North Vietnam was a state in 1945.
North Vietnam , officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( DRV ) , was a state in Southeast Asia which existed from 1945 to 1976 . Vietnamese revolutionary leader Hồ Chí Minh declared independence from France on 2 September 1945 and announced the creation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam . Between 1946 and 1954 , the Việt Minh captured and controlled most of the rural areas of Vietnam .