August Revolution The August Revolution ( ) , also called the August General Uprising ( , and known in the West as the Vietnamese Revolution ) by the Indochinese Communist Party , was a revolution in Vietnam . On August 19 , 1945 , the Việt Minh under Hồ Chí Minh began a revolution against French colonial rule in Vietnam . From August 19 onwards , demonstrations and uprisings against French rule broke out in cities and towns throughout Vietnam . Given Japan had surrendered to the Allies at the end of World War II , the Japanese forces in Indochina stepped aside and allowed nationalist groups to take over public buildings in most of the major cities . While the Japanese allowed the nationalist groups free run of the country , they kept former French officials imprisoned . At the time , the Vietminh were being provided with minor supplies by the United States to fight the Japanese . March to August . On March 9 , 1945 , the Imperial Japan overthrew the Vichy French administration of Jean Decoux in French Indochina . French officials and soldiers were arrested . The Japanese reinstated Bảo Đại as Emperor and created a puppet government . On April 30 , 1945 , the cooperation between US officials and the Viet Minh was demonstrated when Major Archimedes Patti , of the US Office of Strategic Services , met with Hồ Chí Minh and received a message of warmth and solidarity from Hồ , with shipments of arms and instructors were increased . On August 14 , 1945 , the Japanese surrendered to the Allies . In Indochina , the Japanese officials took advantage of the situation to cause additional problems for the Allies . Violating the surrender agreements , they helped Vietnamese nationalist groups , including the Việt Minh , to take over public buildings in various cities . On August 16 , the National Congress opened at Tan Trao , a locality in Thai Nguyen province , in the liberated zones . Sixty representatives from all parts of the country came to learn additional details on the order for the General Revolution . The home and foreign policies of the Revolutionary Government were mapped out and the Vietnam People ' s Liberation Committee , which became later the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was created . On August 17 – 18 , huge demonstrations took place in the capital city of Hanoi . On August 19 , 1945 , Việt Minh revolutionaries successfully seized power in Hanoi , which was later made the capital of Democratic Republic of Vietnam . On August 25 , 1945 , in a ceremony at Hue , Bảo Ðại was forced to abdicate in favour of Hồ and the Việt Minh , and ordered to relinquish the Vietnamese imperial seal and imperial sword ( symbols of imperial power ) to the Viet Minh . The Viet Minh seems to have delayed until 23 August to launch its program in Cochinchina , apparently moving at that time in response to the seizure of power by the Viet Minh in Annam and Tonkin . On 25 August 1945 , in Saigon the Viet Minh sponsored a meeting at which a government entitled " Provisional Executive Committee of the Southern Vietnam " was formed . The Committee of the South , though dominated by members of the Indochinese Communist Party , purported to represent both the Viet Minh and the United National Front , and to be the southern arm of Ho Chi Minh ' s Hanoi government . Their success in staging uprisings and in seizing control of most of the country by August 1945 , exception in townships Mong Cai , Vĩnh Yên , Ha Giang , Lao Cai , Lai Chau . The August Revolution created a uniform government for the entire country . Proclamation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam . Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2 , 1945 . However , only a few days later Nationalist Chinese forces under General Lu Han began to occupy Việtnam north of the 16th parallel under the pretext of disarming the Japanese . The Việt Minh did not resist . In Vietnam south of the 16th parallel , a British occupation force arrived in October 1945 . Both forces of occupation had been specified by the Potsdam Conference . Hồ Chí Minh and the Việt Minh began negotiations with the French in late 1945 . The Việt Minh were willing at this point to negotiate for something less than independence . Politically , they distrusted the occupying Nationalist Chinese both from ideological and historical viewpoints . In early 1946 , the French army returned to northern Vietnam with the initial cooperation of the Việt Minh and rapidly reestablished its authority . Having achieved this aim , relations between Hồ Chí Minh and the French gradually broke down . The Việt Minh then set about launching the rural insurrection that began the First Indochina War , known to the Vietnamese as the French Resistance War .