[1] Born in Cổ Nhuế commune, Từ Liêm District, Hà Nội of Tonkin (French protectorate) to a craftsman family, Văn Tiến Dũng took part in some democracy movements and public struggles of Hà Nội workers since 1936, joined the Indochinese Communist Party in 1937.

By November 1953, during the First Indochina War, he rose to Chief of Staff of the Vietnam People's Army under General Võ Nguyên Giáp prior to the siege of Điện Biên Phủ in 1954.

[3] He commanded the vital Tri-Thien-Hue Front during the 1972 Easter Offensive, replacing his mentor as PAVN commander in chief in 1974, when the Vietnam War against the Americans and South Vietnamese evolved from a guerrilla struggle into a more conventional war.

[4][5][6][7] Dũng planned and commanded the 1975 spring offensive, which overwhelmed South Vietnamese defenses and captured Saigon in 1975.

[8] He also directed Vietnam's invasion of Khmer Rouge Cambodia and the resulting border conflict with the People's Republic of China in 1979.