Vietnam's independence hero General Vo Nguyen Giap, who was considered one of history's greatest military strategists, has died at age 102.
Second only to late revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh as modern Vietnam's most revered figure, the former history teacher's first military lesson came from an old encyclopedia entry about the mechanism of a hand grenade.
The son of a poor scholar, he went on to defeat Vietnam's colonial masters in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, the battle that ended French rule in Indochina and started direct US involvement leading to the Vietnam war.
Over the next two decades the founding father of the Vietnam People's Army, whose guerilla tactics inspired anti-colonial fighters worldwide, again led his forces to victory with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.
"When I was young, I had a dream that one day I would see my country free and united," Giap later recounted in a PBS interview.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"That day, my dream came true."
Giap's brilliance as a strategist places him "in the pantheon of great military leaders" with the Duke of Wellington, Ulysses S Grant and General Douglas MacArthur, wrote American journalist and author Stanley Karnow.
"Unlike them, however, he owed his achievements to innate genius rather than to formal training."
Others have pointed to the tremendous human toll Giap was willing to incur in the struggle for liberation, which left millions of Vietnamese dead on the battlefield.
Throughout his 90s, a physically frail but still outspoken Giap would periodically cause a stir, writing open letters or using anniversary events to rail against everything from corruption to bauxite mining.
Giap, who had been living in Hanoi's 108 military hospital for the last three years, is survived by Dang Bich Ha, his wife since 1949, and four children.
