in 1940, during the ww2, imperial japan took over french indochina. in 1945, the japanese made bảo đại into declaring vietnamese independence from france as a member of japan's sphere of influence; the country then became the empire of vietnam. the japanese surrendered to the allies in august 1945, the viet minh aimed to take power in vietnam. due to hồ chí minh's popular political stand against the french and the 1945 famine, he was able to persuade bảo đại to abdicate and hand over power to the communists.