Nguyễn Hải Thần (; born Nguyễn Văn Thắng in Thường Tín District, Hà Đông Province, circa 1869; died 1959; also known as Vũ Hải Thu) was a leader of the ''Việt Nam Cách mạng Đồng minh Hội'' ( Vietnamese Revolutionary Alliance) and a political leader during the Vietnamese Revolution. He was also the first Vice President of the

Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it opposed the French-suppor ...

for less than a year before fleeing to China.

Biography

In 1905, he left Vietnam to study at military academies, first in Japan and then in China, as part of

Phan Bội Châu Phan Bội Châu (; 26 December 1867 – 29 October 1940), born Phan Văn San, courtesy name Hải Thụ (later changed to Sào Nam), was a pioneer of 20th century Vietnamese nationalism. In 1904, he formed a revolutionary organization called ...

's ''Đông Du'' (Travel to the East) movement. In 1912, he joined Châu's Vietnam Restoration League (Việt Nam Quang Phục Hội) and became one of its representatives in

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

and one of its most capable military leaders. After Châu's capture in 1925 that led to the league's demise, Thần and other revolutionaries in China founded the Việt Nam Cách Mạng Đồng Minh Hội. Thần was respected by many Chinese officials and overseas Vietnamese revolutionaries, and his views were usually held in high regards. Using his good relationship with Chiang Kai-shek, he lobbied for the release and pardon of Hồ Chí Minh when the latter was in jail waiting to be executed for "crimes against the French colonial government". In August 1945, Hồ and the Communists seized the government from Emperor Bảo Đại and founded the

in September the same year. Thần briefly joined Hồ's coalition government that comprised several non-Communist party leaders. After Hồ signed a modus vivendi Marius Moutet (Minister of Overseas France and her Colonies), France was able to return to its former colony. The move bought Hồ precious time to deal with the non-communist military forces. As soon as the Chinese troops that had entered Vietnam to disarm the Japanese were replaced by French expeditionary forces, Hồ's

Việt Minh The Việt Minh (, ) is the common and abbreviated name of the League for Independence of Vietnam ( or , ; ), which was a communist-led national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Vi ...

attacked all non-communist bases in the country. Thần, who opposed Hồ's communist connections, fled to

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

, before departing for Hong Kong where he remained until his death in 1959. He supported the establishment of new Vietnamese state with Bảo Đại being its leader, this state would be the State of Vietnam.

References

Vietnamese nationalists Vietnamese revolutionaries Việt Nam Quang Phục Hội politicians 1951 deaths Deputy prime ministers of Vietnam 1869 births People from Hanoi {{Vietnam-politician-stub