On the afternoon of September 2, 1945, speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of about four hundred thousand Vietnamese and an attentive handful of foreign observers in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh Square, the president of the provisional government, Ho Chi Minh, proclaimed the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam came at the high point of the August Revolution, staged in the weeks following the surrender of imperial Japan on August 15, 1945, which ended World War II. Seizing the opportune moment, the Vietminh had taken control of the major cities of Vietnam, replaced the short-lived Japanese-backed Tran Trong Kim government, and pressured Emperor Bao Dai, who had rule for almost twenty years, to abdicate.