In Photos: September 2, 1945, When Vietnam Declared Independence
September 2 was more than a moment in Hanoi. It was a turning point whose spirit spread across Vietnam & endured through war. The wars would continue, but so would its belief: Vietnam is independent.
September 2, 1945, marked the declaration of Vietnam’s independence, as Hồ Chí Minh read the Declaration of Independence before a crowd gathered at Ba Đình Square in Hanoi.
In Vietnam, the date is officially commemorated as National Day (Quốc khánh). But the story of that day stretches far beyond Hanoi. In the days leading up to September 2, the August Revolution had already brought revolutionary forces to power across the country.
Let’s revisit those moments through archival images, tracing the road to September 2 and its aftermath, from the August Revolution and the declaration in Ba Đình to Cần Thơ, where French forces returned just weeks later. Even as war resumed, the meaning of September 2 endured, with Vietnamese continuing to mark the day through the years that followed.
The Day Vietnam Declared Independence
President Hồ Chí Minh reads Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence at Ba Đình Square in Hanoi on September 2, 1945. | Source: Archival Photo/Ho Chi Minh MuseumCopy of the Declaration of Independence. | Source: National Archives Center IIIMillions of people carrying red flags with yellow stars gather at Ba Đình Square in Hanoi to witness Vietnam’s declaration of independence on September 2, 1945. | Source: Archival Photo/VNAThe National Defense Army and residents of Quảng Ngãi gather to listen to President Hồ Chí Minh read the Declaration of Independence over loudspeakers on September 2, 1945. | Source: Archival Photo/VNAAlthough technical difficulties prevented the broadcast of President Hồ Chí Minh’s Declaration of Independence from reaching Saigon, millions of people still gathered at Norodom Square on September 2, 1945, to celebrate independence. When the broadcast failed, Trần Văn Giàu, chairman of the Provisional Administrative Committee of Southern Vietnam, stepped onto the platform and addressed the crowd instead. | Source: Ho Chi Minh City MuseumOn September 2, 1945, people gather in Saigon to celebrate Vietnam’s independence. | Source: Archival Photo/VNASaigon schoolgirls line up for an honor guard at a rally celebrating Independence Day on September 2, 1945. | Source: Archival Photo/VNA
President Hồ Chí Minh (front, center) with members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam following the success of the August Revolution in 1945. | Source: Archival Photo/VNA
Before the New Dawn
The August Revolution in Hanoi on August 19, 1945, marked a decisive turning point on the road to independence. The photograph shows the façade of the Bắc Bộ Phủ (Tonkin Palace) on Ngô Quyền Street, Hanoi. | Source: Photo by Vũ Năng An.On August 14, 1945, the Ba Tơ Guerrilla Unit marched toward Quảng Ngãi town to join local forces in the uprising, as revolutionary movements were already spreading across Central Vietnam ahead of the August 19 uprising in Hanoi. | Source: Archival photo/VNAThe spirit of August 19 spreads southward: tens of thousands of people in Thừa Thiên Huế and members of the Cứu Quốc forces march toward Huế Stadium on August 23, 1945. | Source: Archival photo/VNAAs the August Revolution swept across the country, the movement reached Saigon. On August 25, 1945, revolutionary forces carrying sharpened bamboo stakes gathered in the city as workers, farmers and young people from Saigon and surrounding provinces joined the uprising to seize power. | Source: Archival photo/VNAThe momentum of the August Revolution continued into the Mekong Delta. On August 26, 1945, people in Cần Thơ prepared sharpened bamboo stakes as the city rose up to seize power. | Source: Archival photo/VNACopy of Emperor Bảo Đại’s letter announcing his decision to abdicate on August 28, 1945, as the August Revolution swept across Vietnam. Source: National Archives Center III.A photograph of the abdication ceremony of Emperor Bảo Đại. | Source: The archives of the Republic of France.On August 30, 1945, Liberation Army units from the Việt Bắc resistance bases made their public debut in Hanoi, gathering with local self-defense forces and thousands of residents at the Opera House Square. The ceremony showcased the revolutionary forces that would help defend the newly established government, just days before the Declaration of Independence. | Source: Archival photo/VNA
The Days That Followed September 2nd, 1945
The celebrations were barely over when the work of building a new country began. On September 3, 1945, just one day after independence was declared, President Hồ Chí Minh and the Provisional Government held their first meeting at Bắc Bộ Phủ, taking on the urgent challenges facing the newly independent nation. | Source: Archival photo/VNAA newly independent country had more than a government to build. On October 8, 1945, President Hồ Chí Minh attended the opening of the first Bình dân học vụ training course in Hanoi, part of a nationwide effort to bring literacy to a population where more than 90 percent were estimated to be unable to read or write. | Source: Archival photo/National Museum of HistoryOn September 30, 1945, former Emperor Bảo Đại, then serving as Supreme Advisor Vĩnh Thụy, presided over the auction of a portrait of President Hồ Chí Minh at the Hanoi Opera House. The auction was held on the final day of the “Gold Week,” a nationwide fundraising campaign for the new government. The portrait was purchased by businessman Đỗ Đình Thiện for one million Indochinese piastres. | Source: Archival photo/VNAAs the new government confronted widespread hunger, the “Hũ gạo cứu đói” campaign called on people across the country to set aside a handful of rice from each meal to help those in need. The movement spread nationwide in 1945–46 under the spirit of “A handful of rice in times of hunger is worth a bundle when we are full.” | Source: Archival photo/VNAJust three weeks after independence was declared, the new republic faced a new threat in the South. British forces began arriving in Saigon on September 6, 1945, under the Potsdam arrangements to disarm Japanese troops south of the 16th parallel. But the mission soon became entangled in the French return: British forces helped rearm and support French troops, who moved to retake Saigon on September 23. A multilingual pamphlet from a survival kit issued to British servicemen deployed to French Indochina in 1945, asking local civilians to help stranded soldiers reach Allied units. | Source: National Army Museum, LondonOfficers and men of the 1st Battalion, 1st Gurkha Rifles (1/1 GR), part of the British forces deployed to Saigon in 1945, rest by the Saigon River. | Source: The Gurkha MusemWhen the Southern Provisional Administration refused to hand over its headquarters, tensions escalated. On September 23, French forces launched an attack on Saigon, marking the beginning of the Southern Resistance. | Source: Archival photo/VNAHanoi residents rally at the Opera House Square on September 24, 1945, protesting the British mission’s use of force in support of the French return to Cochinchina. | Source: Archival photo/National Museum of HistoryThe return of French forces reached the Mekong Delta on October 30, 1945, when the French colonial warship Annamite attacked and occupied Cần Thơ. | Source: Archival photo/Cần Thơ MuseumAs the Southern Resistance continued, French reinforcements arrived by sea. The Saville carries French troops to Saigon in November 1945, strengthening France’s efforts to re-establish control over southern Vietnam. | Source: Archival photo/VNAFour years after Hồ Chí Minh declared independence in Hanoi, people in Cần Thơ were still gathering to mark September 2. In 1949, tens of thousands travelled to Bà Đầm–Thác Lác for a week-long celebration and fair, held in the middle of the resistance against French forces. The circumstances had changed, but September 2 remained a day to come together and remember independence. | Source: Archival photo/Cần Thơ Museum
