolved from a guerrilla struggle to more conventional forms.Michael Lee Lanning and Dan Cragg, ''Inside the VC and the NVA: The Real Story of North Vietnam's Armed Forces'' (Texas A&M University Press, 2008) Mai Elliott, ''RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era'' (Rand Corporation, 2010) p525 Dũng planned and commanded the

1975 spring offensive The 1975 spring offensive ( vi, chiến dịch mùa Xuân 1975), officially known as the general offensive and uprising of spring 1975 ( vi, Tổng tiến công và nổi dậy mùa Xuân 1975) was the final North Vietnamese campaign in the Vi ...

, the final PAVN offensive that defeated South Vietnamese defenses and captured Saigon in 1975. He also directed Vietnam's

invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing ...

of Khmer Rouge Cambodia and the resulting border conflict with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

in 1979."China "Should Learn from its Losses" in the War against Vietnam" from "August 1" Radio, People's republic of China, 1400 GMT, February 17, 1980, as reported by BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, 22 February 1980 He was appointed

defence minister A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in s ...

in 1980. He retired in December 1986 at the 6th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Văn Tiến Dũng died on 17 March 2002 in

, at the age of 84.

References

Notes

Sources

* Van Tien Dung, ''Our Great Spring Victory: An Account of the Liberation of South Vietnam''. Trans. by John Spragens, Jr. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1977. * Tobin, Thomas G., Arthur E. Laehr, and John F. Hilgenberg, ''Last Flight from Saigon''. Maxwell Air Force Base AL: Air University Press, 1979. * Nguyen Duy Hinh, Major General, ''Vietnamization and the Cease-Fire''. Washington, D.C.:

United States Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Ar ...

, 1980. * * Cao Văn Viên, General, ''The Final Collapse''. Washington, D.C.:

, 1983. * *

External links

Interview with Van Tien Dung, 1981

CBS News report of World Airways evacuation flight from Da Nang

“The Trials of Henry Kissinger”
documentary by Eugene Jarecki (video, 1h19). Sequence on Nixon campaign sabotage of Paris Peace Accords: start 15min 20sec – end 20min 10sec.
Tran Van Tra, ''Vietnam: History of the Bulwark B2 Theater'', vol. 5, ''Concluding the 30-Year War''. Ho Chi Minh City: Van Nghe Publishing, 1982. On-line edition

1979: Vietnam forces Khmer Rouge retreat

Meanwhile: When the Khmer Rouge came to kill in Vietnam

Second Life, Second Death: The Khmer Rouge After 1978

Ministry of Defence Vietnam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van, Tien Dung 1917 births 2002 deaths People from Hanoi Generals of the People's Army of Vietnam North Vietnamese military personnel of the Vietnam War Government ministers of Vietnam Members of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam Ministers of Defence of Vietnam