He left many traces in foreign affairs such as normalizing diplomatic relations with the United States, strengthening relationships with former enemies during the Vietnam War such as China, Japan, Korea and France.

On 28 July 1995, Vietnam officially joined ASEAN, marking a historic turning point in cooperation and association with countries in the Southeast Asia.

After his participation in the August Revolution of 1945, which led to the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) on 2 September 1945, as a member of Việt Minh he began his military service in the Vietnamese People's Army, the precursor of the current PAVN.

After the Indochina Conference in 1954 in Geneva he was an officer in the General Staff of the People's Army and promoted there in 1958 to the colonel (Đại tá).

In 1989, after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, he warned about the alleged threat of the West undermining Vietnam's Communist Party, arguing for more army involvement in politics "at a time when Vietnamese socialism was under attack".

Between 1982 and 2001 he was also a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam (Bộ Chính trị Ban Chấp hành Trung ương Đảng Cộng sản Việt Nam).

After his return, he was the successor of the late in office General Lê Trọng Tấn from December 1986 to February 1987 Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnamese People's Army (Tổng Tham mưu trưởng Quân đội Nhân dân Việt Nam).

For his services, General Lê Đức Anh received several awards, including the Order of the Golden Star (Huân chương Sao vàng) and the Ho Chi Minh Order (Huân chương Hồ Chí Minh).

Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Vietnam Đỗ Mười was ideologically more flexible and effectively came to be seen as representing the middle ground between Anh and Kiệt, but seems to have tended towards conservative positions.

In 1991, Anh joined Đỗ Mười to support him in his candidacy for party leadership against Võ Văn Kiệt.

[11] However, Party leader Đỗ Mười led a counter-attack against the reform camp, warning of the dangers of the 'current market economy'.

On 21 February 2018, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was admitted to the Central Military Hospital 108 in Hanoi in critical condition.

On 22 April 2019, Lê Đức Anh died, aged 98, at 8:10 PM, local time, at house number 5A Hoàng Diệu in Hanoi.