He was a committed nationalist who was instrumental in gaining his country’s independence from French rule. He founded the Indo-Chinese Communist Party in 1930, and led the Vietminh in guerrilla warfare against the Japanese during World War II. He then fought the French for eight years until their defeat in 1954, when Vietnam was divided into North Vietnam, of which he became President, and South Vietnam. Committed to the creation of a united Communist country, Ho Chi Minh then deployed his forces in the guerrilla struggle that became the Vietnam War.