Hồ Chí Minh, born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Tất Thành, Nguyen That Thanh and Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese communist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He was a key figure in the foundation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, as well as the People’s Army of Vietnam and the Việt Cộng during the Vietnam War. He led the Việt Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-ruled Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at the battle of Điện Biên Phủ. He officially stepped down from power in 1965 due to health problems, but remained a highly visible figurehead and inspiration for those Vietnamese fighting for his cause—a united, communist Vietnam—until his death. After the war, Saigon, the former capital of the Republic of Vietnam, was renamed Hồ Chí Minh City; however, the name Sai Gon is still very widely used.