After the Russian October Revolution, Vietnam’s August Revolution left an imprint on the common revolutionary movements of the 20^th century which broke an important link of old colonialism. It provided great encouragement to many colonies in Asia, Africa and Latin America to rise up, smash the shackles of slavery and gain national independence. Therefore, the August Revolutionary was considered a beacon in the world's national liberation movements.

For Vietnam, the success of the August Revolution and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam were the integrated outcome of a 15-year period of continuous struggle after the founding of the Communist Party, from the 1930-1931 Soviet-Nghe Tinh Movement to the 1936-1939 Democratic Campaign and the 1939-1945 National Liberation Movement.

The August Revolution was one of Vietnam’s most important events in the 20^th century. In a short period, with their strong revolutionary mettle under the clear-sighted leadership of the Party, the Vietnamese people brought the August Revolution to success in 1945, putting an end to the thousand-year-old feudal regime, the nearly 100 years of French colonial rule and the five-year occupation by Japanese Fascists and leading to national unification from Lang Son to Ca Mau. After seizing power, the first republic state was set up in Vietnamese history, opening up a new era of national independence and socialism.

In early 1945, when World War II was in its final stage, German fascists were on the verge of being annihilated in Europe and Japanese fascists were being forced into a corner in the Pacific. To avoid sudden attacks by France, Japan staged a coup d’etat to overthrow French rule on September 3, 1945.  That night, the Party Standing Committee met and decided on important steps to be taken. After predicting that Japan would certainly oust France, it agreed on ‘launching a powerful movement against the Japanese fascists and preparing for a general uprising to seize power from their hands’.

At that time, the Soviet armed forces had inflicted death blows on German, Italian and Japanese fascists and quickly liberated Europe after the German fascists surrendered unconditionally. Within a matter of days they declared war on the Japanese fascists and crushed Japanese armies stationed in north-eastern China forcing them to surrender unconditionally.

Against the backdrop of severe beating, the Japanese fascists looked like a headless snake with its tail waggling in Vietnam. This provided the most favourable conditions for the Vietnamese to rise up and seize power.

The Party and President Ho Chi Minh, well aware of such a situation, had already set up the Viet Minh Front, the Armed Propaganda Brigade for the Liberation of Vietnam and the National Salvation Units. With strong support from the people, these forces rose up and liberated vast areas in Viet Bac. The success of the Ba To uprising in Quang Ngai province then led to other uprisings in many parts of the country.

From August 13-15, 1945, the Party held its second national congress in Tan Trao and issued a resolution leading the nation to carry out a general uprising and seize power. It put forward the most correct policies on home and foreign affairs. On August 16, 1945, it decided on setting up the National Liberation Central Committee as well as the national flag and anthem.

In a letter sent to the whole compatriots, Ho Chi Minh called on them to unite around the National Uprising Committee. In response to his call, our people rose up,  million like one, under the leadership of the Party. The successful uprising in Hanoi on August 19, 1945 had a decisive effect on the situation in the whole country, leading to other uprisings in Thua Thien - Hue on August 23 to overthrow the Tran Trong Kim puppet government and in Sai Gon on August 25. Bao Dai, the last emperor of Vietnam, abdicated on August 30, bringing an end to the 143-year reign of the Nguyen dynasty. Within half a month, the August Revolution finally succeeded in the whole country.

On September 2, 1945, in front of more than half a million Vietnamese people, President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence, announcing to the world the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the first people’s democratic state in Southeast Asia.

The golden pages of Vietnam’s revolutionary history will forever remain in the minds of present day and future generations. After the success of the August Revolution and the establishment of a new state of Vietnam, we had to overcome so many hardships but chalked up glorious victories over both old and neo-colonialism. Now we continue advancing to socialism with firm resolve to achieve the goal of renewal towards national industrialisation and modernisation.