It exhorted "soldiers, workers, peasants, intellectuals, civil servants, merchants, young men and women" to overthrow "French jackals" and "Japanese fascists", while the group's first chairman was a non-communist.

When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China.

It was also opposed by anti-communist Vietnamese nationalists, such as the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng, the reason for the establishment of the State of Vietnam in 1949.

However, due to political turmoil and civil unrest at the time, plus conflicts with Japanese and French forces, the Viet Minh's General Department was not completely elected.

[12][13] But in southern Vietnam, Viet Minh faced many challengers such as Cao Đài, Hòa Hảo (religious sects) and Bình Xuyên (armed group).

As well as fighting the French in the battles of Khai Phat and Na Ngan, the Việt Minh started a campaign against the Japanese.

For instance, a raid at Tam Dao internment camp in Tonkin on 19 July 1945 saw 500 Viet Minh kill fifty Japanese soldiers and officials, freeing French civilian captives and escorting them to the Chinese border.

The Viet Minh also fought the Japanese 21st Division in Thái Nguyên, and regularly raided rice storehouses to alleviate the ongoing famine.

They formed national salvation associations (cuu quoc hoi) that, in Quảng Ngãi province alone, enlisted 100,000 peasants by mid-1945.

In the northern provinces of Việt Bắc, their armed forces seized control, after which they distributed lands to the poor, abolished the corvée, established quốc ngữ classes, local village militias, and declared universal suffrage and democratic freedoms.

[49] Due to their opposition to the Japanese, the Việt Minh received funding from the United States, the Soviet Union and the Republic of China.

Young insurgents of the Việt Minh also received training in the use of modern firearms by some foreign volunteers, such as Stefan Kubiak.

His French infantry with armored units went through Hanoi, fighting small battles against isolated Việt Minh groups.

The newly communist People's Republic of China gave the Việt Minh both sheltered bases and heavy weapons with which to fight the French.

[citation needed] Following their defeat at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, the French began negotiations to leave Vietnam.

[57] From his home in France, Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại appointed Ngô Đình Diệm as Prime Minister of South Vietnam.

With United States support in rigging the referendum of 1955 using secret Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) funding,[58] Diệm removed the Emperor and declared himself the president of the Republic of Vietnam.

The United States believed Ho Chi Minh would win the nationwide election proposed at the Geneva Accords.

In a secret memorandum, Director of CIA Allen Dulles acknowledged that "The evidence [shows] that a majority of the people of Vietnam supported the Viet Minh rebels.

[62] Sihanouk's public criticism and mockery of the Khmer Issarak had the damaging effect of increasing the power of the hardline, anti-Vietnamese, but also anti-monarchist, members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), led by Pol Pot.