The Southeast Asian leader, HoChi Minh, was an instrumental force during the First Indochina War during the 1950s.
Accompanied by other Vietnamese dissidents, HoChi Minh led the Vietnam Independence League. After the end of the Second World War, he proclaimed the independence of the nation, becoming the first president of that country in 1945. This proclamation unleashed a colonial war with France, which lasted from 1946 to 1954.
During the war, HoChi Minh was the leader of the Viet Minh, the main Vietnamese military force.