As I was reading the Karnow book on Ho Chi Minh, some of his traits reminded me of Josip Tito of Yugoslavia. Both were multi-lingual, both used aliases at opportune moments, both ran coummunists governments and had to deal with Moscow, both sought to keep foreigners out of their respective countries (though Tito's foreign policy was broader than Ho's). I'm sure there are other leaders/dictators who are similar as well.
Off Topic, I remembered...King of Albania b/4 Nazi domination was king ZOG.
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i think that's a very good comparison...both led their groups in successful war efforts, both promised and delivered on a new life afterwards, both inspired loyalty among their supporters and fear among their opponents.
Of course, you didn't have the multi-ethnic component in Vietnam--Tito was out there proclaiming "brotherhood and unity" constantly to his Partisans, because they had many nationalities within their ranks. But he, like Ho, was able to convince everyone that the postwar would truly be different, a Yugoslavia based on equality and federalism rather than Serb domination. That was huge.
Unfortunately, Tito was the only one who could strike that balance, and "brotherhood and unity" quickly dissolved into sectarian war...helped along, of course, by demagogues like slobo and tudjman. Because it is more homogenous than Yugoslavia, Vietnam survived the death of Ho a lot more successfully.
Like the film says, these guys were nationalists first and Communists second. That accounts for a lot of their success, I think.
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