A general must be skillful in preparing the materials of war and in supplying his soldiers; he must be a man of mechanical ingenuity, careful, persevering, sagacious, kind and yet severe, open yet crafty, careful of his own but ready to steal from others, profuse yet rapacious, cautious yet enterprising.

If the enemy advances, we retreat.
If he halts, we harass.
If he avoids battle, we attack.
If he retreats, we follow.

Although disarmingly straightforward, these rules proved enormously effective. Under Giap's leadership, the North Vietnamese army expelled France in 1954, drove out the United States in 1973 and reunified Vietnam in 1975.