Vo Nguyen Giap

General Vo Nguyen Giap (Vietnamese Võ Nguyên Giáp), born 1912, Vietnamese guerrilla, the military leader of the Viet Minh group of Ho Chi Minh and the Peoples' Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

A brilliant military tactician, Vo commanded the Viet Minh forces that liberated Vietnam from French colonial rule and as commander of the PAVN of North Vietnam fought the Americans and the South Vietnamese, and reunified Vietnam. After the reunification, Giap served as Vietnam's Minister of Defense and later as Deputy Prime Minister.