The August Revolution (Vietnamese: Cách mạng tháng Tám [kǎk mâˀŋ t̺ʰǎŋ tǎːm]), also known as the August General Uprising (Vietnamese: Tổng khởi nghĩa giành chính quyền tháng Tám, lit. 'the Total uprising to seize power in August' [tôŋ͡m xɤ̂j ŋɥiə̌ˀ ʑàjŋ cǐjŋ kwiə̀n t̺ʰǎŋ tǎːm]), was a revolution led by the Việt Minh against the Japanese occupation of Vietnam and the Empire of Vietnam from 13 to 28 August 1945. The Empire of Vietnam was led by the Nguyễn dynasty and was backed by Japan as a member of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Việt Minh, a political league de facto led by the Indochinese Communist Party, was created in 1941 and designed to appeal to a wider population than the communists could command. The revolution had the participation of factions that did not follow the Việt Minh.
The Japanese army in Vietnam generally adopted a non-interventionist stance to the revolution as they de facto surrendered to the Allies in World War II. While mostly passive, a notable military confrontation occurred in Thái Nguyên starting on August 20, where Việt Minh's forces besieged the Japanese garrison, eventually forcing them to negotiate and surrender. The short-lived Empire of Vietnam found itself paralyzed without an effective military force to maintain control. Recognizing the Việt Minh's overwhelming popular support and its organized administrative apparatus, both Emperor Bảo Đại and his cabinet chose not to resist the transfer of power. Consequently, the power transition across major urban centers was achieved with minimal bloodshed.
The Nguyễn dynasty with its pro-Japanese government of Trần Trọng Kim collapsed when its emperor Bảo Đại abdicated in Hue on 25 August 1945. Ho Chi Minh, head of the National Liberation Committee of Vietnam, subsequently declared the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) on 2 September 1945 in Hanoi. The foundation of the DRV marked the first time Vietnam became a republic; however, the new state initially lacked international recognition, whereas Allied powers continued to acknowledge French sovereignty over Indochina. The former emperor later served as a supreme advisor to the newly formed government and was elected to its first National Assembly. However, during an official mission to China in 1946, he chose to remain abroad, eventually severing ties with the Viet Minh.
The revolution aimed to establish a unified and independent Vietnamese state under the leadership of the Việt Minh. By emphasizing a broad nationalist platform, the Việt Minh successfully mobilized diverse political and social factions, though certain non-communist nationalist groups remained opposed to its leadership, particularly in the Mekong region where Việt Minh control was limited. In the ensuing power struggle and the return of French colonial forces, opposition movements were suppressed. This political polarization culminated in 1949 with the establishment of the State of Vietnam, an anti-communist regime led by ex-emperor Bảo Đại with French backing.
Historical background
French colonialism
French colonial rule
All of Vietnam was under the French colonial rule from 1884 until the Japanese coup d'état of March 1945. In 1887, the French created the Indochinese Union including the three separately-ruled territories of Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina, which were part of Vietnam, and the newly acquired Cambodia; Laos was added to the Union later in 1893. To justify their rule, the French claimed that it was their responsibility to help undeveloped regions in Asia become "civilized." Without French intervention, they asserted, these places would remain backward, uncultured, and impoverished. In a view based more on solid reality, French imperialism was driven by the demand for resources, namely raw materials and cheap labour.
It is generally agreed that French colonial rule was politically repressive and economically exploitative to the original inhabitants; therefore, the Vietnamese struggle against French colonialism was well established by World War II, being close to a century in progress. Incursions by missionaries, gunboats, and diplomats in the 19th century had set off repeated periods of resistance because of the loyalty of the Vietnamese people to the Nguyễn monarchy and traditional Confucian values, which were completely in conflict with European, notably French, interests. From the beginning of the French occupation of Vietnam, thousands of poorly-armed Vietnamese reacted to foreign control with various rebellions, a major one being the Cần Vương movement (English: Aid-the-Emperor), a large-scale Vietnamese insurgency between 1885 and 1896 against French colonial rule in favour of restoring the de facto, and not just de jure, power of the native dynasty.
In 1917, a band of political prisoners, common criminals and mutinous prison guards seized the Thái Nguyên Penitentiary. The extraordinary regional and social diversity of its force makes the Thái Nguyên uprising a compelling prequel to the modern nationalist movements of the 1930s. Although all of the rebellions failed without exception, they remained a powerful symbol of resistance and calling to better days in the local population.
Development of nationalist movements
During the colonial period, the French (in their quest to exploit the people of Southeast Asia) transformed Vietnamese society. Western education and industry were introduced, which had the unintended effect of stimulating the development of nationalist movements.
In the north, the anti-colonial nationalist and workers' movement was heavily influenced by marxist theory after Ho Chi Minh created the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League in 1925. On 3 February 1930, a special conference was held in Hong Kong under the chairmanship of Ho Chi Minh, and the Communist Party of Vietnam was born. In October, following a Comintern directive, this name was changed to the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP). Until the party officially went underground in November 1945, it held a leading position in the Vietnamese anti-colonial revolution.
Ho Chi Minh went by many names during his rise to power, including Nguyen Tat Thanh "Nguyen who shall be Successful" and Nguyen Ai Quoc "Nguyen who loves his country". The changes were used to further his cause of uniting the citizens and encouraging them to rebel. Ho Chi Minh means "Ho who aspires to Enlightenment".
In the south, the anti-colonial nationalist movement was more complicated than in the north due to political divisions. The Cao Đài was the first of southern Vietnam's three most influential political and religious organizations to emerge in the colonial era. Officially founded by colonial civil servant Ngô Văn Chiêu in 1926, it would grow to be the largest of the region's politically oriented religious entities, and in many ways the most powerful. More than a decade later, in 1939, Prophet Huynh Phu So introduced another politico-religious organization, the Hòa Hảo. Prophet Huynh Phu So's preaching, alleged miracle cures, and extreme charity drew tens of thousands of adherents to the new Hòa Hảo organization. The third organization was the Bình Xuyên. Though its origins dated to the early 1920s, it only became a cohesive political force at the end of World War II. All three groups went on to become major anti-colonial powers in southern Vietnam..
In Cochinchina, the communists also contended with a Trotskyist left opposition. In April 1939, the United Workers and Peasants coalition, led by the Trotskyist Tạ Thu Thâu, triumphed over both the stalinist's Democratic Front and the liberal Constitutionalists in elections to the colonial Cochinchina Council. Governor-General Brévié, who set the results aside, wrote to French Colonial Minister Mandel:
'"The Trotskyists under the leadership of Ta Thu Thau, want to take advantage of a possible war in order to win total liberation." The Stalinists, on the other hand, are "following the position of the Communist Party in France" and "will thus be loyal if war breaks out."
World War II and the Japanese occupation
Japanese occupation and March 1945 coup
Before 1945, France and Japan had uneasily ruled Vietnam together for over four years. In September 1940, just months after France capitulated to Germany, Japanese troops took advantage of French weakness to station troops in northern Vietnam for the purpose of cutting off the supply route to the southern flank of the China Theatre. From 1940 to March 1945, the French retained their administrative responsibilities, police duties, and even their colonial army in exchange for allowing Japanese troops and material to pass through Indochina. By 1943, however, there were signs that the Japanese might lose the war. The United States had begun the island-hopping sweep through the South Pacific. A seaborne Allied landing in Indochina and an overland attack from China became real threats to the Japanese. In addition, an upsurge of Gaullist sentiment in Indochina after Charles de Gaulle returned to Paris at the head of the French Provisional Government in September 1944 added to Japanese concerns.
In the evening of 9 March 1945, the Japanese forces attacked the French in every center and removed the French from administrative control of Indochina. In less than 24 hours, the majority of the French armed forces throughout Indochina was put out of combat. The entire French colonial system, which had been in existence for almost 87 years, came tumbling down. Practically all French civil and military leaders were made prisoners, including Admiral Jean Decoux.
After the Japanese removed the French from administrative control in Indochina, they made no attempt to impose their own direct control of the civilian administration. Concerned primarily with the defense of Vietnam against an Allied invasion, the Japanese were not interested in Vietnamese politics although they also understood the desirability of a certain degree of administrative continuity. It was to their advantage to install a Vietnamese government that would acquiesce in the Japanese military presence. With that in mind, the Japanese persuaded the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty emperor, Bảo Đại, to co-operate with Japan and to declare Vietnam independent of France. On 11 March 1945, Bảo Đại did just that by abrogating the Franco-Vietnamese Treaty of Protectorate of 1884. In August, Vietnam regained Cochinchina (Southern Vietnam). Vietnam's new "independence," however, rested on the government's willingness to co-operate with Japan and accept the Japanese military presence.
Opportunity for Vietnamese nationalists
From March to August 1945, Vietnam was under the nominal rule of the Empire of Vietnam, backed by Japan. In the aftermath of the coup, the Japanese most definitely wanted to minimize internal change in Indochina, which would have adversely affected their military objectives.
If the 9 March coup was a disaster for the French, it was an opportunity for Vietnamese nationalists. In fact, it marked a turning point in the Vietnamese revolution. Freed from French repression, which had continued unabated in the early phase of the Japanese occupation, Vietnamese revolutionaries had much greater freedom of movement.
In May 1941, Ho Chi Minh formed the Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam), or Việt Minh for short, at the Eighth Plenum of the Indochinese Communist Party at Pác Bó in northern Vietnam. The Việt Minh encouraged the creation of "national salvation associations" and adopted guerrilla warfare as the cornerstone of its revolutionary strategy. After the coup, the Japanese were stretched thin and only control the large cities and left the countryside to the Vietnamese. The Việt Minh, in particular, took advantage of the situation to strengthen their power. During the five months of the Japanese interlude, the Việt Minh carried out propaganda activities and organizational work in the Vietnamese countryside to prepare for the anticipated popular insurrection.
The Trần Trọng Kim Cabinet oversaw the unification of the country for the first time in nearly a century. In its brief four-month existence, it sought to reverse decades of colonial rule by nationalising education, culture, and the civil service, while also doing its best to cope with the devastating famine. The Empire of Vietnam’s government might have survived despite its association with the Japanese, much like Sukarno and other nationalists managed to do in Indonesia.
However, the Việt Minh was not the only political organization to anticipate an opportunity. In fact, after the brief storm of bullets of 9 March, political parties, groups, and associations were formed throughout Vietnam. In the south, because of the weak status of the communist movement, the Việt Minh did not take full control of the movements' leadership during the preparation for insurrection. Several politico-religious organizations mentioned above rapidly expanded their power. In the early of summer 1945, Hòa Hảo leaders opened talks with the heads of other southern nationalist groups in the south, including the Cao Đài and the Trotskyists, to fight for and defend an independent Vietnam when the war ended.
Vietnamese famine of 1944–1945
The famine of 1945 was another issue of utmost importance during the Japanese interlude. The famine was caused by both artificial and natural factors.
During the war, the Japanese had forced many rice farmers to grow other crops. As a result, rice production decreased, especially in the north, where crops had often been supplemented in the past by shipments from the south. Now, however, Japanese troops consumed the surplus from the south or converted it to fuel for military vehicles. Terrible flooding in the spring of 1945 added to the misery. Starving peasants flocked to the cities or died passively in the countryside.
The devastation contributed to the crisis of authority in the country. Neither the French nor the Japanese took effective measures to alleviate the famine, and Kim's government could do nothing without Japanese consent. The misery and anger combined to foster a new interest in politics, especially among the younger generation, which the Việt Minh turned to its advantage.
During the famine, the Việt Minh conducted raids on Japanese granaries and the rice storage facilities of Vietnamese landlords. In the long run, the Việt Minh thus increased popular support, highlighted the impotency of Kim's government and intensified popular feelings against the French and Japanese. The Việt Minh succeeded in creating People's Revolutionary Committees all over the north. The committees were to take over local administration when the Việt Minh launched the general insurrection.
August Revolution
On August 13, 1945, upon receiving news that fascist Japan had been defeated and was about to surrender to the Allies, the ICP's Central Committee and the Viet Minh's General Headquarters established the National Uprising Committee. At 11 p.m. the same day, the Committee issued Military Order No. 1, calling for a general uprising. The following day, the ICP's National Conference opened at Tân Trào, where the Party resolved to promptly launch a general uprising to seize power. A National People’s Congress was also convened at Tân Trào on August 16. The Congress decided to establish the National Liberation Committee, with Hồ Chí Minh as Chairman.
Also on August 13, 1945, the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng seized power in Hà Giang. When the Japanese surrendered to the Allies on 15 August 1945, the Việt Minh immediately launched the prepared general insurrection. 'People's Revolutionary Committees' across the countryside took over administrative positions, often acting on their own initiative, and in the cities, the Japanese stood by as the Vietnamese took control. On the morning of 19 August, the Việt Minh took control of Hanoi, seizing northern Vietnam in the next few days.
On August 25, Emperor Bảo Đại issued his abdication decree, and on August 30, he formally turned over the imperial seal and sword to the Việt Minh delegation in Hue, leading to the fall of the Nguyễn dynasty and Empire of Vietnam. He was then offered a position as supreme advisor. On 2 September, Ho Chi Minh declared independence for the newly established Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi, the exact same day Japan officially signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri.
However, while the revolution succeeded rapidly in the north, the Việt Minh faced a more politically fragmented situation in the south. Establishing unified control proved more challenging due to intense competition among various factions, including the Việt Minh, the Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo religious movements, other nationalist groups, and Trotskyists.
On August 24, the Việt Minh established the Southern Administrative Committee in Saigon. The situation escalated rapidly with the impending arrival of British forces, sent to disarm the Japanese but widely perceived as paving the way for a French colonial restoration. In early September, factional rivalries culminated in armed clashes; notably in Cần Thơ on September 7–8, when the Southern Administrative Committee and the Vanguard Youth (Thanh Niên Tiền Phong) suppressed an armed march by rival opposition groups seeking to challenge Việt Minh authority.
In the north, Lê Trọng Nghĩa, who later became the head of the Intelligence Department for both the Communist Party and the military, said of events in Hanoi:
'The government did not hand over power or collapse, the Việt Minh made the decision to destroy what was there, the entire administration. We were bold. Approaching the Japanese, harnessing the energy around the popularity of the Democratic Party of Vietnam to influence the outcome of the people's uprising, and using our covert operatives within the puppet apparatus to collapse things within'.
Preparation and supply
In Hanoi on 15–20 April 1945 the Tonkin Revolutionary Military Conference of the Việt Minh issued a resolution that was reprinted on pages 1–4 on 25 August 1970 in the Nhân Dân journal. It called for a general uprising, resistance and guerilla warfare against the Japanese by establishing 7 war zones across Vietnam named after past heroes of Vietnam, calling for propaganda to explain to the people that their only way forward was violent resistance against the Japanese and exposing the Vietnamese puppet government that served them. The conference also called for training propagandists and having women spread military propaganda and target Japanese soldiers with Chinese language leaflets and Japanese language propaganda. The Việt Minh's Vietnamese Liberation Army published the "Resistance against Japan" (Kháng Nhật) newspaper. They also called for the creation of a group called "Chinese and Vietnamese Allied against Japan" by sending leaflets to recruit overseas Chinese in Vietnam to their cause. The resolution called on forcing the French in Vietnam to recognise Vietnamese independence and for Charles de Gaulle's France (Allied French) to recognise their independence and cooperate with them against Japan.
Archimedes Patti stated that when he arrived in Kunming in March 1945, the French colonials were either unwilling or unable to assist him in establishing an American intelligence network in Indochina and so he turned to "the only source [available]," the Việt Minh. Patti was introduced to Ho Chi Minh by Colonel Austin Glass, the OSS expert in Indochina. Patti met Ho Chi Minh on the French Indochinese-Chinese border in late April 1945. Patti agreed to provide intelligence to the allies if he could have "a line of communication with the allies."
On 16 July 1945, the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Special Operations Deer Team and 3 French special operatives arrived by parachute at the Việt Minh headquarters at Kim Lung. The remaining six members of the OSS Deer Team would arrive by parachute on 29 July. When the Deer Team arrived they were greeted by Võ Nguyên Giáp who apologised for their leader's absence as Ho Chi Minh was weak and dying suffering from "malaria, dengue fever, dysentery, or a combination of all three.", as OSS medic Paul Hoagland was a trained nurse he supplied Ho Chi Minh with the right medicine to let him recover from his illness. Though there is controversy if the Americans saved Ho Chi Minh from "an early grave" or if he would have recovered without their help.
In the first six days of August 1945 the OSS Deer Team build a training camp for the Việt Minh, this training camp consisted of 3 barracks with one being for the Việt Minh recruits, another one being for the OSS members, and another serving as a warehouse, infirmary, and radio centre. Chairman Ho referred to these barracks as the Bo Doi Viet-My, the Vietnamese-American Force. The Việt Minh supplied the OSS with 110 recruits of which the Deer Team would choose the 40 most promising to give special training instructing them how to use American weapons and drilling them like American soldiers from 9 to 15 August. More weapons and ammunition were dropped near them during the third OSS aid drop on 10 August. Võ Nguyên Giáp wanted to make sure that his newly equipped forces would be witnessed by as many people as possible showcasing them to people who would cheer them on and welcome them as liberators. By the time of the Japanese surrender OSS Major Alison Kent Thomas had already given most of his weapons to the Việt Minh's Vietnamese-American Force, which became an issue when he received a message from Kunming, China that he was to return all OSS equipment to an American base stationed in China. However, by the time Thomas received this message both the Việt Minh's Vietnamese-American Force and the OSS Deer Team were on the road to Hanoi to proclaim a revolution.
While in early August 1945 the end of the war still seemed far away, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki it would become clear that the Japanese were on the losing side and as American troops moved closer to the Japanese Mainland, Ho Chi Minh's sense of urgency would grow causing him to ramp up preparations in order to proclaim a swift and decisive revolution following the official surrender of Japan in order to take the country before the French could return. In order to retain his leadership he knew that he had to demonstrate both legitimacy and strength and quickly called for a meeting between the Việt Minh and other Vietnamese nationalist political figures, on 13 August many delegates met at Tan Trao where they established the National Insurrection Committee, its first order was to commence a general military insurrection on 14 August.
On 8 August 1945, Hanoi's political situation became more and more heated due to the upheavals of the Second World War. The Japanese army suffered one defeat after another on allied fronts. During that time, the Việt Minh leadership instructed to conduct secret contacts with Khâm sai Phan Kế Toại, who represented the Court of the Nguyễn dynasty in the North, asking him to side with the Việt Minh. Toại was puzzled by the Việt Minh's invitation to join their government.
According to later accounts the American government claimed that it only gave "a few revolvers" to the Việt Minh but according to author David Halberstam this is contradicted by "a considerable of evidence" suggesting that the Allied forces supplied the Việt Minh with 5,000 weapons during the summer of 1945. According to both Communist and French accounts the Việt Minh's military numbered only around 5,000 at the time of the fall of Japan. As 5,000 weapons would have been a highly significant amount American intelligence scholar Bob Bergin questioned Halberstam's claims as he provided no evidence, meanwhile Bergin estimated that perhaps only around 200 or so weapons had been given to the Việt Minh by the Americans during this period. Bergin noted that Ho Chi Minh learned from his own experiences that the Americans wouldn't supply him with a sufficient amount of weapons if he asked for them and that an insufficient supply of weapons had always plagued the Việt Minh. The weapons supplied to them were supposed to have been used by the Vietnamese-American Force if the war would have continued.
During an event known as "Gold Week", Ho Chi Minh asked the Vietnamese people to contribute their gold to the Việt Minh to be able to purchase more armaments from both the Imperial Japanese forces and Chiang's National Revolutionary Army, within only a short amount of time people "from all walks of life" had contributed 370 kilograms of gold and 20,000,000 piastres for the purchasing of weaponry. Historian Bernard B. Fall later commented on the success of "Gold Week" saying that the Vietnam People's Army was able to purchase 3,000 rifles, 50 automatic rifles, 600 submachine guns, and 100 mortars of American manufacture. According to Fall the Vietnam People's Army also secured substantial French and Japanese stocks of firearms and other military equipment (31,000 rifles, 700 automatic weapons, 36 artillery pieces, and 18 tanks) which were supposed to have been secured by the Chinese after the surrender of Japan, but were unable to.
Initial stages of the revolution
On 16 August the first National People's Congress was formed and it consisted of delegates from all the different political parties that formed the Việt Minh, the first National People's Congress included various mass organisations and representatives of different ethnic groups and religious groups. During the meeting the attendees were greeted by disciplined soldiers well-armed in uniform and at building photographs of Claire Lee Chennault were prominently displayed next to portraits of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin and the Chinese Communist Mao Zedong indicating that the Việt Minh enjoyed "secret" support from the Allies. During the meeting Ho Chi Minh emphasised that for the revolution to be successful they would rapidly need to take power in order to be able to provide strong opposition when the Allied forces will occupy French Indochina. 3 days later the Việt Minh would successfully take Hanoi and most of northern Vietnam.
When OSS Indochina operations chief Archimedes Patti arrived in Hanoi on 21 August with an OSS team, and accompanied by a five-man French military team to handle prisoner-of-war (POW) matters, he was shocked to see the situation in Hanoi. Patti soon found himself having to calm down the French and was worried that the demonstrations in Hanoi could soon turn into bloody situations. Patti radioed the American military base in Kunming telling them to persuade the OSS Deer Team and the 3 OSS Special Operations teams in northern Tonkin to return to Kunming as soon as possible and that no further help should be given to the Việt Minh. Archimedes Patti hoped to quickly distance the Americans from both the French and the Việt Minh to avoid getting involved in the internal struggles going on Vietnam. However, this was already too late as the Deer Team at this point was already fighting alongside the Việt Minh against the Japanese.
From 20 to 25 August the Việt Minh engaged in the Battle of Thái Nguyên against the Japanese. Earlier on 16 August 1945 the OSS Deer Team had joined the Việt Minh despite Major Thomas having received clear orders to "sit tight until further orders" from the OSS. While the reasons for the battle of Thái Nguyên remain unclear, Bob Bergin speculates that the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) leaders wanted to test the combat capabilities of the Vietnamese-American Joint Force and that they had hoped for an easy victory that would both psychologically and politically reenforce the legitimacy and strength of the Việt Minh. According to American historian Douglas Pike, the battle of Thái Nguyên was the event that officially "marked the liberation of Vietnam". During the battle itself only sporadic fighting broke out, as the Japanese were situated in an old French fort and the Americans were all, except for Major Thomas, away from the battle in an outside safehouse. On 25 August the final battle at Thái Nguyên ended with the Japanese "surrendering" agreeing to stay confined to their post. This marked the liberation of the city of Thái Nguyên from Japanese rule, after the battle ended Thái Nguyên erupted in celebrations and held an independence parade. From this point onwards the Americans completely disassociated themselves from engaging in the August Revolution.
Hanoi uprising
In a telegram sent to Tokyo, the Japanese ambassador to Indochina in Hanoi confirmed: "On the afternoon of the 19th, the Ambassador was 'invited' to attend a meeting with the leaders of Etsumei (Việt Minh) and participated in discussions with them, considered as official authorities."
Events in Huế
According to Nguyễn Kỳ Nam on 12 August 1945 a Japanese general entered the city of Huế and asked to meet with the Minister of Justice Trịnh Đình Thảo saying that there were urgent and confidential matters. At that time, the journalist Nguyễn Kỳ Nam was present because he was General Manager of the Ministry of Justice office in Huế of the Trần Trọng Kim cabinet. He informed the minister that he had come from Saigon, Cochinchina to ask for an audience with the Emperor to ask for permission to deal with the Việt Minh's uprising.
On 17 August 1945, the government of Trần Trọng Kim held a national rally, but because of the support of the people, the rally turned into a march in support of the Việt Minh forces. As the imperial government of Vietnam saw the success of the August Revolution minister Trần Đình Nam suggested to Trần Trọng Kim to dissolve the government in favour of the Việt Minh in solidarity around the strongest and most enthusiastic organisation noting that this would disallow foreigners to play "divide and conquer" in Vietnam. Among his suggestions was not just to dissolve the cabinet but to abolish the Nguyễn dynasty altogether and ask for the Emperor to abdicate, in response Trần Trọng Kim got furious at Trần Đình Nam for daring to suggest that the Emperor should relinquish his position causing a heated debate between the two men.
On 23 August, the Việt Minh-led uprising in Huế won. The people directing the uprising were Nguyễn Chí Thanh and Tố Hữu. The uprising was contributed by the Frontline Youth (Thanh niên tiền tuyến, also known as the Thanh niên Phan Anh), which was originally the policing department of Trần Trọng Kim's government but when the revolution broke out, it turned to support the Việt Minh.