(i) As a leader : Ho Chi Minh, real name Nguyen Tat Thanh, Vietnamese Communist leader and the principal force behind the Vietnamese struggle against French colonial rule . (ii) Formation of Communist Party : In February 1930, Ho Chi Minh brought together competing nationalist groups to establish the Vietnamese Communist (Vietnam Cong San Dang) Party, later renamed the Indo-Chinese Communist Party. He was inspired by the militant demonstrations of the European communist parties. (iii) Chairman of Democratic Republic of Vietnam : In 1940 Japan occupied Vietnam, as part of its imperial drive to control Southeast Asia. So nationalists now had to fight against the Japanese as well as the French. The League for the Independence of Vietnam (Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh), which came to be known as the Vietminh, fought the Japanese occupation and recaptured Hanoi in September 1945. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was formed and Ho Chi Minh became Chairman. (iv) Important symbol for unification of Vietnam : He was an important symbol for the unification of Vietnam. The importance of his role is clear from the fact that the most important route connecting north and south Vietnam was named after him.