At the beginning of 1975, seizing a historic opportunity, our Party made the strategic decision to liberate the South and reunify the country completely. Under the wise leadership of the Party Central Committee, within a short period, with indomitable will and strength, our army and people successfully launched the liberation campaigns of the Central Highlands, Hue, and Da Nang, culminating in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign to liberate Sai Gon, achieving the Great Victory of Spring 1975, marked the triumphant end of the arduous and sacrificial resistance war against the United States for national salvation, gloriously completing the cause of national liberation and leading the entire country onto the path of socialism.

The Great Victory of Spring 1975 was a brilliant milestone, one of the most glorious feats in the history of building and defending the nation, “entering world history as one of the greatest victories of the 20th century, an event of great international significance and profound epochal relevance”. Building upon the achievements and lessons of the Great Victory of Spring 1975, over the past 50 years, our entire Party, people, and army have joined together, united in will and action, steadfastly pursued the goals of national independence and socialism, vigorously promoted the cause of renovation, and firmly built and defended the socialist Fatherland of Vietnam, achieving historic accomplishments and building our country to be “more dignified, more beautiful” as was the aspiration of President Ho Chi Minh.

Dicussion of the Political Bureau on liberating the South ( A file photo)

In the current context, the lessons of the Great Victory of Spring 1975 remain profoundly valuable and must continue to be studied, inherited, and creatively applied to the practice of building the Army, strengthening national defence, and safeguarding the Fatherland in the new situation.

Firstly, it is essential to uphold and strengthen the absolute, direct, and comprehensive leadership of the Party over the Army and the cause of national defence and Fatherland protection in the new situation.

After the signing of the Paris Agreement (1973), based on assessments of the evolving global, regional, and domestic situations, especially the enemy’s new war schemes and actions in the South, the 21st Plenary Session of the Party Central Committee (3rd tenure) emphasised: Under any circumstances, the path to revolutionary victory must be through revolutionary violence. Therefore, it was necessary to firmly grasp the offensive strategy, and resolutely promote the struggle to achieve great victory. Subsequently, during two rounds of meetings (30/9 - 08/10/1974 and 18/12/1974 - 08/01/1975), the Political Bureau approved the strategic plan to liberate the South within two years, 1975 and 1976. However, the victory of the Route 14 – Phuoc Long Campaign (a strategic reconnaissance) revealed that U.S. re-intervention was highly unlikely, and the Saigon puppet army could not counterattack and regain lost territory. This created a solid foundation for the Political Bureau to once again affirm its strategic determination to liberate the South and reunify the country as planned; at the same time, it predicted: “If an opportunity arises in early or late 1975, we must immediately liberate the South within 1975”.

To carry out the strategic determination of the Political Bureau, the Central Military Commission and the General Command resolutely implemented the plan, and together with the people gained consecutive victories in the Central Highlands Campaign and the campaigns to liberate Hue and Da Nang, thereby creating a fundamental shift in the balance of forces and the battlefield to our favour. A strategic opportunity had rapidly emerged. On 25 March 1975, “the Political Bureau decided: to resolutely complete the liberation of Saigon and the South before the rainy season (May 1975)”; and on 1 April 1975, it adjusted the plan and timing of the final strategic decisive battle to liberate Saigon: “Ideally, it should begin and end within April this year, without delay”. With the spirit of “one day equals twenty years”, the entire army and people of the country concentrated all efforts and utmost determination to transform the strategic opportunity into great strength in the Ho Chi Minh Campaign. At 5:00 PM on 26 April 1975, five army corps launched a general offensive in five directions into the heart of Saigon. At exactly 11:30 AM on 30 April 1975, the Ho Chi Minh Campaign achieved great victory, bringing the resistance war against the U.S. for national salvation to a triumphant end. The victory of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign affirmed the strategic thinking and vision, together with sharp and prompt leadership of the Party Central Committee, the Political Bureau, and the Central Military Commission - the decisive factors in creating the historic Great Victory of Spring 1975.

In the context of rapidly changing, complex, and unpredictable world and regional situation, the country is facing new opportunities, advantages, and challenges, the demands and tasks of defending the nation are increasingly high, requiring the entire military to deeply grasp the Party’s political, military, and national defence guidelines, firmly uphold the principle of the Party’s absolute, direct, and comprehensive leadership over the Vietnam People’s Army and the cause of national defence.  Focus on building a strong Party organisation within the Army in terms of politics, ideology, ethics, organisation, and cadres; take the lead in Party building and rectification; constantly improve the leadership capacity and combat strength of Party committees and organisations at all levels; and resolutely fight against the hostile forces’ plots and tricks of “depoliticising” the Army, as well as signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within, ensuring that under any circumstances, the Army remains absolutely loyal to the nation, to the Party, the Government, and the People.

Currently, the Party and the Government are resolutely directing the implementation of breakthroughs in building and perfecting the institutional system, removing bottlenecks and obstacles, and creating momentum for the country to develop strongly in the new era. This presents both an opportunity, a requirement and challenge, demanding enhanced effectiveness and efficiency in the Party’s leadership and the government’s management over the cause of building the Army, strengthening national defence, and safeguarding the Fatherland. Accordingly, ministries and sectors, first and foremost the Ministry of National Defence, need to promote research, theoretical development, practical summary, and consultation on perfecting mechanisms, institutions, and policies to maintain and strengthen the Party’s leadership, the government’s centralised and unified management and administration over the cause of building a revolutionary, disciplined, elite, and modern People’s Army. Fully and comprehensively institutionalise the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines, perfect the legal system on building a whole people national defence associated with the people’s war posture; build a “people’s hearts posture”, protect the Fatherland in new conditions and contexts suitable to practical developments, especially in the reorganisation of a number of provincial-level administrative units, the elimination of district-level units, and the merger of commune-level administrative units.

General Phan Van Giang speaks at a conference on theory and practice of national defence in the new situation (Photo: mod.gov.vn)

Secondly, promote the combined strength of the great national unity bloc to build a strong, independent, and self-reliant whole people national defence.

To generate overwhelming strength, surpassing the enemy in both force and battlefield posture at decisive moments that led to the historic Great Victory of Spring 1975, our entire Party, entire army, and people united as one with a determined will: “All for the front, all for the victory over the American invaders”. In the North, patriotic emulation movements such as “Doubling effort for the beloved South”, “Three-readiness Youth”, “Three-capable Women”, “Lacking not a kilo of rice, nor a soldier”, and many others were vigorously launched, truly becoming a mighty rear to support the great southern front. In just two years, 1973 and 1974, 250,000 northern youths joined the army; tens of thousands of militia were mobilised alongside military units to expand transportation routes; 150,000 officers and soldiers were sent to the south for combat; tens of thousands of technical staff and youth volunteered to work in liberated areas; and 379,000 tons of supplies were transported to southern fronts, etc. Especially in the lead-up to the Great Victory of Spring 1975, the North mobilised its full strength by sending over 110,000 officers and soldiers to the South; supplying 230,000 tons of materials, covering 81% of weaponry, 60% of fuel, 65% of medicine, and 85% of transport vehicles. On the great southern front, the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam intensified political struggles across all three strategic regions. At the same time, they mobilised the masses to join local militia forces; building combat villages and communes; and launching attacks against the enemy anytime, anywhere. During the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring 1975, political offensives, propaganda warfare among enemy troops, and local political forces building were given special attention by all levels of the Front, promptly mobilising the masses to rise up and closely coordinate with armed forces to attack and liberate the South.

Promoting the strength of the great national unity bloc is an eternal lesson that must be inherited and further developed in the current period to ensure the sustainable victory of the cause of national construction and defence. To strengthen the power of the great national unity bloc in the new situation, it is necessary to thoroughly grasp and effectively implement the viewpoint “people are the root”, truly trust, respect, and promote the people’s right to mastery; care for socio-economic development and improve the people’s material and spiritual well-being. Enhance Party building and rectification, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the political system, so that our Party is truly clean and strong, serving as the core of the great national unity bloc. The entire military must actively fulfill its function as a “working force”, strengthen national defence and security education; inform, communicate, and mobilise the people to strictly follow the Party’s military and national defence viewpoints and guidelines; correctly identify partners and adversaries; and deeply imbue the traditions of national building and defence. In particular, proactively participate in communication efforts to clarify the opportunities, advantages, and challenges of the nation in the new era, as well as the guiding thoughts, orientations, major decisions, and strong political will of the Party and of General Secretary To Lam to arouse and maximise the spirit of “self-reliance, confidence, independence, resilience, and national pride”, reinforce trust in the Party’s leadership, and generate new momentum, renewed enthusiasm, and high social consensus,.... thereby mobilising the full combined strength of the people in building and protecting the Fatherland. At the same time, the Army must proactively and actively participate in grassroots political system building, support people in poverty alleviation, disaster prevention and recovery efforts, building a solid “people’s heart posture”, especially in strategic and critical areas, remote and isolated regions, border and island areas, and key economic zones. The Army must also take the lead and resolutely struggle against the malicious plots and tactics of hostile forces aiming to sabotage the great national unity bloc and sow division between the People and the Party, the Government, and the Army.

Thirdly, build a revolutionary, regular, elite, and modern People’s Army as the core force in the cause of national defence and the protection of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Leading the nation through long resistance wars against foreign invaders, our Party always know how to seize opportunities and firmly grasps the law of ending wars with strong military offensives. Therefore, while focusing on developing the three-category armed forces, the Party has consistently paid special attention to building strategic mobile main force corps. The establishment of four main force army corps, the 232 Corps, and the practice of the General Offensive and Uprising in Spring 1975 demonstrated the wisdom and ingenuity of the Party and the General Command. With the combined combat power, large-scale military and the strategic mobile main force corps closely coordinated with other forces, attacked, destroyed, and disintegrated each enemy division and main army corps, smashed large parts of their strategic defence system, quickly penetrated deep to destroy the main targets in Saigon’s inner city; combined with the uprising of the masses to successfully complete the cause of national liberation and national reunification.

In response to the demands and tasks of building the Army, strengthening national defence, and protecting the Fatherland in the new situation, the entire military must continue to thoroughly grasp the military and national defence guidelines of the Party. Focus on building a comprehensively strong People’s Army with high overall quality and combat power, capable of successfully fulfilling every assigned mission. Promote the completion of the organisation of an elite, compact, strong, and modern Army, ensuring the comprehensiveness, synchronisation, and rationality between components and forces, in accordance with the national defence guideline, the people’s war guideline, the national defence strategy, the military strategy, and the ability to ensure weapons and equipment; focus on concretising and implementing the comprehensive set of criteria for building a modern army; developing a strong reserve force and an extensive, solid militia and self-defence force across regions and maritime areas.

Continue to effectively implement Resolution No. 1659-NQ/QUTW dated 20 December 2022 of the Central Military Commission, closely adhering to the motto “fundamental, practical, and steady”; emphasise synchronous, in-depth, and modern training. Enhances the quality of training in mastering over assigned weapons and equipment, especially modern weaponry; conduct training closely aligned with plans, adversaries, and battlefield conditions, particularly high-intensity training in complex weather scenarios, strengthen joint training among military branches and units, as well as the ability to coordinate between the main force and local armed forces operating in defence areas, etc. The training process must also be closely integrated with training in political qualities, building regular discipline, and raising the law and regulation compliance awareness of officers and soldiers; combining school-based education with training in units; emphasising the sharing of real combat and training experiences; ensuring “concentration, unity, synchronisation, efficiency, and non-overlapping”; prioritising the task of fighting to protect the Fatherland as the goal to make breakthroughs in innovation, improve the quality of training, exercises, education, and preparation; linking training with cultivating in discipline, physical strength, and organisational standards to build comprehensively strong “exemplary, typical” units to constantly enhance combat strength and ensure victory in every situation.

Along with that, the entire military must thoroughly grasp and resolutely implement Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW dated 22 December 2024, of the Political Bureau, and Resolution No. 3488-NQ/QUTW dated 29 January 2025, of the Central Military Commission on breakthroughs in the development of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation; considering it a prerequisite for building a modern army today. Building a proactive, self-reliant, dual-use and modern national defence industry. Regularly ensuring sufficient quantity and quality of weapons and technical equipment, especially modern weapons and technical means for units tasked with training, combat readiness, and protection of seas, islands, borders, and cyberspace, thereby enhancing the combat power of the armed forces.

Fourthly, promote theoretical research on national defence and develop Vietnam’s military science and art to meet the demands of strengthening national defence and protecting the Fatherland in the new condition.

The victory of the resistance war against the United States was the result of creatively inheriting, applying and developing Vietnam’s military science and art in the Ho Chi Minh era. The harmonious combination of the Party’s correct guidelines, the spirit of self-reliance, self-strengthening, strategic offensive ideology and the ability to effectively promote the overall strength of the entire army and people alongside the righteous strength of the revolutionary war, formed a distinctive military art that contributed to the historic Great Victory of Spring 1975. This was most clearly demonstrated in the art of combining offensive with uprisings, and vice versa; in the coordination of all three-categories armed forces; taking the great strike with the combined strength of the army and service branches as the centre of coordination.

From the reality of recent military conflicts around the world, the warring parties’ application of achievements from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, particularly in military science and technology, and artificial intelligence,... has led to the emergence of new forms of warfare, combat methods, and tactics, posing threats to global peace, stability, and security. For Vietnam, in the event of a war to protect the Fatherland, we will be likely to confront an adversary with significantly superior economic and military strength. Therefore, the continuous development of the science and art of people’s war in the new context is absolutely essential.

Accordingly, the entire military must constantly enhance revolutionary vigilance, grasp the evolving situation, accurately assess the circumstance, and promptly respond to all national defence scenarios to avoid passivity or surprise in any situation. Proactively advise the Party and Government to adjust the force deployment and the stationing positions of main army units in accordance with the determination to protect the Fatherland, associated with building a modern army. Proactively review and adjust strategic zoning, integrate socio-economic development planning with overall planning of national defence deployment, including strategic planning of rear areas, military disposition, and defensive zones; improve the effectiveness of economic-national defence zones in accordance with socio-economic development in strategic directions, key areas, borders, seas, and islands, building a national defence posture associated with a strong people’s security posture, ready to transform into a people’s war posture when necessary.

Continue to promote the core role of the people’s armed forces in building solid, in-depth defensive zones at all levels and military region defence zones; proactively balance and rationally allocate resources to ensure the building of potential, defence zones postures, as well as civil defence postures that are ready to respond to all national defence and security scenarios even during peacetime and enhance the capacity to mobilise forces and transports to meet wartime demands. Focus on researching the application of military science and achievements in science and technology to further develop theories on national defence, the Vietnamese military art, and the people’s art of war in protecting the Fatherland in the new context. Conduct comprehensive reviews of military and national defence activities; assess the results of implementing the Party’s guidelines on building whole people national defence and people’s war, and draw theoretical and practical lessons from the implementation of resolutions, conclusions, and directives of the Party on military, national defence, and country protection.

Fifthly, combine national strength with the strength of the times, promote international integration and national defence diplomacy, and proactively safeguard the Fatherland early and from afar; protecting the country before threats emerge.

During the resistance war against the United States, particularly in the Great Victory of Spring 1975, our Party consistently emphasised the strategic combination of national strength with the strength of the times, integrating military, political, and diplomatic struggles to generate comprehensive power that ultimately defeated the invading enemy. With the Party’s creative and sharp diplomatic strategies, Vietnam had won the wholehearted and righteous support from socialist countries; the solidarity in fighting against the common enemy of the three Indochinese countries; the sympathy and support of progressive people around the world,... have strengthened our position and strength to fight and win.

Today, international integration and national defence diplomacy are among the key pillars of the Party’s foreign affairs, government diplomacy, and people-to-people diplomacy, aimed at protecting the Fatherland early, from afar, and through peaceful means. At the same time, these efforts contribute to strengthening national defence potential and serving for the construction of a revolutionary, regular, elite, and modernised People’s Army. To achieve this goal, the entire military must remain steadfast in the Party’s independent and self-reliant foreign policy, and actively promote and effectively implement international integration and national defence diplomacy in line with the spirit of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress; Resolution No. 59-NQ/TW dated 24 January 2025 of the Political Bureau on international integration in the new situation; Conclusion No. 53-KL/TW dated 28 April 2023 of the Political Bureau; and Resolution No. 2662-NQ/QUTW dated 26 February 2024 of the Central Military Commission on international integration and national defence diplomacy until 2030 and beyond. During this process, it is essential to be aware of, correctly and creatively apply the Party’s viewpoints on identifying partners and adversaries, in order to continuously foster solidarity and expand friendly cooperative relations with international friends.

Focus on promoting bilateral and multilateral national defence relations and cooperation in depth and substance; prioritise relations and cooperation with neighbouring countries, major countries, strategic partners, ASEAN members, and traditional friends; properly manage national defence relations and cooperation with all partners, ensuring strategic balance, enhancing mutual trust, and fostering interwoven interests; maximise external resources to consolidate and build strong national defence potential, a solid whole people national defence posture, and maintain a peaceful and stable environment for national development. Creatively and effectively apply and implement the Party’s foreign policy and Ho Chi Minh’s diplomatic ideology by upholding strategic principles while maintaining flexibility and adaptability in tactics; resolutely and persistently address conflicts, disputes, and disagreements through peaceful means based on the principles of the United Nations Charter and international law; avoid confrontation, conflict, isolation, or dependence; remain steadfast in pursuing Vietnam’s signature “bamboo diplomacy” and the “four no’s” national defence policy; actively and proactively participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations and international humanitarian activities, contributing to affirming the role and responsibility of Vietnam while enhancing the prestige and position of the country and the army on the global stage.

Over a half-century of looking back, we see more thoroughly the great stature, value and significance of the historic Great Victory of Spring 1975; clearly see the correct and creative leadership of the Party and President Ho Chi Minh, as well as the immense sacrifices made by our military and people over more than twenty years of protracted resistance. The invaluable lessons of the Great Victory of Spring 1975 remain profoundly relevant today, they must be inherited, further developed, and creatively applied to the cause of defending the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, creating a peaceful, stable environment in which our nation can firmly advance into a new era of development, civilisation and prosperity.

General, Dr PHAN VAN GIANG, Member of the Political Bureau, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of National Defence