Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

The Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was written by Ho Chi Minh and read publicly on September 2, 1945 at Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi, proclaiming Vietnam's independence as a republic after the abdication of Emperor Bao Dai ended the Nguyen dynasty's Empire of Vietnam. It was signed by Ho Chi Minh and fourteen other officials, including Vo Nguyen Giap and Pham Van Dong, and its text deliberately echoed language from the American and French declarations of independence in an attempt to win Allied sympathy while Ho's own communist affiliations and Soviet ties went unmentioned. The declaration received no immediate recognition from other governments; France instead established the rival State of Vietnam in 1949, and fighting between French and Democratic Republic forces escalated into the First Indochina War beginning in December 1946. It stands as the founding document of the state that became, after the country's reunification in 1976, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.